Healthy nutrition factors into menus

Paul Clinton

As public school officials across the nation grapple with obesity

among children, local school leaders have also refocused their

efforts to serve healthy meals at lunchtime and weed out sugary foods

like soft drinks and candy.

For the second school year in a row, the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District is employing a chef, nutritionist and nurse to help

educate elementary through high school students about how to eat

healthier during the week.

“For a long time, we’ve been looking for ways to reduce childhood

obesity,” Nutrition Services Director Dick Greene said. “We’ve always

had a nutritional standard in place that we adhere to.”

District coffers received a $165,000 grant from the United States

Department of Agriculture last school year that went to hire the

nutritionist, nurse and chef, who also oversees food preparation in

the cafeteria. This year, the school received $250,000 from the

department.

The district also offers culinary classes at Newport Harbor High

School and is tackling the hot topic of reducing carbonated sodas in

district vending machines, Greene said.

Also, meals served in the school cafeterias must include one of at

least five different food categories -- fruits, vegetables, milk,

protein and grains.

On the first day of school, the district will serve a salad, two

mini cheeseburgers, fruit, milk and a fresh-baked cookie at its

elementary schools.

The district is also moving to remove sodas that have minimal

nutritional value, Greene said.

On Aug. 27, the Los Angeles Unified School District board banned

the sale of soft drinks during school hours at its 677 schools.

Newport-Mesa officials aren’t taking the hard-line approach, but

they are working on phasing out sodas by 2004, Greene said.

The district collects about $2,000 per month from Coca Cola

vending machines at the four high schools -- Corona del Mar, Costa

Mesa, Estancia and Newport Harbor. Half of those revenues are given

to student body groups to help pay for student activities.

School officials are have convinced Coca Cola to add more fruit

juices, bottled water and Gatorade to its vending machines instead of

soda. The company has also agreed to remove soda advertising from the

fronts of the vending machines and replace them with ads for water or

juice, Greene said.

Instead of banning sodas, district officials are leaving the

transition to the free market. Last year, students bought two bottles

of water for every soda from the vending machines, he said.

Private schools have also worried that sodas and candy can

negatively impact the learning process. Scientific studies have

debated the effect of sugar on children’s behavior.

The founders of Sage Hill High School, a nondenominational

independent school in Newport Coast, banned the sale of sodas when

the school opened in September 2000.

“I don’t think anybody would think loading a kid up on sugar is a

good thing,” school spokeswoman Suzanne McLaughlin said. “We are

concerned about a healthy mind, body and spirit.”