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Healthy Meals for Healthier Ohio Kids

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author Mary Kuhlman, Managing Editor

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Wednesday, April 23, 2014   

CINCINNATI - With experts citing a link between nutrition and learning, an Ohio school district is standing out as a leader for bringing healthy food choices to students.

Audrey Rowe, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Services, and other leaders visited Cincinnati this week to learn about that city's public school district's efforts to improve students' meals. Rowe said school leaders began making changes even before the new federal nutrition standards were finalized.

"They had started introducing whole grains, low fat, low sodium, so students were able to adapt," she said. "They also did things like taste-testing, because you have to get it to taste good so that students will receive it well."

The district also introduced smarter snack options, salad bars in every school, and breakfast and lunch vending machines to dispense healthy meals. Rowe called the Cincinnati district a model for others as the nutrition standards are implemented in schools nationwide.

Rowe said they continue to look at ways to improve school meals, with enough flexibility so that districts can figure out what works for them. She said parents' involvement is critical to getting kids to eat right, and over the summer, the USDA plans to put recipe ideas for families on its website.

"Some of the same recipes that schools are using, we're breaking them down for families of four," she said, "so that a family can see what the recipe looks like and also can measure the costs associated with having that recipe for their family."

Rowe said school meals also play an educational role for kids, helping them learn about a healthy lifestyle. She said the school nutrition changes were needed, given the national epidemic of obesity.

"When the military starts talking about it being a Homeland Security issue because they are having to turn away so many new recruits because of health-related issues," she said, "it was very clear to us that we needed to take aggressive action."

It's estimated that nearly one in three children is at risk for preventable conditions such as diabetes and heart disease from being overweight or obese. The new nutrition standards are being phased in over a three-year period that began in fall 2012 as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.


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