Best Practice 2.7 Nutrition: The District/School provides nutritious, healthy meals and snacks.

About

Nutritional health is an important factor that affects many aspects of our lives. Eating a well-balanced diet can improve our quality of life and academic performance.  According to the article “Nutrition and Students' Academic Performance, “students encounter food insecurity, or limited access to food due to an absence of money or resources. Schools play a vital role in the nutrition of the food students consume. Eating healthy and nutritious food helps students improve their thinking skills, behavior, and overall performance. According to recent studies, nutrition can help improve a student’s academic performance. For example, one study found that 5th-grade students with less nutritious diets performed worse on a standardized literacy assessment (Florence, Asbridge, & Veugelers, 2008). This is one of many examples that showcase the importance of healthy eating.  Learning about and incorporating nutritional health and wellness should begin at an early age. There are many actions schools can take to improve student nutrition and encourage students and staff to get involved and become leaders in their 

Vision and Benefits

The vision for nutrition best practices aims to equip individuals with the knowledge needed to make responsible decisions that improve their health. The main objective is to create an environment where students and staff can access clean, healthy food through various means, such as a school garden or a vegetable and fruit bar. Schools can provide the opportunity to learn about the importance of health and wellness through the classroom, organizations, or after-school programs. Combining nutrition in a school setting allows for students and staff to create connections within the school while also building an integrated community through numerous opportunities for the wider community. By adopting best nutrition practices, schools can take steps to become more nutritionally sustainable environments.

For inspiration, schools can look to MN Green Ribbon Schools awardees of the past: 

Nutrition Best Practice Examples from MN Green Ribbon Schools

• North Park Elementary School, Fridley, MN - 2018 Green Ribbon School: 

• Participated in the HealthierUS School Challenge and was awarded a Silver School Award. 

• Provides a produce bar filled with a variety of fruits and vegetables. 

• Have an on-site school garden

• River's Edge Academy School - 2018 Green Ribbon School:

• Participated in HealthierUS School Challenge and was awarded a Silver School Award. 

• Provides a produce bar filled with a variety of fruits and vegetables. 

• Have an on-site school garden

• Have a healthy breakfast program

• Henry Sibley High School, Mendota Heights, MN - 2016 Green Ribbon School:

• Participated in HealthierUS School Challenge 

• Participated in the farm-to-school program 

• Provides a produce bar filled with a variety of fruits and vegetables. 

• Have an on-site school garden

• Offer cooking/gardening class

• Glendale Elementary School, Savage, MN - 2016 Green Ribbon School:

• Participated in the farm-to-school program 

• Provides a produce bar filled with a variety of fruits and vegetables. 

• Implemented a kindergarten breakfast for all students from grades 1-5

• Edgewood Early Childhood & La Ola del Lago Spanish Immersion School, Prior Lake, MN - 2017 Green Ribbon School:

• Participated in the farm-to-school program 

• Provides a produce bar filled with a variety of fruits and vegetables. 

• Have an on-site school garden.

Implement Best Practice Actions in a Project

Select Best Practice Actions (BPAs) to work on and complete.

 Review the list of actions to improve nutritional health and wellness in your schools. Start by recording the practices already implemented in the school. To become more involved, begin by selecting new best-practice sets from the three categories listed below and document your progress over time.

A.  Participate in recognized nutrition programs         

A1. Farm to School

• Participate in the Farm to School program: 

Programs may differ in different areas but always includes one or more of the following,

• Procurement: local foods are purchased, promoted and served in the cafeteria or as a snack or taste-test

• School gardens: students engage in hands-on learning through gardening

• Education: students participate in education activities related to agriculture, food, health, or nutrition.”

Measurement: Participate in the program and list inclusion of program features

A2. Forward Food

• Participate in the Foward Food program:

  • Encouraging schools to consider how food choices affect students' health and the environment.

Measurement: Participation in the program, meals served, commitments made, trainings completed, recipes in rotation.

B. Incorporate nutrition health and wellness in curriculum

B1. Integrate nutrition into main curriculum 

• The importance of sustainability can be addressed through school curriculum 

• Offer or require nutrition units or courses to empower students with knowledge to make important health decisions

• Measure, benchmark, and set goals for hours of nutrition education per school year. (On average students get 8 hours of nutritional education per school year which is below the required amount of hours (40-50 hrs). (CDC Healthy school))

• Integrate nutrition education into other curricular topics such as: learning about how plants grow, learning  about the impact of food consumption on climate change,  learning about cultural food from around the world, learning math using fractions by measuring ingredients for recipes.

Measurement: Hours spent on nutritional education 

B2. Provide extracurricular activities and learning opportunities

• Provide extracurricular activities related to nutrition and health, such as gardening classes, cooking classes, nutrition classes.

• Invite experts to inform students about health and wellness 

• Field trips to sustainable farms, farmers’ markets, and farm sanctuaries. 

Measurement: Number of extracurricular activities provided, number of students participating in these activities

C. Implement Practices to that improve nutrition

C1. School garden and produce

• Create an after school and summer gardening club or integrate gardenting into curriculum where students and staff learn the basics about planting and taking care plants

• Plant a variety of  fruits and vegetables 

• Get the community involved 

Measurement: Create a school garden, track types of produce grown and distributed

C2. Salad, Vegetable, and Fruit bar 

• Use the fruits and vegetables from the school garden to create a produce bar in the cafeteria

• Connect with local growers to provide students with ample variety of fruits and vegetables

• Provide food that is certified organic

• Create informative posters about nutritional facts and the amount of fruits and vegetables students and staff should eat daily

Measurement: Install a produce bar, track offerings and uptake, conduct surveys on preferences

C3. Enhance school lunches

• Go beyond minimum requirements by adding more nutritional value

• Incorporate options for those with special dietary needs

• Offer a plant-based option every day 

• Offer culturally relevant food options

• Ask students to create a list of healthy school lunches

Measurement: student involvement, number and type of food options  

C4. Provide organic food options

• Serve certified organic

• Grow organic food in a school garden (non-certified)

• Requirements for organic foods:

• Excerpt from USDA: must be produced using agricultural production practices that foster resource cycling, promote ecological balance, maintain and improve soil and water quality, minimize the use of synthetic materials, and conserve biodiversity.

Measurement: Organic food options, certified organic labeled foods, number of options

C5. Taste testing in cafeteria line

• Permit sampling of new menu items before ordering

• Have sample days to encourage kids to try new foods- interesting produce, new flavors, exposure to different cultures encouraging kids to try new things 

Measurement: Samples distributed, increase in sampled menu item purchases

C5. Provide plant-based food options with participatation in Wholesome Minnesota in partnership with Forward Food

• Serve a plant-based option every day

• Use as many whole food ingredients as possible (ie. grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables) 

• Replace animal products with plant-based meats 20% of the time (ie. veggie burgers, chikin’ nuggets, meat crumbles)

Measurement: Plant-based options offered, number of menu items sold, number of animal based items replaced on menu

C6. Provide healthy options at all school events 

• Encourage the consumption of healthy food at all school sponsored events (ie. concession stands, celebratory events, fundraisers)

• Create best practice for design of concession stand and celebratory events

• School fundraising efforts should revolve around items and experiences that promote health and wellness of humans on the planet 

Measurement: Healthy options offered at events, quality of nutrition, number of download/visits of best practices page, types of school fundraisers

D. Integrate nutrition within the culture of the school 

D1. Make best practice actions accessible to all through widespread communication

• Keep students informed about the schools best practices

• Create informative posters that use simple language 

• Inform students about best practices through school wide assemblies 

• Take the necessary steps to keep staff informed and educated about the best practices and nutritional health

• Promote best practices using technological and media resources to spread awareness and updates, for example, through Instagram, Facebook, or the school newspaper 

Measurement: Document number, reach, and nature of communication activities

D2. Make changes to the system and foster ongoing improvement

• Create a board that oversees all health implementations and includes nutrition

• Create an opportunity for students and staff to communicate regarding the school's nutrition best practices and propose changes

• Create a system that allows students to give feedback through meetings or surveys 

Measurement: feedback system, anonymous surveys, and how many students are involved/level of student engagement.

Submit Annual Review

The annual review for this best practice includes

• Confirming that Best Practice Actions are still active. (Eg, are programs still in operation and working? Are event or time-based actions repeated each year?)

• Amending the documentation with any changes

• Adding any lessons learned from the prior year to share with others.

To submit the annual review, send in the BP 2.2 Datasheet with the updated calendar year in the update column to reflect which BPAs are still active.

GreenStep Advisor

• Contact mngreenstepschools@gmail.com for assistance

Online Resources:

• See links in text above for resources relevant to specific actions, also see resources consulted or cited for sources.