Going to breakfast, lunch and beyond
Successful nutrition programs encompass more than the cafeteria
If you’re walking the halls of Chestermere’s Our Lady of Wisdom School, don’t be surprised if you run into caped crusaders named Courageous Carrot, Bouncy Broccoli or Wowtastic Water.
They are among the school’s Healthy Heroes, eight Grade 5 and 6 students who have been appointed to raise awareness about nutrition via food and wellness- related challenges set for the school.
Karen Ryhorchuk, the Catholic School District’s senior communications specialist, says the Healthy Heroes program is an example of how the district encourages a variety of staff- and student- led healthy- living initiatives.
“If we create opportunities to teach and learn about healthy choices, we create better, engaged learners,” she says.
One challenge, for example, involves the “tasty colour wheel lottery,” which encourages students to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. After a spin of the wheel, if the colour of the day is red, each class accrues points for every red fruit or vegetable in students’ lunches.
Another initiative of the Healthy Heroes is one designed to alter the “cupcake parade” associated with student birthdays. If a student brings a healthy birthday treat to share with classmates ( for example, fruit kebabs) that student becomes an honorary Healthy Hero.
“Balance and moderation is the program’s focus. It’s not realistic to say, ‘ Never eat a cupcake for the rest of your life.’ We still eat some cupcakes, but we don’t always eat cupcakes. We want to get kids to think of other options,” says principal Lisa Ashworth.
“You don’t always have to have bad choices. You can have good choices, too,” 10- year- old Bouncy Broccoli, a. k. a. Max Cook explains.
One of those good choices, according to 10- year- old Zane Smith ( a. k. a. Wowtastic Water) is that, “Water helps energize you for sports, not just Gatorade.”
“It’s a good feeling that you’re taking action, helping people maintain a healthy life,” 10- yearold Madalyn Smith, a. k. a. Courageous Carrot, says.
Besides having pro- nutrition programs like Healthy Heroes, several schools in both the public and Catholic systems offer breakfast programs.
With the support of organizations like the Breakfast Club of Canada, Breakfast for Learning, Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Calgary, these organizations assist local schools in providing breakfast and lunch programs for students.
To receive support from the Breakfast Club of Canada, at least 20 per cent of a school’s population must be at risk of not receiving an adequate breakfast. So far, the Club has helped establish breakfast programs in 26 Calgary schools.
“Sixty per cent of learning is done in the morning. If children are focusing on their grumbling tummies, they can’t learn,” explains Emily Kampman, the Club’s program adviser for Western Canada.
Kampman says the Breakfast Club of Canada stipulates a school must open the breakfast program to all students, to erase any possibility of stigma.
“It’s almost like a grandma’s house environment; a warm, caring environment where kids come in and eat breakfast,” says the Calgary Board of Education’s ( CBE’s) corporate partnership specialist, Vicki McLaughlin.
McLaughlin is referring to the Fuel for School programs ( which the Breakfast Club of Canada is a supporter of ) found in 19 CBE elementary schools, with more schools operating informal programs.
Each of these schools serves between 20 and 60 breakfasts daily.
“There used to be food- insecure pockets of Calgary. Now, there is need across the city,” McLaughlin says.
Meanwhile at the high school level, some enlist the help of their culinary arts students to provide nutritious meals to the population.
At Bishop McNally High School, for example, culinary students prepare food that is sold in the school’s cafeteria. And we’re not talking sandwiches. Think sushi, prime rib and glazed parsnips.
Principal Deana Helton estimates around 250 students are served in the cafeteria each day, consuming the meals prepared by their peers.
“We keep our prices low; $ 5 for a cafe meal, for example. We do that because we want our students to eat healthy in the building, rather than going out for fast food,” Helton says.