Organic School Project's Blog

Out With the Pyramid

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:46:00 +0000

Last week, the USDA announced it was replacing the food pyramid with a new plate diagram. The USDA plate gives the largest portion to vegetables, with one the same size for grains. Fruit and protein round it out in equal portions. Off to the side is dairy, represented by a circle that might be a cup of milk or yogurt. Gone is any reference to fats, oils or sweets.

Some of the other tips on the USDA's new website are:

Balancing Calories
● Enjoy your food, but eat less.
● Avoid oversized portions.

Foods to Increase
● Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
● Make at least half your grains whole grains.
● Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Foods to Reduce
● Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals and choose the foods with lower numbers.
● Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Go to http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ for more info

Teacher Appreciation Week

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Thu, 05 May 2011 18:32:00 +0000

This week (May 2nd through 6th) is Teacher Appreciation Week. Teachers play a huge roll in every child's life and they deserve your appreciation. They put in more time for less work than almost all other professons out there. So take some time to show some appreciation to your teachers this week. Also, we at OSP are working to improve the school food that those teachers sometimes also eat. (Sometimes they Blog about it too Fed up with Lunch) So Happy Teacher Appreciation Week and also, Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Study Finds: Family Time Can Help Waist Lines!

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Wed, 04 May 2011 20:38:00 +0000

Derived from 17 previous studies, researchers found that, "youngsters who joined family members regularly for meals were 24% more likely to eat healthy foods than kids who rarely ate with their families. They were also less likely to suffer from eating disorders," reports US News Health.

Amber Hammons, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as the study lead author for the findings that were recently published in May 2 issue of Pediatrics wanted to find if there was a relationship between family and nutrition.

Verdict: Yes and here are some of the findings:

3 or more meals with the family
- 12% less likely to be overweight
- 20% less likely to eat sweets, fried foods, pop, and other junk foods

5 or more meals with the family
- 25% less likely to practice poor nutritionn habits

The study suggests that eating with the family serves as protective benefits for children, but the reasons are unclear.

Families play important roles in children's lives. Most kids actually see their parents as their role models the article says, which could be a reason why there is a positive link between families and nutrition. Think of the potential the positive link has. If a child's parents helped him be more involved by growing and picking produce from the family organic garden, cooking, and sitting down to enjoy the work all of them put in, can you imagine the benefits? Not only would the child be more involved, he could also learn about good nutrition during the process.

I think the benefits can be two fold too. Parents can pack a lunch for the next school day made from leftovers, (because who doesn't want leftovers of a meal made from love? I don't think those people even exist...), which could continue the suggestions made by the study and lessen the chances of childhood obesity.

Win-win.

Read the original article yourself here.

OSP Webinars!

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Mon, 02 May 2011 20:04:00 +0000

"Healthy Recipes Made Easy"

OSP will be doing webinars starting next week. It's a
free webinar series featuring easy healthy recipes for children.
For School Foodservice Directors, Managers & Registered Dietitians who are inspired to introduce children to healthier recipes during the school day.
Webinar supports why healthy cooking is needed in schools and presents 3 different recipes during each part of the webinar series that are easy to prepare and use healthy and fresh ingredients.

You must register in advance for the "Healthy Recipes Made Easy" Webinar. There is no charge for this event.
Click here to reserve your place.

Dates and times:

Breakfast
May 10th or May 12th at 2pm or 4pm CST

Lunch 1
May 17th or May 19th at 2pm or 4pm CST

Lunch 2
May 24th or May 26th at 2pm or 4pm CST

Side Items
May 31st or June 2nd at 2pm or 4pm CST

Guest Blog Post from the Green Parents Network

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:04:00 +0000

Chicago's Green Metropolis Fair April 16!

Chicago's Green Metropolis Fair on Saturday, April 16, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox, Chicago is a fun, inspiring event for conscious and curious individuals and families to celebrate Earth Month and spring! Jointly presented by the Green Parents Network, an online community of 2300+ families, and Chicago's Mindful Metropolis Magazine, the Fair will be open from 10-4 with both indoor and outdoor activities rain or shine.

Do you want to learn new ways to achieve and maintain a more sustainable lifestyle? There is lots going on at the Fair, including:

- Presentations on gardening, composting, bee keeping, and urban farming;

- an outdoor barnyard experience with live animals;

- Delicious, organic, and locally sourced food and drink available for purchase;

- 100+ earth friendly vendors.

- Special showings of the "Dirt! The Movie" and "Vanishing of the Bees"

Admission is free - a donation of a non-perishable food item is requested for a local food bank. There will be $5 admission to see the movies.

Chicago's Green Metropolis Fair

Saturday, April 16 - 10AM-4PM

Irish American Heritage Center

4626 N. Knox, Chicago, 60630

Plenty of free parking around the Center - conveniently located off 90/94, CTA Blue Line, and multiple bus routes.

The Green Metropolis Fair welcomes the support and collaboration of The Organic School Project - and we applaud and thank OSP for the good work they do every day to make sure our children grow up healthier and happier! Come see them April 16 at the Fair!

Mary Beth Rebedeau

Green Parents Network - Where 2300+ families meet online!

http:greenparentsnetwork.com / mbr@greenparentsnetwork.com

Follow Us On Twitter - @GreenParentsNet!

Making Changes to Stay on School Menus?

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:11:00 +0000

Courtesy of BNET

Because of the new USDA nutrition standards for school lunches, food companies such as Schwan, Tyson, and Simplot, (big names that produce pizza, chicken nuggets, and french fries for schools), are feeling the squeeze.

They needed to regroup and reformulate their offerings in order to meet guidelines and be able to stay on school lunch menus. Below are some changes:

Schwan’s new improved pizzas contain about 230 less mg of sodium, 8 less grams of fat, 100 less calories, and 51% more whole grain.

Tyson is adding whole grain to their breading and cutting sodium levels. They are also promoting chicken options that are not nugget-esque and also meet USDA guidelines like their dark meat strips with spicy orange sauce, which has 490 mg of sodium, 6 grams of fat, and about 220 calories per serving.

Simplot is having a little more trouble though. The USDA suggests kids should only consume one cup of starchy vegetables a week because on average, kids consume about two, mostly in the form of fries. They’re arguing that most fries served now are oven baked, and calorie count is around 80 to 100 per serving. The USDA is limiting how much of the starchy stuff can be offered for lunch.

The only drawback to less sodium, fat and calories is that there is a loophole-sugar. Though the other categories have been slashed, sugar levels go up a little bit.

OK, so the changes aren’t ground breaking, but they are changes. Looking at the bigger picture, less sodium, fat, and calories is still an improvement. But I still think kids are better off bringing their own lunches; that way, parents can have a say in what kids eat. Maybe if junior could pick carrots or grape tomatoes from the home garden themselves, they’ll be more prone to eagerly eating them when lunch time finally arrives.

Read the original article from bnet here.

Family Farmed Expo

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:14:00 +0000

Organic School Project will be set up at the Family Farmed EXPO this Friday & Saturday with info on our programs. Please stop by and see us!

"The Midwest’s Premier Local Food Event returns featuring 3 great days of programming at the fantastic UIC Forum on the campus of University of Illinois at Chicago.

The MUST ATTEND EVENT for: Family Farmers ~ Local Food Businesses ~ Foodies ~ Industry/Trade Professionals ~ Restaurants ~ Artisan Food Producers ~ Investors ~ Food Policy Advocates Local Food System Stakeholders

Please check out our newly announced programming for the sixth FamilyFarmed EXPO – it’s three full days packed full of workshops, chef demo’s, exhibits, parties, business to business conferences, and more! We invite you to join us for the Midwest’s leading good food conference and festival."

Please see their website for more info. Tickets are still for sale and it is open to anyone! http://www.familyfarmedexpo.com/

Close Your Eyes, Imagine…Food!

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:15:00 +0000

How many times have you said OK, this time I’m going to eat more fruits and vegetables, but by the second week that memo slowly disappears?
Well now, researchers are suggesting if we develop a concrete plan and actually envision ourselves carrying out that plan, for example imagining ourselves going to the store, buying, and eating fruits, then it may help us follow through.

Barbel Knauper, an associate professor of psychology as McGill University in Montreal did a study on 177 students. She asked them to set their goals at eating more fruit a week. So some developed concrete plans, wrote them down, and envisioned themselves carrying out their plans. Of course, all the students ate more fruit during that time period, but the ones that visualized themselves carrying out their plans consumed twice as much fruit.

This is interesting because we all want to include more fruits and vegetables in our diets, but with massive workloads and hectic schedules, we first pick up some other alternatives than fruit, especially on the go. To combat this, maybe right before you get out of bed, or while you’re waiting for the train, or whenever you have a spare minute, imagine yourself getting to those fruits and veggies and eating them. Telling kids to do this might be just as useful too.

It’s all in your head.

Read the article from US News here.

Speaking March 18th

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:09:00 +0000

The NW Suburban Chapter of the Holistic Moms Network will be hosting OSP's Greg Christian at an "Evening of Fresh Foods". He will be speaking about the "Grow. Teach. Feed." collection. The event is Friday, March 18th at 6:30pm Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

Contact Mary Green at marysgreen@hotmail.com or 847-230-0544 if you have any questions

March: National Nutrition Month

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Sponsored by the American Dietetic Association, this year’s theme is: Eat Right with Color because children tend to eat a bland, beige colored diet, which includes chicken nuggets, fries, and white bread. Not much excitement there…

Fruits and vegetables come in an array of colors and adding them to their diets not only makes the food visually more appealing, but also children can learn how the colors can be indications of nutritional density, says Chicago Sun Time.
Here is a breakdown of the colors:

Blue/purple

-Good sources of anthocyanins, the purplish phytonutrient that put blueberries on the map as a superfood. Other blue and purple foods offer similar benefits.

Choices: Purple grapes, plums, raisins, dried plums, purple asparagus, purple cabbage, purple carrots, eggplant, purple potatoes

Yellow/orange

-Ample amounts of antioxidants, such as vitamin C and beta carotene (vitamin A) in yellow and orange fruits and vegetables.

Choices: Apricots, cantaloupe, mangoes, oranges, tangerines, butternut squash, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes

Red

-Flag for health-promoting compounds like lycopene and anthocyanins.

Choices: Cherries, cranberries, red grapes, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, beets, red peppers, tomatoes

Green

-Signal for chlorophyll, and green vegetables are potent in folate and such phytonutrients as carotenoids, lutein and indoles.

Choices: Asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green beans, leafy greens such as spinach and kale, peas, snow peas, spinach, zucchini

So remember taste the rainbow!

Read the original article here.

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:05:00 +0000

The release of OSP's Grow Teach Feed: A Complete Curriculum to Inspire Healthy Lifestyles in Schools is coming THIS MONTH! Intended to foster healthier, environmentally and nutrition conscious kids, the three-volume publication provides school and kitchen staff with the resources to grow, teach and feed every child.

Interview with Mrs. Q

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:54:00 +0000

Organic School Project had a chance to interview Mrs. Q. If you don't already know who Mrs. Q is and didn't hear about her on CNN, she is a teacher who ate school lunch for a year and blogged about it.

Mrs. Q: Fed up with School Lunch – Interview Questions

1. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and what your connections to school lunches or school children are?

I am an educator who works with students in public school. I never had any special connection with school lunches until I got it in my head to eat them for a year.

2. Can you tell me about your school lunch project and why did you want to do this in the first place?

I saw the lunches in the cafeteria only in passing for a few years. They didn’t look too great, but at the time I was new and didn’t want to make waves. Plus, the average teacher doesn’t go into the cafeteria that often to critique the food. It wasn’t until I ate a couple lunches myself in the fall of 2009 (because I was running late to work and didn’t have the time to pack), when I thought more deeply about the food that the students were consuming. I worried that my students’ best chance for healthy, real food was at school, and for a real education about good food and nutrition, was being missed. Part of why I started caring more was that I had a one-year-old who was making that scary transition to real food. I started to examine my relationship with food and it extended to what I saw around me and at work.

3. How do you feel about the project ending on December 17, 2010?

I can’t believe it’s over. I’m shocked I did it physically, but I can’t believe I wasn’t found out and was able to finish the project. I really assumed that I would have been discovered by June. I’m only guessing here, but I guess no one thought it was me.

4. Did you see any improvement over the year and what have you learned from it?

The strange beauty of doing the project over a calendar year was that I was able to see if there were any changes to the menu between school years. I’m happy to report that there were changes. First, in the fall they offered more fresh, raw vegetables including an iceberg salad mix on some days and on other there was packages of broccoli. The same frozen and then reheated vegetables were served too, but the small changes were encouraging.

Additionally, when a plastic tray wasn’t available, they changed from Styrofoam to paper trays. It was really terrific to see that someone was thinking about waste.

5. Did the project affect your personally in any way (health, etc.)?

I avoided fast food and ate lots of veggies prior to eating and blogging school lunch, but looking back, now I know that my Food IQ still was quite low. Although I didn’t ever want to discuss it on the blog, I ended up having to bring up that I have a diagnosis of IBS. It was super naïve of me to think that eating school lunches for a year wouldn’t bother my sensitive system.

Right away, I noticed that drinking a pint of milk at lunch was giving my tummy troubles. At home, I just didn’t drink that much milk and so that’s how I discovered I was lactose-intolerant in January.

Many of those food discoveries actually benefited my son. We both went dairy-free (for me it was only outside of school) in September and gluten-free in October. School lunches are heavily wheat and dairy based, but even removing some gluten and dairy from my diet helped me. It wasn’t a boutique diet trying to be trendy. My son had chronic diarrhea and with my IBS, I continued to question if something in our diet was bothering us. Well, I’m happy to report that my son is doing terrific now. It was wonderful to see how quickly his body responded to the change in diet. It hasn’t been quite as quick for me – it seems like my tummy is still upset after everything I ate last year! I’ve also been diagnosed with a Vitamin D deficiency so I’m treating that.

6. How do you think people will be inspired by and learn from your project of eating cafeteria food for a year?

There are a few things that I want people to take away from the project. First, I want them to believe that one person can do something. I didn’t do very much, but what I did to raise awareness is really spectacular. I want people to believe in their crazy ideas and go for it.

I’d also like to encourage people to be critical thinkers about food in their environment and question assumptions. It’s ok to speak up.

7. What’s your next step to help improve school lunch after the school lunch project?
I’m doing what I can in my own school to start a wellness committee. It’s an uphill battle. Additionally, I will be revealing myself later in the year. I can’t wait to finally take the veil off. Being anonymous is safe but also burdensome because it’s a lot to carry around. I don’t like keeping secrets and this one is a whopper.

8. How do you think schools and parents can do better in improving school lunch system as well as educating the children? What are your suggestions?
The issue of school lunch is so complex. I think it goes back to valuing the meal. What is more important than food in our lives? We have lost that connection and we have forgotten our place in the food change, and treating food with respect. I sound like a hippie, but our roles as eaters are part of our ecosystem. Right now our food system is broken and to create change we all have to be active, aware consumers, even our kids.
The way that school lunch is structured is a huge missed opportunity. Kids get little to no nutrition training, they get no time to physically eat, they are given food with additives and food dyes, and then they don’t get recess. It’s a recipe for disaster and if you look at a lot of schools in low income areas, the students are suffering and so is their classroom performance.

9. You are located in Midwest. How do you think Midwest is doing in school food system compared to east coast and west coast? What are your thoughts on this?

I like the Organic School Project, The Healthy Schools Campaign, Common Threads, and Purple Asparagus, all of which are based in Chicago. I’m aware of REAP in Madison, but aside from that, it doesn’t seem like there is much action in the Midwest. Certainly, I’m sure that there are schools that are doing good things, but in comparison to efforts in New York and California, there is room for improvement.

10. Could you please comment on the recent news such as the House voting to send child nutrition bill to President Obama?

I’m really excited that the Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act passed and that President Obama was able to sign it into law. I realize that $0.06 per meal isn’t a vast sum, but it is the first increase in decades to a program that is having trouble keeping up with the increasing cost of food. Call me hopeful, but I do believe that the law is more than just lip service, especially considering it gives the USDA more control over competitive foods in schools, which students choose over healthy, hot lunches.

11. Please say something to people who don’t yet understand the importance of a better school food system.
My dad would be one of the people who doesn’t understand why we have to fix school food. He believes that his taxes are too high and that he is already paying for public programs. I’ll tell you what I told him: it’s all about prevention.
We have to put money into school food now so that we aren’t paying for it in skyrocketing healthcare costs down the road. Part of why his taxes are so high is that he’s paying for the healthcare of many people with complications that are the result of a poor diet. Where are the kids from this generation getting education about nutrition? A one-time seventh grade home ec class? Or year after year in our school cafeterias?
We can continue to feed kids crappy food and our country will continue to lag behind other countries that have more robust food cultures and lower rates of diabetes, malnutrition, obesity, heart disease, and cancer. To me, it’s a no brainer.

Check out her twitter and facebook too.

For the First Time in 15 Years…

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:38:00 +0000

Mark Humphrey, AP

The US Department of Agriculture wants to raise the nutrition standards for school meals!! They believe obesity has become that pressing of an issue and need to help fix it.

USA Today said, “The new meal standards are designed to improve the health of nearly 32 million children who eat lunch at school every day and almost 11 million who eat breakfast. Overall, kids consume about 30% to 50% of their calories while at school.”

Some of the requirements are:

-Decrease the amount of starchy vegetables

-Establish calorie max and mins for all grades up to 12

-Serve better milk options: fat-free flavored or 1% milk

-Increase the fruits and vegetables offered to students

-Substantially increase whole grains

-Keep trans fat at a minimum

Ahhh! So exciting because prevention /correction early can really make a difference in the long run.

Get more details from the article here.

Skip the Fast Lane

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:32:00 +0000

“Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization with supporters in 150 countries around the world who are linking the pleasure of good food with a commitment to their community and the environment. It was founded in 1989 to counter the rise of fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world,” says the website.

Courtesy of Slow Food

Slow Food’s biggest advocates are young people and their Boston division is one of the most active, and fastest growing chapters because of the high level of participation.

The organization’s supporters are called “slow foodies” and they go out on trips to learn more about local food producers, partake in potlucks, and find chefs to go to colleges to show students how they can make their own slow food.

They have a division called Slow Food on Campus. “Slow Food on Campus is a network of Slow Food USA chapters at colleges and universities across the country. Run by students, these chapters engage their communities and the next generation of Slow Food leaders by working towards a good, clean, and fair food system.”

Personally, being a college student, I know how exhausting it is to juggle academics and activities. Sometimes after the trek back home the last thing I want to do is cook and getting fast food seems so easy since it’s around every corner. But I know if I cook my own food, it’ll be more fulfilling all around; that’s why I do it. I think Slow Food is great because we’ve changed into a society where all we want to do is get things done fast. We need to slow down and reconnect.

Read the original article here from change.org.

And to explore Slow Food, go here!

Interview with Monica Eng

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:20:00 +0000

For those of you interested anything food related in Chicago, chances are you’ve read an article by Chicago Tribune reporter, Monica Eng. Writing stories on food in Chicago for the better part of 20 years now, she has become a well-known and trusted source in the journalism community. In her travels covering food news in Chicago, Monica has written many in-depth stories on food policy, and in recent years, the food policies of the Chicago Public School (CPS) system. Since we here at the Organic School Project have worked closely with a number of CPS schools and administrators to work toward serving better foods to kids, we were excited to sit and speak with Monica about her experience covering stories like these, and how she’s seen the efforts to improve school food progress over the years.

Organic School Project (OSP): How did you get started reporting stories like these? and making relationships with people in the food business in the interest of serving better food to kids?

Monica Eng (ME): In terms of looking at school food policy and efforts to improve it, it started with a piece I wrote on Greg Christian for the Chicago Tribune magazine, which is no longer in existence. I was asked to go interview a chef that was trying to make school food better. Then I did a news story right around the same time that looked like he was going to leave the program at Alcott because CPS was not allowing him to expand the feeding portion of the program to their schools, I think that was in 2007.

OSP: Did you start writing these revealing food stories to follow a trend in the media, or was it something that you found yourself to be passionate about, and pursued it?

ME: It was an assignment. I really had not looked at this issue at all. I was a feature writer, basically writing about restaurants, recipes, and restaurant trends, leisurely topics. But the editors of the magazine asked me to interview Mr. Christian.

OSP: Since you’ve been following the movement here in Chicago as a reporter for quite a few years now, do you see any changes? improvements? lessons learned? in the way that organizations (like OSP) go about making changes to the food that we’re feeding our children in school?

ME: There is certainly much more attention nationally and locally, that sort of has to do with the First Lady’s Let’s Move campaign. Some of it has to do with the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which has profited a lot of the campaigns out there. And Jamie Oliver didn’t hurt either, with his TV show. So, I think that there has definitely been an increase in coverage of it and I think OSP was a real pioneer that predated a lot of these other efforts.

We would like to thank Monica Eng for taking the time to speak with us here at OSP, and are glad to be in such great media company as we continue to work toward serving better food to our nation’s kids!

Check out some of her articles featuring the betterment of school food:

Most school garden produce is forbidden fruit in CPS lunchrooms

Changes in store for school vending machines

Red tape tangles chefs wanting to improve school lunch

Chicago chefs spice up schools' new push for healthy eating

CPS unveils push for healthier school meals

Chicago Chefs Help Bring to Light the Obstacles to Introducing Healthy Foods to CPS Lunchrooms

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:57:00 +0000

Photo: Chicago Tribune: The Stew

With the passage of the Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act earlier this month, many of those advocating for the introduction of healthy, fresh foods to kids in the lunchroom have been re-energized and re-inspired to continue their work to make changes in the lunchroom. But it’s not just isolated pockets of society, or a handful of organizations finding new inspiration with the passage of this bill, as shows. In a recent article by Chicago Tribune writer Monica Eng, the process of getting healthy, freshly prepared foods onto CPS lunch tables for one of these groups, the Chicago chef based Pilot Light program, is described.

Visiting a Chicagoland school lunchroom this past fall, the Pilot Light program chefs were determined to use their skills to deliver tasty, healthful meals to replace the processed, pre-made foods that they saw the children were being offered. Working together to plan a day of demonstrations and a Thanksgiving-themed lunch for the children of Disney II Elementary Magnet School, the program seemed to be off to a great start.

However, amidst the excitement among school faculty and parents, the Chicago Public School System administration put the day’s events on hold to discuss exactly what these chefs were setting out to do. In the end, CPS allowed the event to take place as a “tasting” rather than a full-fledged “lunch,” offering the chefs’ culinary offerings alongside regular CPS lunch fare. And while Pilot Light chefs offer a wealth of ideas and vehicles in which to incorporate recipes for fresh and healthy lunch options for kids, CPS administrators have pointed out the contractual and budgetary constraints, but are open to ideas and input from Pilot Light.

While this effort was a valiant one by the chefs of the Pilot Light program, the reaction excitement and apprehension that they received from parents and faculty, and administration, respectively, was not a first. The obstacles that the program faced in making their non-CPS contracted food available to children is what happens in districts all over the country, and is something that we at the Organic School Project are very familiar with. As Monica Eng reported in an article this fall, when Chef Greg Christian requested that the food grown by children in their Alcott elementary school garden be served in the schools cafeteria for lunch, district administrators denied the request on the grounds that the food wasn’t safe, as the food was not approved or supplied by the CPS contracted foodservice provider, Chartwells.

We at the Organic School Project think that this most recent article is great at illustrating the process, which can be difficult at times, in getting healthy foods into schools. While the passion and creativity to bring this food into the lunchroom is far from lacking, the administrative and contractual elements required to make these changes is a bit harder to work around, as this article illustrates well.

Stay tuned for our exclusive interview with the writer of this article, Chicago Tribune reporter Monica Eng.

Volunteer Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:36:00 +0000

OSP is working on the final push to complete our publication, Grow Teach Feed: A Complete Curriculum to Inspire Healthy Lifestyles in Schools and we need your help!

OSP is looking for volunteers as we seek to provide a comprehensive resource for foodservice providers, educational policymakers, kitchen staff, teachers and parents, to ensure the needs of our children are being met, both in the lunchroom and the classroom.

The Grow Teach Feed Collection, a culmination of five years of work by organic visionary and author Greg Christian, seeks to provide school and kitchen staff, as well as teachers and parents, with the resources to Grow, Teach and Feed every child.

The first volume, Grow, teaches school staff how to connect kids to the earth and their food source by converting a portion of their school ground into an organic garden that serves as an interactive classroom. The second volume, Feed, is a comprehensive training manual for schools to develop a healthful and natural–based, sustainable school foodservice that provides kids with healthier meals. Finally, Teach, the third volume, supplements these meals with lessons on nutrition and environmental stewardship to help kids make healthier choices. Read a more comprehensive description here.

Give back during this generous season and volunteer your time, gaining valuable experience while assisting a socially conscious organization help improve the quality of food served to our nation’s school children.

Throughout the month of January, OSP staff will be taking the great, kid proven recipes created by Chef Jerry, and verifying their compliance with dietary guidelines via menu planning software used by many school cafeterias. This opportunity asks for help with data entry and training in menu planning software.

Come work closely with our Grow Teach Feed Collection team and learn how school cafeterias ensure nutritional standards are being met while keeping the price affordable!

For more information, or to volunteer, send us an email at info@organicschoolproject.org

Organic School Project Partners with Door To Door Organics

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:59:00 +0000

Great news! Organic School Project is partnering with Door to Door Organics for a holiday fundraiser. For every boxof

organic produce that is purchased through this program from December 15th through December 31st, Door to Door Organics will donate 50% of new customer produce box sales to Organic School Project. Door to Door Organics delivers a wide variety of organic produce and a selection of great local grocery items to your door. You choose what box size best suits your needs and then every week Door to Door Organics emails you a seasonally appropriate menu that you customize with up to five substitutions.
Order now and ensure your own access to healthy food, while also helping to reform school lunch and improve the way our children eat. Sign up with special discount code, "organicsc

hool2010" and you'll have organic goodies showing up on your doorstep in no time. And best of all? There's no commitment, you can cancel or put your subscription on hold at anytime.

Note: New customers only. Subject to delivery areas listed here. 50% donation is good off the customer's first organic produce box ord

er only.

ABOUT DOOR TO DOOR ORGANICSC

Door to Door Organics is Chicago's home, office and school delivery service of fresh, organic fruits, veggies, and select groceries. Their mission is to establish access of nutritious food to every resident of Chicago and beyond!

The Youth Farm and Market Project

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 22:07:00 +0000

Courtesy of Youth Farm

A non-profit organization in Minnesota is working with youth from ages 9 to 18 to connect them to their food.

“It’s about a new way of bringing quality healthy food to urban neighborhoods and exploring culinary traditions from around the world – cooking and distributing over 11,000 pounds of fresh, local produce. It’s about community involvement – engaging over 400 volunteers in over 4,000 hours of service to their community,” says the website.

They focus on three main areas: urban agriculture, project LEAD, and cultural nutrition.

Urban Agriculture

Work with kids on 2+ acres of land spreading across plots on vacant lots, public housing high-rises, private lands, and churches to grow vegetables and sell the crops at different neighborhood markets.

Project LEAD

Offer paid internships and summer employment for 25 teenagers ages 14-18 where they can develop power and public leadership skills in their neighborhoods. They then can apply the skills through their work on producing and distributing local produce. They also supervise, mentor and create strong relationships with younger kids.

Cultural Nutrition

Using food as a means to educate the kids about different cultures, Youth Farm works with young leaders to learn how to grow, cook, and distribute traditional foods found in South and Central America, Asia, Africa, Europe and other countries.

The video shows several perspectives from kids and leaders where they talk about the benefits. Great program to keep kids engaged and encourage growth outside of school.

Giving Back Locally, Globally

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:40:00 +0000

TED recently posted a video of a man named John Hardy and how he came about creating a school that employed sustainable practices and educated students so they would become sustainable leaders.

In Bali, the Green School’s classrooms have no walls so air can pass through and natural light can come in, teachers write on bamboo blackboards and the desk are not square.

John said they aren’t happy about being on the grid. Then an alternative energy company from Paris wanted to help take them off the grid with solar power. They built a vortex, the second one to be built in the world. And when the turbine drops in, the vortex will produce 8000 watts of energy.

That was only part of the first half of the video. The second half addresses food, what the kids learn in school, scholarship funds, volunteers, and more.

Check it out because it really is interesting.

And check out the Green School here.

HUGE News

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 21:16:00 +0000

Photo source: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Today, after a bleak outlook last night, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act! Through it, nutritious meals will be made more accessible to students in public schools. And for the first time, it will include a Farm to School Program that will help communities establish farm to school networks, create school gardens, and get more local food into the cafeterias with the $40 million in mandatory funding.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Act will provide $4.5 billion in new funding allocated over the next 10 years to improve access to healthier meals, even when kids are out of school; so, hunger gaps during the weekends, after school, and even during summer break will be closed.

The act will expand eligibility for school lunch programs, establish nutritional standards for all school meals, and encourage schools to use locally grown food. The Agriculture Department will write those new standards, which will support eliminating fat injected items in cafeterias now to foods with less grease, sugar, and empty calories. Changes like switching to whole wheat and choosing leaner meats will help improve classic cafeteria options. Another improvement will be that vending machines and school stores will stock less candy and high-sugar beverages.

The bill will also make it easier for lower-income children to have these better meals because the number of school lunches that are subsidized by the government will increase.

This is amazing!! Not only will kids get better food, but they will also be supporting local farmers, meaning they will be helping the earth by being more sustainable.

This is right up the Organic School Project’s alley because we believe in connecting kids to their food. Needless to say, we’re pretty excited over here… =]

Read all the specifics here.

Healthier School lunches on the chopping block in Washington D.C.

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:46:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of: Inhabitots

Amidst the ever-strengthening movement toward school lunch reform, voters in our nation’s capital made great progress toward that goal when they passed a tax on soft drink sales in the District this past May. The money from this tax would go toward the “‘Healthy Schools’ initiative, providing more money for school food, as well as funding local produce in school meals and establishing grants to expand school gardens and increase physical education,” as reported by Grist. But this story has changed a bit since May.

In attempts to reduce the $188 million gap in the city’s budget, Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has suggested that these designated funds be eliminated, and put toward that budget gap. Since it’s passing in May, the funds from the tax bill have been accumulating, payments to purchase every breakfast, lunch, and locally grown food component have been made, and this proposition would halt the distribution of these funds.

But many organizational activists in the D.C. area, as well as those nationally, have begun to voice their voices of opposition. Coordinator of the D.C. Farm to School Network, Andrea Northup, stated that "For the Fenty administration to champion the Healthy Schools Act as a model for the nation, and then to cut funding for the act, they have done a grave disservice to the children of the District of Columbia."

What do you think? If the plug is pulled on these healthier school lunch options today, will it ever be reinstated in D.C., or anywhere else?

Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act Policy Update

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:22:00 +0000

Congress returned for a short work session Monday following the mid-term elections, and has a brief opportunity to pass strong child nutrition legislation that reauthorizes funding and improves standards for school food.

Under review by the House of Representatives, the Senate’s version of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill would help increase access to healthy meals and would require necessary improvements to nutrition standards for school food. Even though the First Lady, White House legislative staff, and members of the Domestic Policy Council are all working hard on the bill and regard its passage as a top priority for the Administration, significant barriers still remain. Concern by Democrats about restoring the SNAP ARRA offset…

[In order to provide funding for these programs fighting hunger and obesity, the Senate cut funding from a temporary increase to the food stamp program that was included in the stimulus bill. However, families would not see a reduction in their benefits until 2013 and could possibly never; The White House has committed to finding a way restore that funding through other means.]

and concerns about increased spending from Republicans makes passing the bill challenging.

Support is needed to ensure the House leaders have enough votes to secure passage! To guarantee the bill stays on the agenda and that your representatives vote YES call Congress today by following these easy steps provided by Share Our Strength.

Nourish: Food + Community

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:26:00 +0000

PBS had recently aired broadcasts of a national and educational initiative called Nourish.

“Nourish is a multi-year media and education initiative. The purpose of Nourish is to open a broad public conversation about our food system that encourages citizen engagement, particularly among young people and families,” says the website.

It wants us to explore the stories behind our food by seeing the overall big picture, for us to realize the impacts our food has. Different angles like the importance of where our food comes from, who picked it, and how we, especially the younger population, can change food were shown in the 30 minute special to illustrate how we can work towards having a more sustainable system.

There are also mini videos where Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food, speaks on the government subsidizing the wrong foods like high fructose corn syrup going into processed complex creations like Twinkies instead of carrots from the ground.

And I want to know why is that, when pressing health problems such as our obesity rate is so high??

In another mini video, Jamie Oliver says, “food is like music” because food is “a creative thing.” He says food be taken in a thousand different ways, but like music, you can take it in a direction that you want and love.

Here is the trailer:

Check out the minivid where Michael Pollan touches on how much the US spends on food compared to other parts of the world and how the changes correlate to the changes in health care spending.

Recess Before Lunch Encourages Healthier Eating Habits and Better Behavior

noreply@blogger.com (OSP) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:27:00 +0000

Photo credit: Kirsten Luce for The New York Times

Not only is recess an integral part of the student’s day, its timing is also significant. A New York Times article discusses the benefits schools are observing as a result of scheduling recess before lunch- less plate waste and an increase in fruit, vegetable, milk and water consumption.

Kids often rush through their lunch in order to get outside, leaving much of their food uneaten. By having recess first, kids feel as if they have more time to eat, leading to less plate waste. Because of this, kids are less likely to become hungry or feel sick later in the day.

Schools have reported other benefits including fewer behavior problems, a more relaxed eating environment, and a reduced number of nurse visits. This is attributed to fewer headaches and stomachaches that result from physical activity directly after eating—“One child told school workers that he was happy he didn’t throw up anymore at recess.”

For some schools, recess first also means more time to teach. Typically, kids need a cool down period after recess in order to relax and refocus on school work. Since kids have a chance to unwind during lunch, teachers now have 10-15 minutes of extra classroom time.

While school staff report some logistical challenges that make them reluctant to switch—making sure kids wash their hands before lunch (which students should be doing anyways, whether it is before or after recess), distributing lunch cards while kids are coming in from recess rather than while they are sitting at their desks, and visits to lockers between recess and lunch- the pilot programs demonstrate many advantages for both students and teachers that appear to outweigh the challenges.

One important concern children’s health experts raise is that this switch may not work in many urban school districts where lower-income children come to school hungry. Programs that feed breakfast to all students are important to ensure kids are not ravenous by lunch time and can enjoy the benefits of waiting until after recess to eat.