{"id":14552,"date":"2012-10-31T11:41:16","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T15:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=14552"},"modified":"2012-10-31T11:41:18","modified_gmt":"2012-10-31T15:41:18","slug":"how-schools-are-encouraging-students-to-eat-healthier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/10\/31\/how-schools-are-encouraging-students-to-eat-healthier\/","title":{"rendered":"How Schools Are Encouraging Students To Eat Healthier"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_14553\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 276px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/10\/31\/how-schools-are-encouraging-students-to-eat-healthier\/fruitdisplay-by-fruitwork\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14553\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14553\" title=\"fruitdisplay by fruitwork\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2012\/10\/fruitdisplay-by-fruitwork.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"276\" height=\"299\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">FRUITWORK\/flickr<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Schools are using fancy recipes and colorful displays to make healthier fare more appealing.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The United States Department of Agriculture says school meals play a critical role in helping children learn how to lead healthy lifestyles.<\/p>\n<p>As federal guidelines shift toward healthier fare in school lunches, entrees that are bland and unseasoned won\u2019t do the trick.<\/p>\n<p>Leon County Schools Nutrition Services Director Cathy Reed says many schools have gardens that feature ingredients for adding flavor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of them have spices, herbs; and we would like the cafeteria to be able to use some of those fresh herbs in their cooking,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know how important it is to try to educate children to eat better and eat healthier,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->\u201cWe just want them to eat these new items that they may see in the schools and hopefully teach them to have a healthier lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The USDA has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.schoolnutrition.org\/uploadedFiles\/calories%20fact%20sheet%20final%20%282%29.pdf\">suggestions for schools<\/a> to make meals more appealing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Boost flavor with herbs, spices, or lower-sodium sauces. Use heart-healthy fats like vegetable oils.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage frequent selection of whole fruits and vegetables rather than juices.<\/li>\n<li>Consider innovative offerings like baked apples, potato-based breading and entr\u00e9e salads.<\/li>\n<li>Prepare pastas and soups with more vegetables and legumes.<\/li>\n<li>Engage students in recipe contests and kitchen tours.<\/li>\n<li>Create attractive fruit displays, give dishes mouth-watering names, and place fruit and veggies ahead of the main dish.<\/li>\n<li>Give students enough time to select and eat their entire meal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Rick Parks, lead dietitian with the Florida Department of Agriculture, says gardens are great for letting kids get their hands on the food.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResearch shows that if you invite kids in on the process so you\u2019re talking to them about where your food comes from and they\u2019re involved in the growing process,\u201d Parks said, the students are more likely to try healthy fare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States Department of Agriculture says school meals play a critical role in helping children learn how to lead healthy lifestyles. As federal guidelines shift toward healthier fare in school lunches, entrees that are bland and unseasoned won\u2019t do the trick. Leon County Schools Nutrition Services Director Cathy Reed says many schools have gardens [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":14553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[1045,1021,1128],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}