Nutrition in Our Schools

The following opinion piece was submitted by Kelly Tynan, a Democratic candidate for state representative in the 10th Suffolk District, which includes precincts 14, 15 and 16 in Brookline.

As the legislative session ended last week, an Act Relative to School Nutrition was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Deval Patrick last Friday. As a public school teacher, I am grateful for the passage of this long-overdue legislation as I have taught overweight and obese children. However, some of these children did not have options beyond what was served in lunch lines at our school.  Unfortunately, many young people are getting their main or only meals of the day in school cafeterias. Often times, particularly in our urban schools, physical education programs are not offered to our children. Most of these children do not walk or even have the option to walk to school.

One in five children in the United States is overweight or obese, in addition to the one in three overweight and obese adults. Their obesity-related health care costs have skyrocketed to nearly $147 billion a year. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has reported that this as a major national security issue, as many young men and women are disqualified from military service due to weight issues. School nutrition policies are needed more now than ever to lengthen our children's life-spans from previous generations, to curb these rising health care costs and to protect our national security. Healthy food options need to be made available and accessible to all children.

There is so much we can do to reverse the trend of childhood obesity in our country. In order to have healthy and fit children in our schools, we need to do the following:

• Mandate at least 30 to 45 minutes per day for Physical Education or other physical activity such as recess, walking clubs, yoga, pilates or Zumba classes or intramural sports

• Implement Nutrition programs that teach our children how to make healthy choices, including PSAs like those in the 1970 and 1980s by ABC and the UCLA School of Public Health

• Provide healthy options in our school cafeterias, including locally grown produce, whole grains and lean protein.

According to Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, states and local school districts are free to set their own physical activity guidelines. This is very important and that is why I supported Senate Bill 2294, an Act Relative to Evaluating and Enhancing Quality Physical Education. I have seen firsthand the lack of physical education in our schools and I believe that "A Physical Education Advisory Council" is a crucial step in promoting the social and emotional well being of our children in Massachusetts.

I support the Healthy Schools Challenge initiated by Secretary Sebelius and encourage municipalities including Boston and Brookline to take part in Let's Move Cities and Towns to combat childhood obesity. Additionally, I support reviving memorable Public Service Announcements (PSAs) that promote making healthy nutritional choices like I watched between Saturday morning cartoons on ABC in the 1980s. I have fond childhood memories of Time for Timer singing, "You Are What You Eat" and "Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese!"

Our legislature, particularly Rep. Peter Koutoujian, has been working diligently to remove unhealthy foods from our schools and vending machines. Even my fourth-grade students were keeping up with the details of this successful legislation. Bake sales (exempt from the legislation) are very important to 10 year olds! In class this past spring, there was one day when students saw my lunch and oohed and awed. Did I have a burger and fries? No. Pizza? No. Chicken nuggets? No. I had a salad made with mesclun greens, strawberries, blueberries and fresh goat cheese. I creatively presented this salad on a large plate and modeled for my students a healthy and hearty option for lunch. My students preferred my lunch over the sole option they were given that day in the cafeteria.

Combating childhood and subsequently adult obesity will not solely be solved by taking away all unhealthy foods from schools. Ultimately, we need to offer children healthy options and physical education and teach them how to choose proper types of foods and suitable portions. Most importantly, adults must model these choices for children and modeling healthy choices begins in the home and subsequently should be exemplified by our schools.

- Kelly Tynan