Picking Apart School Menus

Most parents remember their school lunches from when they were a kid: pizza, milk and a brownie or cupcake to sweeten the deal. However, times change and the school menus have changed with it for the better.

Diane Hoch is the president of the Rockland Coalition for Better School Food, a not-for-profit organization based out of her new Bardonia business The Food Evolution. She was at the forefront of changing and bettering the health of children starting with the menus at school.

"We need to recognize the plight of our children and what they're eating," she said. "Schools must change what they're feeding our children."  Hoch said. "This generation of children are statistically destined to have a shorter life span than their parents."

Hoch began taking steps to improve school menus and her coalition's efforts contributed to the passing of an important 2004 law: Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act.

A few of the act's main points are below:

• School districts have to adopt school wellness policies to look at healthy eating and physical activities in schools.
• Designate one person or a committee at each school to ensure that the school meets the local wellness policy.
• Schools need goals to establish nutrition education, physical activities and other activities that promote wellness for students.
• More fresh fruit and vegetables
• Kids that are migrant, homeless, runaways or from low-income or military families will have an easier process to of getting eligibility for free or reduced school meals by cutting down paperwork.

The goals of this Act are:

• Establish a school environment that is healthy and nutritious
• Reduce childhood obesity
• Prevent chronic diseases brought on by poor diets

Take a look at the Nanuet School District's menu and the change is there. There is protein at each lunch, such as a chicken patty or turkey breast. The buns are whole wheat (ww) and there are always fruit and vegetables at each meal, not cup cakes or brownies.

Hoch wanted to make a change when her three daughters started going to school and saw what they were eating at school and at the homes of other parents when they went on play dates.

She wanted to change the school menus for her daughters, but the reaction from the other mothers after their kids returned home from a play date at Hoch's house made her want to extend her reach.

"The moms will call me, 'how did you get so-and-so to eat carrots?'"

Hoch wanted to not only instill healthy eating at school but at home as well. She started The Food Evolution last month in Bardonia, which offers nutritional cooking classes and private health counseling. She hopes for parents to learn healthy easy cooking at her classes and apply these techniques at home.

Some of the classes with kids in mind are:

• Amazing Grains in the Morning
• Let's Talk Pre-School
• Creating a Healthy Lunchbox
• Raising Successful Eaters
• Calling On Dads

And for the frugal mom:

• Healthy Meals on a Budget
• Creative Use of Leftovers
• Pantry Clean Up