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Healthier options? It's elementary

From: The Chicago Sun-Times

March 21 , 2006

By Janet Rausa Fuller

Beef burritos were the featured item Monday in the cafeteria line at Nettlehorst Elementary School, but Caitlin Kindig didn't bite.

The first-grader headed for the salad bar instead, filling up a small plastic bowl with chopped lettuce, cucumber slices and green grapes.

"I like it because it's healthy food," said Caitlin, 7, as she made her way to her table.

Nettlehorst is one of three Chicago public schools offering a salad bar as part of a pilot project by the Chicago Board of Education to improve nutrition in elementary school cafeterias.

With a new federal law requiring school districts to establish wellness policies by July 1, school nutrition advocates are calling for a system-wide expansion of the salad bar program that would include training teachers on nutrition education.

"If we don't do the kinds of things that we're seeing at Nettlehorst, we will be faced with an entire generation of children who will not be productive adults," said Dr. Terry Mason, the city's health commissioner, at an event at Nettlehorst organized by the Healthy Schools Campaign, a Chicago nonprofit. The group also is pushing for an increase in physical education to a minimum of 80 minutes a week and for health indicators to be added to the school report card.

'It's hard to compete with pizza'

With obesity rates rising among children, salad bars have become hot items in schools across the nation, though generally more in high schools than elementary schools, said Erik Peterson of the School Nutrition Association.

About half of all high schools offer a salad bar, while 40 percent of middle schools and 24 percent of elementary schools do, according to a 2005 survey by the association.

Additional labor and equipment costs are among the barriers that may keep school districts from offering salad bars, experts say. The audience can also be tough to please.

"It's hard to compete with pizza," said Nettlehorst's principal, Susan Kurland.

An evaluation of the salad bar program in the two other participating schools, Namaste Charter School and Oscar de Priest Elementary, found that the number of kids who chose the salad bar doubled with the addition of nutrition sessions for students.

Nettlehorst got its salad bar last fall. Offerings change daily and always include a protein, such as diced chicken or turkey, and packets of fat-free salad dressings. Cooking classes are offered to students in the after-school program.

"The issue with salad bars is that you have to teach children about healthy choices. Just having it in the lunchroom doesn't do it," Kurland said.

Maged Hanafi, assistant manager of food services for Chicago Public Schools, said putting salad bars in every Chicago public school may not be realistic because many schools lack the necessary space and kitchen facilities.

"We are not going to put it anywhere unless we know it can be done and done right," Hanafi said.