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Salad bars = more fruits & vegetables for students
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent this bulletin at 10/17/2012 08:49 AM EDT
Salad bars + healthier school lunches = more fruits & vegetables for students
Children eat healthier foods when nutritious options are available.
School children eat more fruits and vegetables when they have a variety of choices, such as those provided in a self-serve salad bar. That’s what research and actual experience in schools are discovering.(1) To accelerate this trend, the “Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools” program is offering incentives to help school lunch rooms become better equipped to provide tasty fruits and vegetables.
Self-serve salad bars increase students’ consumption of fruits and vegetables in schools and, thanks to new National School Lunch Program (NSLP) standards, the school day is healthier starting this year. The new meal standards include ensuring that the 32 million students participating in the program are offered both fruits and vegetables every school day. Using salad bars is one way for schools to implement the new nutrition standards for school lunch, which more than double the amount of fruits and vegetables served and emphasize color and variety.
The health benefits of fruits and vegetables are many. As part of a healthy diet, they help contribute to optimal child growth, weight management and chronic disease prevention. Yet across the U.S., fruit and vegetable consumption among adolescents is low.(2) School salad bars and the new NSLP standards are two ways to help improve this problem. When offered multiple fruit and vegetable choices, children may respond by trying new items, incorporating greater variety into their diets, and increasing their daily consumption of fruits and vegetables.(3)
Any school, public or private, participating in the NSLP can apply for a start-up award to help pay for salad bar equipment. And, members of the school community can help raise money for a salad bar by holding fundraising events or applying for small grants. Interested schools can begin the salad bar application process by completing an online application at: www.saladbars2schools.org. The website also offers details about the benefits of salad bars, and resources to help roll out salad bars in schools.
Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools is an initiative of the Food Family Farming Foundation, National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, United Fresh Produce Association Foundation, and Whole Foods Market to support First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Initiative.
More Information
- Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools
- Fruit & Vegetable Benefits
- Implementing Strong Nutrition Standards for Schools: Financial Implications
- Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools
References
3 Harris DM, Seymour J, Grummer-Strawn L, et al. Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools: A public-private partnership to increase student fruit and vegetable consumption. Childhood Obesity 2012; 8(4):294 – 297.
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