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How to Build

aHealthy

Kid

In association with

BACK-TO-SCHOOL GUIDEBOOK

ADVERTISEMENT

OUR KIDS ARE BECOMING

UNHEALTHY AND SEDENTARY,

yet budget cuts and the pressure to

boost test results mean physical ed-

ucation and school teams have been

reduced or slashed altogether. So

how can we give our young people a

fi ghting chance at good health?

The National Dairy Council

(NDC) and the National Football

League faced this challenge when

they created Fuel Up to Play 60, an

innovative school wellness program

already in play in more than 60,000

elementary, middle and high schools

in the U.S. “The NFL and its teams are

committed to helping young people

recognize the importance of good

nutrition and physical activity,” says

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“Fuel Up to Play 60 is a great

program that helps students un-

derstand and enjoy the elements

of a healthy lifestyle.”

The program—in collaboration

with the USDA, all 32 NFL teams

and local Dairy Councils, and

supported by a number of health

and nutrition organizations—

encourages students to collaborate

with teachers and other school

staff on healthy eating and exercise

strategies. The goal: to help kids

“fuel up” with nutrient-rich foods

and “get up and play” for at least

60 minutes a day.

“Schools should be places

where students have endless

opportunities to make excellent

choices, from the food they eat to

the physical activity in which they

engage,” says Department of Edu-

cation Secretary Arne Duncan.

Adult program advisors who

are passionate about wellness are

key to putting the program in place,

keeping it on track and inspiring

students. Getting your school’s

nutrition and physical education

teams on board will enhance your

chances of success.

This booklet offers compelling

evidence, based on both research

and success stories, that programs

like Fuel Up to Play 60 really work.

You can join the movement online

at www.FuelUptoPlay60.com.

BACK TO SCHOOL—

AND BETTER HEALTH

©2010 National Dairy Council®. Fuel Up is a service mark of National Dairy Council. ©2010 NFL Properties LLC. Team names/logos/indicia are trademarks of the teams indicated. All other NFL-related trademarks are trademarks of the National Football League. NFL PLAYERS is a trademark of National Football League Players Incorporated.

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01

HEALTHY KIDS

BACK TO SCHOOL

The Childhood- Obesity Crisis 4

A former surgeon general speaks out by david satcher

Lunchroom Makeover 8

How to encourage healthy eatingby claudia kalb

A Chef Hits the Cafeteria 12

An interview with Kathy Gunstby claudia kalb

Recess Revolution 18

Putting the fi zz back in phys edby johannah cornblatt

Secrets From the NFL 26

Two football stars on staying fi t by nayeli rodriguez

What Do Kids Really Eat? 28

Too often, not what they should by ian yarett

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02

BAC K TO S C H O O L2

The Washington Post Company KATHARINE GRAHAM, 1917–2001

DONALD E. GRAHAM, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Offi cer

MANAGING DIRECTOR: Ann L. McDaniel CHAIRMAN: Richard M. Smith

EDITOR: Jon Meacham EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Lally Weymouth

GUIDEBOOK EDITOR

Debra Rosenberg

CONTRIBUTORS

Johannah Cornblatt, Claudia Kalb, Nayeli Rodriguez, David Satcher, Ian Yarett

DESIGN DIRECTOR

Andrew James Capelli

DEPUTY DESIGN DIRECTOR

Sara McKay

DESIGN

Kristen Ren

DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION

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PHOTO EDITORS

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EDITORIAL PRODUCTION

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COPY EDITORS

David Olivenbaum (chief), Andrew Cohen, Lisa DeLisle, Jacqueline F. Kurtzberg, Steve Noveck,

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MANUFACTURING AND DISTRIBUTION

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Mark Heeman, Michael Helldorfer, Lauren Palmieri, Damian Ross, Cintia Senmartin,

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Tom AscheimCHIEF ADVERTISING OFFICER

Alyson RacerU.S. PUBLISHER AND SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT

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John M. Ernst

cover and inside

illustrations

by zsuzsanna ilijin

© 2010 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. 395 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014.

CALL FOR COLLABORATION:AN OPEN LETTER TO AMERICA’S EDUCATORS

Nearly one-third of American children and adolescents, approximately

25 million kids, are now overweight or obese. If current trends continue,

our children may have shorter life expectancies than we do.

Schools present a key battleground in the fi ght for a healthier generation,

and it will take a unifi ed effort to effect lasting change.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an active

member of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to end

childhood obesity within a generation, and recognizes and applauds

efforts across the private and public sectors to give our children a healthier

future. One such effort, Fuel Up to Play 60, is creating healthy, sustainable

changes in more than 60,000 schools nationwide. Fuel Up to Play 60 is an

in-school nutrition and physical activity program launched by the National

Dairy Council (NDC) and the NFL, in collaboration with the USDA. The program

is grounded in decades of nutrition and physical activity experience and

research, and encourages kids to consume nutrient-rich foods, like low-fat

and fat-free dairy foods, fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and achieve

at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day.

Fuel Up to Play 60 was designed to be customizable so youth and

schools can determine which tools and resources will best meet their

own wellness goals. NFL’s commitment to youth health and fi tness and

their admired players, social-marketing components, motivating rewards

and funding opportunities for schools are all part of the program’s appeal

and what makes it unique among school-based programs.

Fuel Up to Play 60 offers bold leadership for child health and wellness

through the support of many organizations, including Action for Healthy

Kids, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy

of Pediatrics, the American Dietetic Association/Foundation, the National

Medical Association, the National Hispanic Medical Association and the

School Nutrition Association.

Efforts like Fuel Up to Play 60 cannot affect widespread change alone;

it will take a combined effort from educators, businesses, health and nutrition

professionals, government, educators and communities across the country.

We support Fuel Up to Play 60, and we ask for your help in raising awareness

of this issue and ensuring that all our children receive adequate nutrition and

physical activity.

Let’s fi ght for healthier kids. Join the Fuel Up to Play 60 solution.

Visit www.FuelUptoPlay60.com to get involved.

Tom VilsackSecretaryUnited States Department of Agriculture

ADVERTISEMENT

C M Y K 5 95

LETTER Folio Mag Pg Vol MO

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even in this age of google and

iPads, there are some problems that

technology cannot solve. One clear

example is the growing epidemic of

obesity in America, particularly among

our children. The problem is rooted

in our modern lifestyle—yes, perhaps

some of our cutting-edge technology

has even made it worse by creating a

generation of couch potatoes. Child-

hood obesity is now contributing to

the increase in ailments like diabetes

and heart disease . Finding a solution

must be a national imperative. Thank-

fully, fi rst lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s

Move campaign may fi nally be giving

the problem the attention it deserves.

Childhood obesity isn’t a new issue,

but it is a worsening one. When the

surgeon general’s Call to Action to

Prevent and Decrease Overweight

and Obesity was released in 2001,

being overweight and obese had al-

ready reached epidemic proportions CO

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by david satcher

An epidemic of obesity threatens our children’s future. What we can do about it.

A Call to Action

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in this country. That report noted

that, in 1999, some 61 percent of adults

were overweight or obese, and 13

percent of children and adolescents

were overweight. There were nearly

twice as many overweight children

and almost three times as many

overweight adolescents as there had

been in 1980. A 2007–08 National

Health and Nutrition Examination

Survey revealed that an estimated 17

percent of children and adolescents

ages 2 to 19 were obese. Among pre-

school children 2 to 5 years of age,

obesity increased from 5 to 10.4 per-

cent between 1980 and 2008. It rose

from 6.5 to 19.6 percent among 6- to

11-year-olds. And among adolescents

12 to 19, obesity more than tripled,

increasing from 5 to 18.1 percent dur-

ing the same period.

Obesity in children is of particular

concern: obese children and adoles-

cents are more likely to be at risk for

health problems once

faced only by adults,

like cardiovascular

problems and type

2 diabetes. The inci-

dence of type 2 dia-

betes is increasing

among children and

adolescents; most of them, according

to the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention, are between 10 and

19 years old, obese, have a strong fam-

ily history for type 2 diabetes, and

have insulin resistance. Even chil-

dren who don’t develop grown-up

illnesses right away are at risk: these

5N E WSW E E K . C O M

kids are also far more likely to become

obese adults, who will eventually face

a whole array of other health issues.

Luckily, there is much we can do

to change this grim trend. We can

encourage healthy lifestyles and pre-

vention measures that will secure

a healthy future for America’s chil-

dren—getting them used to good,

nutritious foods and regular exer-

cise. While families, communities,

and policymakers all have a role in

working collaboratively to eliminate

obesity, I believe that schools—I like

to call them the “great equalizers”—

present the best opportunity. Schools

are inclusive—everybody goes to

school—and children spend 1,000

hours a year there. Schools provide an

opportunity to educate and infl uence

the habits of children from all kinds

of environments, aff ecting their lives

and the lives of their families, now and

in the future. Schools can also help

to target underlying

social problems that

infl uence unhealthy

behavior, including

poverty, safety, vio-

lence, and the ab -

sence of stores that

sell healthy food.

My own organi zation, Action for

Healthy Kids (AFHK), addresses the

epidemic of overweight, undernour-

ished, and sedentary youth by focus-

ing on improving nutrition and phys-

ical-activity policies and practices in

schools. A partnership of 60 organi-

zations and government agencies that

IN 2008 AN ESTIMATED 17 PERCENT OF

CHILDREN AGES 2 TO 19 WERE OBESE.

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supports the eff orts of teams—includ-

ing 14,000 volunteers—in all 50 states

and the District of Columbia, AFHK

was founded in 2002 in response to

the surgeon general’s Call to Action

the previous year, which identifi ed

the school environment as one of fi ve

key sites of change.

A 2004 AFHK report, “The Learn-

ing Connection: The Value of Improv-

ing Nutrition and Physical Activity

in Our Schools,” pointed out that

children who were physically active

and ate a nutritious breakfast per-

formed better in school. They con-

centrated better; performed better

on standardized exams in read-

ing and math; were better disci-

plined; and were much less likely to

be absent from school. In a 2008

report, “Progress or Promises: What’s

Working for and Against Healthy

Schools,” we found diff ering views

of schools’ eff orts to promote healthy

behavior.

The nutrition, health, and public-

health professionals surveyed cited

nutrition education as the most eff ec-

tive strategy to help youth make

better food selections. A majority

of school administrators, including

superintendents, board members,

principals, and school food- service

professionals, felt their schools were

already doing a good job of off ering

healthy, kid-friendly food options.

But some 82 percent of parents felt

schools needed to work harder in

these areas.

Nearly 80 percent of physical-

education teachers and parents felt

schools needed to provide more physi-

cal education. Yet about half of school

administrators indicated that schools

already provide enough quality daily

physical education for all students.

Fewer than one in four parents had

ever talked with their child’s teacher

or principal about improving nutri-

tion or physical activity at school, even

though most parents felt these were

signifi cant concerns.

A 2007 national survey conducted

by AFHK revealed that 18 percent of

parents thought schools were doing a

good job off ering nutritious, appeal-

ing foods, and only 20 percent thought

schools off ered enough physical activ-

ity. Nearly all (96 percent) thought that

parents play an important role in advo-

cating for better nutrition and more

physical education, yet only 24 percent

had ever contacted their child’s school

to request improvements.

One of three elementary schools did

not off er daily recess, and only 4 per-

cent off ered daily physical education.

Physical education actually declined

as students progressed through school.

And most local school wellness poli-

cies we examined did not include

goals for physical education or

physical- education-teacher training.

Though the overall picture seems

bleak, there are some bright spots in


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07

our eff orts to tackle childhood obe-

sity. One example is Fuel Up to

Play 60, a new youth program spon-

sored by the National Dairy Council

and the National Football League that

encourages kids to eat healthy by tak-

ing the right fuels—fruits and vegeta-

bles, water, low-fat milk, whole-grain

bread—into their bodies and to be

active for at least 60 minutes a day.

Action for Healthy Kids also devel-

oped, in partnership with the National

Football League, the first national

after-school program, ReCharge! En-

er gizing After-School, that fully inte-

grates nutrition and physical activity

through teamwork-based strategies

for youth in grades three to six. In

the last school year, AFHK reached

nearly 4 million kids

in 8,000 schools in

1,100 school districts.

Now some 90 per-

cent of schools have

wellness policies in -

tend ed to promote

physical education

and model good nutrition in grades

K through 12. But there is still a tre-

mendous gap between policy state-

ments and program implementation.

Concrete action can make a diff er-

ence: there are school districts that

have invested in carts and equip-

ment to serve breakfast in class-

rooms, and as a result have increased

the number of children receiving a

nutritious breakfast.

These kinds of partnerships be-

tween schools and outside groups CO

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will be critical to addressing this

complex challenge and all the barri-

ers to healthy behavior that go with

it. Individuals must make healthy

lifestyle choices for themselves and

their families; com-

munities must make

changes that promote

healthful eating and

physical activity; and

policies must be de -

vel oped and imple-

mented to ensure that

the changes take place. Working

together, we can create a healthier

America—for all of us, but especially

for our children.

david satcher, M.D., Ph.D., was

surgeon general of the United States

from 1998 to 2002. He is the director of

the Satcher Health Leadership Institute

and the Center of Excellence on Health

Disparities at Morehouse School of

Medicine, where he is also the Poussaint-

Satcher-Cosby professor of mental health.

ONLY 18 PERCENT OF PARENTS THOUGHT SCHOOLS WERE DOING A GOOD JOB OFFERING

NUTRITIOUS FOODS.

SATCHER WITH

HOUSTON STUDENTS.

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ten years ago, elementary-school

students in Cambridge, Mass., ate a

fairly typical lunch: American chop

suey, beef and macaroni, canned fruit

in syrup. “There were no fresh vegeta-

bles and no whole grains,” says Dawn

Olcott, a school nutritionist with the

Cambridge Public Health Department.

“And dairy products were not low fat.”

Today, locally grown produce, in-

cluding fresh squash

and tomatoes, is

off ered. A chef is cre-

ating nutritious re ci-

pes . And students are

growing fruits and

vegetables in their

own school garden.

“There’s just nothing like kids plant-

ing the seed and watching it come

up,” says Virginia Chomitz, a senior

scientist at the Institute for Com-

munity Health , based at the Cam-

bridge Health Alliance. “A child who

wouldn’t even look at a snow pea

before will pop it in her mouth and

have a new and positive experience

about food.”

That new and positive experience

has been missing for far too long.

The National School Lunch Program


by claudia kalb

How schools can plant the seeds for healthy eating.

Lunchroom

Makeover

provides meals for more than 30 mil-

lion children across the country every

day. Those lunches, many of which

are served free or at a reduced cost, are

critical to the well-being of students.

But they are not nearly as nutritious

as they should be. A report sponsored

by the U.S. Department of Agriculture

found that the average salt content

of school lunches is almost twice the

recommended level .

Schools do provide a

range of choices for

students, but many

of those options are

high-fat, high-calorie

foods, such as french

fries and cheese-

burgers. Almost one third of schools

still off er whole milk, despite govern-

ment guidelines recommending non-

fat or low-fat milk for children age 2

and older . And while most schools are

meeting targets for protein and vita-

mins, 42 percent fail to off er fresh fruit

or raw vegetables on a daily basis.

Unhealthy eating has contributed

to a childhood-obesity epidem ic in

this country. One third of America’s

youth are now overweight or obese,

putting them at risk for chronic

42 PERCENT OF SCHOOLS FAIL TO

OFFER FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLES ON A DAILY BASIS.

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illnesses, including diabetes and car-

diovascular disease. The obesity crisis

has alarmed public-health offi cials

and propelled better nutrition into the

spotlight. First lady Michelle Obama

has made school lunch a pillar of her

Let’s Move initiative, launched ear-

lier this year. Major food suppliers

have joined in, pledging to decrease

sugar, fat, and salt; increase whole

grains; and double the amount of

fruits and veggies served in school

meals within 10 years . On Capitol Hill,

the Child Nutrition Reauthorization

Act, which seeks to increase meal-

reimbursement rates so schools can

buy higher-quality and fresher foods,

is making its way through the legis-

lature. And the push to feed students

more nutritious meals has even made

it to prime-time TV: in a recent Top

Chef episode featuring White House

assistant chef Sam Kass as guest

judge, contestants competed to create

a healthy, kid-friendly school lunch

on a limited budget. Thumbs down:

banana pudding doused in sugar. Best

of the bunch: pork carnitas, cole slaw

made with yogurt, chicken fl avored

with apple cider, and melon kebabs.

Lessons learned from the Cam-

bridge initiative, which was launched

in 1998, are relevant to any school dis-

trict in the country. First and foremost,

revolutionizing school lunch is no

easy task. One major hurdle: adjust-

ing a food-service culture that has

been entrenched for decades. Lunch

staff are used to serving canned goods

and reheating foods prepared else-

where, because feeding kids quickly

and effi ciently on a budget has long

been the goal—not necessarily feeding

them well. Chomitz and Olcott, who

work collaboratively through Cam-

bridge’s Healthy Children Task Force,

have learned that change will come

only when school administrators make

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kitchens. When Olcott and Connelly

attempted to lay out how to make the

fi rst recipe—a simple mix of butternut

squash, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown

sugar, and oil—they immediately

noticed staff members looking at each

other as if something was wrong. “We

were telling them to measure out a

tablespoon of cinnamon,” says Olcott.

“They said, ‘We don’t have measuring

spoons and cups.’ I hadn’t realized they

didn’t have that kind of basic equip-

ment .” The condition of school ovens

diff ered signifi cantly , so the recipe

had to be tweaked. In one kitchen, the

bake time was 40 minutes; in another,

60 . “We had to work with the staff at

each of the schools to coach them and

change the recipe based on what their

ovens could do,” says Olcott.

Patience and fl exibility are critical

to the success of lunch makeovers.

It took 14 months to get Chef Vin’s

butternut squash on school menus.

Every step posed new

challenges: creating

the recipe, conduct-

ing taste tests with

kids and finessing

the mixture, find-

ing a local vendor

who could supply

450 pounds of diced

squash , getting staff up to speed in

their kitchens. And lunch reformers

must be prepared for the palates of

children, too, who don’t always take to

a new food instantaneously. “You have

to present it to them seven, eight, nine

times for them to be comfortable try-

ing it and liking it,” says Connelly.

The Cambridge team is realistic

about how radically it can transform

school cafeterias. A complete revolu-

tion is economically and practically

diffi cult to accomplish, and the ele-

mentary-school menu still contains

some of the old standbys—mac and

cheese, spaghetti and meat sauce. But

options have markedly improved.

Today kids can choose grilled-chicken

fajitas, vegetarian chili, lentil soup,

tomato-basil-mozzarella salad, and

roasted sweet-potato fries with cumin

and chili powder. One day, after Olcott

and Connelly encouraged staff partici-

pation, a food-service member showed

up with her own batch of golden broth

with fresh cabbage, turnips, carrots,

butternut squash, and potatoes. “It

was fabulous,” says Olcott. “Marie’s

Haitian Soup” is now a regular feature.

Ultimately, the key to improving

any lunch program is sustainability.

“If the program only

works when the chef

is in the kitchen, it

will never be success-

ful,” says Connelly.

One-on-one training

and straightforward,

simple recipes are the

way to go. The pay-

off is enormous, especially when kids

learn healthy habits early in life and

make them part of their daily routine.

“I’ve had kids say, ‘I want my mom or

dad to make this at home,’ ” says Con-

nelly. “I think that’s a testament that it’s

working. That makes me feel great.”


‘A LOT OF THE CHILDREN HAD NEVER SEEN A WHOLE HEAD OF BROCCOLI BEFORE

IN ITS FRESH RAW FORM,’ SAYS OLCOTT.

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nutrition a top-down priority, not an

afterthought. Chomitz learned how

low nutrition ranked when she fi rst

approached the Cambridge school

system about improving its lunch

off erings a decade ago: the superin-

tendent told Chomitz she’d never had

a conversation with

a food-service staff

member. “It never

dawned on her.”

Fortunately, the

school system agreed

to join forces and

hired a proactive food-

service manager who

was eager to support better nutrition.

Using funding obtained through fed-

eral, state, and local grants , Chomitz

and her team purchased fresh fruits

and vegetables and brought them into

the schools for kids to sample. Cam-

bridge public schools serve a broad mix

of students: 64 percent are nonwhite

and 41 percent are low income. “A lot

of the children had never seen a whole

head of broccoli before in its fresh raw

form,” says Olcott. College students

volunteered to help, and together they

handed out small tasting cups at caf-

eteria tables and talked to the kids

about each of the items. The goal was

not just to get children excited about

brightly colored fruits and vegetables,

but also to convince food-service staff

that the kids would actually eat them.

Not only did they eat them, “they’d

come back for seconds and frequently

thirds,” says Olcott.

The more experience kids have with

fruits and vegetables, the better: a child

who picks a tomato or slices a car-

rot wants to eat it . So the Cambridge

team partnered with a local school-

gardening group called City Sprouts to

create school-based gardens. Whenever

possible, the produce grown was fea-

tured in the cafeteria

as a fruit or vegetable

of the month.

School lunches can -

not be remade in one

giant leap . In Cam-

bridge, goal No. 1 was

simply adding fr esh

fruits and vegetables.

Next up: new dishes created with local

produce. In 2006 the school system

hired part-time chef Vin Connelly to

develop tasty, kid-friendly recipes. Here

again, the team had to be sensitive to

longtime food staff ers. “I can’t walk into

a kitchen and say, ‘Chef Vin is here—get

out of the way,’ ” says Connelly. “A lot of

these people have been in their job 25

years. Like anybody else, they’re resis-

tant to change.” It became clear that

food-service members had to be actively

involved in the process, not simply told

what to do. Bringing everyone together

for a recipe demonstration turned out

to be “totally ineff ective,” says Chomitz.

Instead, Olcott and Connelly had to

meet with staff at every school indi-

vidually to introduce them to the most

basic skills. Many of them hadn’t been

trained to cut or cook. Some didn’t

know how to peel a vegetable.

And there was another major

challenge: outdated and ill-equipped


MANY FOOD-SERVICE STAFFERS HADN’T

BEEN TRAINED TO CUT OR COOK. SOME DIDN’T

KNOW HOW TO PEEL A VEGETABLE.

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In early June, fi rst lady Michelle

Obama urged hundreds of chefs to

adopt schools in their communities .

Afterward , Maine chef and cookbook

author Kathy Gunst talked with

NEWSWEEK’s Claudia Kalb.

What happened when you got home

from the White House? I contacted

the principal at my local elementary

school. The next thing I know, a land-

scape architect who is redesigning

the school’s landscape said, “Do you

want a greenhouse?” Within a month

everything had changed.

What are your immediate plans?

I’m hoping to get the greenhouse

and garden up early this fall, and

I’m going into the classroom in Sep-

tember to teach food education and

cooking to the kids. The goal is to get

the teachers to work the greenhouse

into their curriculum, from art to sci-

ence to writing projects.

What about school lunch? This

is very tricky. A lot of the foods they

buy are frozen or canned. My plan is

to examine that and, with the budget

they have , see if we can augment it

with a salad bar and fresh fruits.

Eventually, these foods would come

from what we grow. One of the most

horrifying things is what kids are

bringing to eat from home. Bologna

in plastic trays. It’s become a crap-

food contest in the cafeterias. Who

said kids only like hot dogs and

chicken nuggets?

What kinds of local fruits and

vegetables could you serve? Apples,

blueberries, strawberries, pumpkins.

One of the things we’re going to have

to do is make fall vegetables sexy. I’m

hoping to make the rest of the school

system insanely jealous so they’ll

want to do it , too.

Who’s paying? It’s completely vol-

untary. Parents are coming to build

the greenhouse, plant and weed.

Everybody in the community wants

to help. They’re deeply interested in

improving the quality of food .

How optimistic are you? It’s very

dreamy right now, and I’m fi lled with

enthusiasm. Check back in a year.

Beyond Hot DogsAfter a White House visit, chef Kathy Gunst is putting school lunch on the menu.

WE ALL KNOW THAT CONSUM-

ING ENOUGH LOW-FAT DAIRY,

WHOLE GRAINS, FRUITS AND

VEGETABLES helps ensure that

children grow up healthy and fi t.

While parents obviously determine

what babies, toddlers and younger

children eat, kids exert more control

over their food choices as they move

into middle and high school. Unfor-

tunately, their eating habits some-

times change for the worse. Even if

they ate healthy foods as toddlers

and in the elementary-school years,

when they get to middle school,

they have easy access to snacks

and junk foods.

While there is never a good

time to neglect nutrition, the

middle-school years may be

particularly bad. Because kids are

growing rapidly at this age, they

need plenty of food, but it’s crucial

that it be good food, explains

Stephen R. Daniels, M.D., Ph.D.,

a member of the American Academy

of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on

Nutrition. “Middle schoolers need

diets low in saturated fat, rather

than total fat; they need calcium

from low-fat dairy, and they need

whole grains,” he says. “As caloric

needs increase during this period

of rapid growth, the risk of

obesity increases if kids are getting

additional calories from fat and

junk foods.”

His concerns are well-founded.

One out of three kids is now con-

sidered overweight or obese, with

almost 7 percent of U.S. sixth graders

severely obese. Many of the risk

factors for heart disease are already

present even in pre-adolescent

READING, WRITING AND…

EATING

One out of three kids is

now considered overweight

or obese.

ADVERTISEMENT

C M Y K 5 95

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13

food. Fresh fruits and vegetables

and a baked-potato bar (this is

Idaho, after all) are now regular

features in Gooding lunchrooms.

Gooding Elementary was the fi rst

school to receive a Gold Award of

Distinction from the USDA as part

of the HUSSC 2010.

If Gooding’s students are any

measure, the image of kids as picky

eaters may be misleading and

unfair. “We can’t keep cucumbers.

Cucumbers are hands down the

most popular vegetable,” says

Baumann. The kids also love

strawberries. “One week we went

through 480 pounds of strawber-

ries. They just ate and ate and

ate them.”

Packaging counts, too. As part of

their participation in Fuel Up to Play

60, students at George Washington

Carver School, in Newark, NJ, were

heavily involved in decisions about

their school’s nutrition program. One

of the changes they asked for was

that milk be offered in recyclable,

single-serve plastic bottles. “The

bottles are a little more fashionable

than the paper cartons,” explains

Carver principal Winston Jackson.

And sure enough, Jackson says,

once the bottles arrived, the kids

started drinking more milk.

Choice and Voice

The Houston School District, the

seventh largest district in the na-

tion, discovered that kids want two

things: choice and voice.

When, as part of Fuel Up to Play

60, Houston kids became engaged

with the effort to improve their

schools’ menus, they made it clear

that they didn’t want to be told,

“Eat this; it’s good for you.” They

wanted to be taught how to choose

healthy foods and then be given

opportunities to make their own

choices and promote more healthful

foods throughout their schools.

This makes perfect sense to the

AAP’s Dr. Daniels. “Kids need to

have some ownership of their food;

they need to know about what it is

and where it comes from,” he says.

Half the battle of getting

kids to eat healthier food is

providing these foods for

them to eat.

C M Y K 5 95

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15

children, and diseases such as type 2

diabetes and hypertension, once

problems only for older people, are

becoming all too common in children.

The problem is a tough one,

but schools are a logical place to

intervene.

According to Jenny Favret,

a registered dietitian and pediatric

nutritionist with the Healthy Life-

styles Program at Duke Univer-

sity’s Children’s Hospital & Health

Center, in Durham, NC, middle

school is an excellent time to

step in. “The earlier we can instill

healthy habits, the better, but the

middle-school years are not too

late,” she says. “In fact, they’re a

good time. This is an age when

children are ready to buy into a

healthy lifestyle message. Several

studies demonstrate that when

children are offered healthy food

they will choose it.”

Real Food

Half the battle of getting kids to

eat healthier food is providing

these foods for them to eat. But

this isn’t always as simple as it

sounds. Drew Patterson, chef and

assistant director of production

for nutrition services at the Ohio

State University Medical Center,

in Columbus, is currently work-

ing with the Ohio Department of

Education to train school nutrition

staff to cook homemade food for

the students, rather than

relying on processed and

convenience foods.

While the program is

going over well, accord-

ing to Patterson, there are

challenges. For one thing,

“Many schools aren’t even

set up to cook; they’ve just

been warming up conve-

nience foods,” he says.

The Gooding Joint

School District, in Good-

ing, ID, has taken up the

HealthierUS Schools Chal-

lenge (HUSSC), a program

of the USDA to improve

the health environment of the na-

tion’s schools. The Gooding district

contracted with local farmers to

grow fruits and vegetables specifi -

cally for the schools, and Anji Bau-

mann, child-nutrition director of the

Gooding district, began introducing

many meals using local produce.

School cooks throughout the

district have since taken up the

challenge of cooking more healthful

ADVERTISEMENT

Roberto Garza, Offensive Guard, #63,

Chicago Bears, Fuel Up to Play 60

Spokesperson

5 95C M Y K

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14

the kids could use to really boost

their self-esteem.” As it turned

out, building their self-esteem by

giving them the opportunity to be

successful at fi tness and nutrition

goals was far more effective.

Self-esteem is something En-

slow students should have plenty

of these days. The awards just keep

coming. In June, Riley and some of

her students traveled to New York

to accept a bronze National Recog-

nition Award from the Alliance for

a Healthier Generation in acknowl-

edgment of their success in creat-

ing a healthier school environment.

One Enslow eighth grader, who

was a participant on the national

student panel and met Bill Clinton,

spoke highly of Fuel Up to Play

60. “It was fun and easy to do,” he

said of the program. The students’

efforts have made a difference

beyond just winning awards and

garnering some good national

publicity. “My eating habits have

defi nitely changed at home, too,”

the teen said. “For one thing, I

drink more water. My family has

listened, too. I told them about

good nutrition and now they are

eating better.”

Newark’s Winston Jackson has

also noticed this ripple effect from

schools’ efforts to improve lifestyles.

“The Fuel Up to Play 60 program

had a big impact on our students,

and on the staff, too. We are all

eating better, and we designed a

walking path around the school.

Since the kids can’t walk on it

without teachers present, we are all

walking more,” he says.

According to Jackson, this is

not a fl ash-in-the-pan change.

After seeing the benefi ts of the

program, he says that the school

is “planning to do everything we

can to continue to make sure our

students and staff get exercise and

eat as healthfully as they can.”

The middle-school years are a

time of many changes, and clearly

many of them can be changes for

the better. But perhaps the really

exciting truth is that when students

adopt healthier lifestyles, they can

become the teachers, taking the

message of a healthier lifestyle back

home and into their communities.

Michael Clayton, Wide

Receiver, #80, Tampa Bay

Buccaneers, Fuel Up to

Play 60 Spokesperson

C M Y K 5 95

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17

ADVERTISEMENT

Something to Feel Good About

Students at Enslow Middle School

in Huntington, WV, stepped up and

took action for their own health

with the Fuel Up to Play 60 pro-

gram despite making international

news not long ago. Enslow was

profi led by British chef Jamie Oliver

in a television program called Jamie

Oliver’s Food Revolution, Oliver’s

stateside version of his televised

efforts to educate the British public

about healthy eating. Oliver came

to town to spotlight the city and

demonstrate to the citizens of

Huntington, which had been named

by the CDC as among the nation’s

unhealthiest areas, how they could

elevate their health status by learn-

ing about nutrition and improving

their diets.

Lisa Riley, director of the Fuel

Up to Play 60 program at Enslow,

didn’t have much time to worry

about Oliver’s visit. She was too

busy trying to fi gure out how she

could afford pedometers for her

students. She had read in a journal

article that regular physical activity

could help raise test scores, and

she wanted to start a walking club.

Meanwhile, she heard about

Fuel Up to Play 60 and fi gured

that “this would enable us to get

pedometers,” Riley recalls. The

program went over even better

than she’d hoped: The Enslow

students eventually won fi rst place

in the Fuel Up to Play 60 national

competition, in which they earned

points by eating nutritious foods,

being active and engaging in school

activities. Winning the national

competition enabled the students

to earn not only the pedometers,

but a $20,000 makeover for the

school cafeteria and a HOPSports

interactive youth physical education

training system.

The program was so successful

at Enslow in part because the stu-

dents up till then hadn’t had much

choice or voice. “We are a very

small, Title 1 school,” explains Riley.

“We are the underdog in sports

and we usually don’t score well

on yearly state assessments, but

Fuel Up to Play 60 was something

Middle schoolers need plenty of food, but it’s crucial that it

be good food—low in saturated fat, sugar and salt, and high in

whole grains and calcium from low-fat dairy.

5 95C M Y K

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C M Y K 5 95

makeover for caption change Folio Mag Pg Vol MO

19 1


A TEAM OF VOLUNTEERS HELPED

TO TURN ONE CLASSROOM INTO A

FITNESS CENTER.

GREEN-JACKSON

WITH BERNARD .

on helping children avoid the same

fate as her brother. “People need to

break bad habits while they’re young

and not wait until they’re 40 years old,”

Green-Jackson says. Today, YBH has

fi tness centers in all six of Albany’s

public middle schools, as well as three

elementary schools.

Grassroots projects like YBH have

become increasingly common across

the country as communities search for

new and innovative ways to battle the

nation’s childhood-obesity epidem-

ic. Since the passage of the No Child

Left Behind Act in 2001, most schools

have focused their time and fi nancial

re sources on test subjects— reading,

writing, and math—at the expense

of activities like PE, says Judy Young

of the American Alliance for Health,

Physical Education, Recreation and

Dance . Only one state—Alabama—

meets the recommended 150 minutes

per week of PE in

elementary school

and 225 minutes per

week i n middle and

high school, accord-

ing to the 2010 Shape

of the Nation Report:

Status of Physical

Education in the USA, released by the

National Association for Sport and

Physical Education and the American

Heart Association. Young says

that proposed revisions to No

Child Left Behind, which are

in the works in many offi ces

on Capitol Hill, underscore

the correlation between

physical activity and academic

achievement. “If kids are not healthy

and well, they’re not going to be pro-

ductive and able to use whatever

other kinds of skills

they have,” she says.

With dangerously low

standards for physi-

cal education in most

states, YBH serves as

a model for communi-

ties that want to encourage

kids—in a fun and healthy way—to

move more and eat better.

The need for physical and nutri-

tion education is particularly strong in

Green-Jackson’s home state, which has

the third-highest rate of youth obesity

in the country. (Mississippi and Arkan-

sas rank fi rst and second, respectively,

according to a 2009 report from the

Trust for America’s Health and the

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.)

In Georgia, kids are

required to take PE in

elementary school but

not in middle school.

In fact, only 55 per-

cent of middle-school

students in Georgia

meet the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention re-

quirements for recommended physi-

cal activity, but 15 percent are obese,

according to the Georgia Department

of Community Health.

That lack of exercise, combined with

easy access to unhealthy food and

drinks, is making kids sick, says Dr.

Tanya Smith, a pediatrician in Albany

5 95C M Y K

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18 1

makeover for caption change

it was after midnight when

Pamela Green-Jackson sat up in

bed in her home in Albany, Ga., and

woke her husband. She told him that

a dream had inspired her to start an

exercise and nutrition program for

kids. “He told me to go back to sleep,

that I couldn’t save the world,” Green-

Jackson says. “I said, why not?”

Sure enough, Green-Jackson got out

of bed the next morning and immedi-

ately began fundraising for her proj-

ect, which she named Youth Becoming

Healthy (YBH). Within a month, she

had received $30,000 in grants. A team

of volunteers helped to turn one of the

classrooms at a local middle school

into a fi tness center. They brought in a

mix of new and used equipment: four

bikes, four treadmills, one Universal

machine, an elliptical, and benches.

They painted the walls the school

colors—burgundy and white—and

purchased Dance Dance Revolution,

a videogame that allows players to

keep track of how many calories they

burn in “workout mode.” Green-Jack-

son passed out sign-up sheets for the

fi tness program, which would take

place after school, and 180 kids put

down their names.

It was the winter of 2003, and Green-

Jackson’s timing was eerie. Right after

she and her team of volunteers began

renovating the classroom, her obese

43-year-old brother, Bernard Green,

developed uncontrolled diabetes. Less

than a month later, he died weighing

427 pounds. The loss instilled Green-

Jackson with an even greater sense of

urgency, and she decided to quit her job

at the Albany Herald to focus full time CO

UR

TE

SY

OF

JA

CK

SO

N F

AM

ILY


by johannah cornblatt

Obesity killed her brother. Now Pamela Green-Jackson is helping schools close the phys-ed gap.

A Fitness Revolution

C M Y K 5 95

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21

She cried with me.” The Thomas fam-

ily soon began participating in YBH,

meeting with a nutritionist and several

other families twice a week. The nutri-

tionist gave out healthy recipes and

even distributed a prize to the family

that lost the most weight. (“That wasn’t

us,” Karen admits .)

For families like the Thomases, YBH

has become a reliable source of both

physical and emotional support. Malik

lost nearly 20 pounds

at the YBH camp last

summer and, even

though he’s in high

school now, he still

uses YBH facilities to

exercise after school.

“I’m just hoping that

Malik can be normal and do some of

the things that regular-size kids can

do,” Karen says. Green-Jackson, who

always calls to check on Malik if he

misses a workout session, continues

to play a key role in reaching that goal.

“She’s very motivating,” Karen says.

Green-Jackson inspired one student

not only to lose weight, but also to

launch a health and wellness program

of her own . Jasmine Warren enrolled in

YBH in the sixth grade, when she was

11 years old and weighed 153 pounds.

After a year of running on the tread-

mill, biking, and doing aerobics, she

shed 35 pounds. “It was fun,” Warren

says. “The program was a big success

for me.” Warren says that Green-

Jackson has made a “wonderful

diff erence” in their community.

Indeed, Green-Jackson encour-

aged Warren, who will be a high-school

senior this fall, to launch Youth in

Action for Healthy Lifestyles, a stu-

dent-run program that aims to educate

kids in Albany about the importance of

physical activity and healthy eating. It

brings together about 60 people ages 5

to 25 every weekend to participate in a

range of physical activities—including

aerobics, softball, jump-roping, soccer,

and volleyball—at a local park, school,

or convention center.

Warren’s staff now

includes 10 teenagers

who received train-

ing from the Dough-

erty County Health

Department and who

advise other students

on nutritious eating. Green-Jackson

continues to serve as a mentor to War-

ren. “She’s been a backbone to my pro-

gram,” Warren says.

In the future, Green-Jackson would

like to make it easier for kids to eat

well both on and off school grounds.

Serving a nutritious breakfast in the

classroom would be a great place to

start, she says. Green-Jackson also

has some innovative ideas for the

hours after the last bell rings : one day,

she would like YBH to take mobile

fruit and vegetable stands into low-

income areas. There, she envisions

launching gardening programs to

teach children how to grow their own

fruit and vegetables. “My wife is a big

dreamer,” says Larry. For all those

she’s inspired so far, that is turning

out to be a very good thing indeed.


THE PROGRAM OFFERS HIP-HOP

DANCE, MARTIAL ARTS, WEIGHTLIFTING,

AND WALKING CLUBS.

5 95C M Y K

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20

and the president

of YBH. Smith says she has seen

children as young as 4 with high blood

pressure and full-blown diabetes.

Many overweight preteen girls come

to her with menstrual issues, and one

of her young obese patients had such

severe sleep apnea that he needed a

tracheotomy. Obese children are at

increased risk for a host of other medi-

cal conditions, including hypertension,

asthma, and low self-esteem. “These

kids are having issues that they have no

business having,” Green-Jackson says.

And the price is high: according to the

Georgia Department of Community

Health, obesity costs Georgia an esti-

mated $2.4 million a year (or $250 per

Georgian each year).

YBH aims to reach children where

they spend the majority of their time:

on school grounds. Now in its sev-

enth year, YBH off ers a range of kid-

requested activities, including hip-hop

dance, martial arts, weightlifting, and

walking clubs after school hours. In

fact, YBH fi tness instructors encour-

age all the program’s participants to

keep track of their total daily steps

using a pedometer or step counter

(every 10,000 steps equals fi ve miles,

which is the goal for the day). YBH

also brings in nutritionists to teach

kids about making better food choices

and how to read labels. After opening

fi tness facilities in nine schools in Al-

bany, YBH also started off ering a free

four-week camp last summer. In order

to attend the camp, which is funded

through donations, children must be

referred by a pediatrician and have at

least one chronic disease related to obe-

sity. So far, the results have been prom-

ising. Green-Jackson estimates that

since 2003, participants in YBH have

collectively lost thousands of pounds.

That kind of success doesn’t come

easily. Green-Jackson cites the cost of

equipment and qualifi ed instructors,

as well as parental transportation to

and from fi tness centers after school

hours, as the biggest obstacles. “One

person can’t do this alone,” she says.

She recommends gaining the support

of the school board, hospitals, pedia-

tricians, and other willing volunteers.

“I’ve seen 20 other programs right here

in this city we live in start and fail over

the years,” says Green-Jackson’s hus-

band, Larry, who became a certifi ed

youth trainer and now helps his wife

run YBH. “We haven’t failed because

my wife stayed true to what she started.

She continued to focus on the kids.”

One of those kids is 14-year-old

Malik Thomas, who, at nearly 400

pounds, sometimes struggles just to

walk. Green-Jackson spotted Malik

and his mother, Karen, at Walmart

one day and approached them to tell

them about YBH. “The fi rst

time that I met her, I told

her she was just a god-

send to me,” Karen says.

“Her brother had gone

through the same thing. I

could talk to her, and I cried.


Wake Up to Wellness

Schools in the Fuel Up to Play 60

program are carving out active

time for kids in unique and creative

ways. At Bailly Elementary School,

in Chesterton, IN, about 50 miles

southeast of Chicago, cafeteria

manager Lisa Ozimek teamed up

with school nurse Marian Danko last

year to launch a walking club in the

half hour before classes started. “As

soon as the kids came in, they got

a healthy breakfast and then joined

me in the gym,” says Ozimek.

At fi rst, the students simply

walked the gym’s perimeter. Soon,

however, the two advisors began

pulling out jump ropes and balls for

children to play with. “Then we decid-

ed to take it up another notch,” says

Ozimek. They recruited members of

the community to introduce children

to new types of fi tness activities—a

physical therapist who taught the

kids stretching and yoga poses, and

a local martial-arts instructor. “He

had the students breaking boards

with karate chops,” she says. “Kids

couldn’t wait to get to the gym in

the mornings. Some even had their

parents drop them off early.”

The program started with about

15 to 20 students, but once word

got around, the number jumped to

160. “I love fi tness,” says one Bailly

student. “It makes the day more

fun at school, and I know I’m doing

something good for my body.”

Feedback from teachers has

been equally positive. “Teach-

ers said the kids coming from the

program were awake, had all their

fi dgeting out of the way and were

ready to learn when they came

into the classroom,” reports Bailly’s

principal, Michael Grubbs.

The school’s students did so well

with Fuel Up to Play 60 that they

surpassed all other Indiana schools

in the program. As a result, they

earned additional fi tness equip-

ment—including hurdles and an

agility ladder—as well as a visit from

team personnel from the Indianapolis

Colts. “I never thought it would get

as big as it did,” says Ozimek. “It

made a big difference with these

kids and it’s a big deal with us.”

Class Action

Motivating students to get up and

move is an even greater challenge

when kids reach middle school.

For one thing, teen-level sports get

more competitive and expensive,

and participation rates drop.

Boltz Middle School, in Fort

Collins, CO, wanted to appeal to

students at every fi tness level

when it signed on to Fuel Up

to Play 60. So teachers enlisted

students to help design a program

that every kid would respond to.

The result: fun “fi tness kits” that

teachers can borrow to give stu-

dents exercise breaks.

Schools in the Fuel Up to Play 60 program are carving out

active time for kids in unique and creative ways.

C M Y K 5 95

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23

USED TO BE, KIDS ORGANIZED

GAMES OF RED ROVER AND

PLAYED HOPSCOTCH ON THE

SIDEWALK. These days, when

children want to have fun, they’re

more likely to fi re up the computer

or game console.

“Kids have forgotten how to

play,” says Cedric Bryant, Ph.D., chief

science offi cer for the American

Council on Exercise. “So many things

where they don’t actively move are

vying for their time and attention.”

No wonder three or four times as

many American kids are overweight

or obese as a generation ago.

Yet keeping kids moving can

lead to unexpected payoffs.

Stronger Bodies, Sharper Minds

While you may know that exercise

leads to better cardiovascular

fitness, reduced body fat and

stronger bones, getting active

can also improve academic

performance. In a study of 214

middle-school students by

researchers from Michigan State

University, in East Lansing, those

who participated in vigorous

physical activities did about 10

percent better in core classes like

math, science and English. “It’s

a win-win,” says James Pivarnik,

Ph.D., an MSU professor of kine-

siology and epidemiology and

past president of the American

College of Sports Medicine.

“The more active and fit kids

seem to do better on test scores

and grades.”

In addition, exercise breaks

during the school day have

been shown to improve learning

and classroom behavior. And

regular physical activity has

psychological benefi ts that can

help kids cope socially and deal

with peer pressure.

Current guidelines call for kids

to get at least 60 minutes of exer-

cise a day. Yet according to a study

published in Medicine and Science

in Sports and Exercise, only 42

percent of children ages 6 to 11 and

a mere 8 percent of adolescents

meet that goal.

LEARNING TO GET FIT

ADVERTISEMENT

Roberto Garza, Offensive Guard, #63,

Chicago Bears, Fuel Up to Play 60

Spokesperson

5 95C M Y K

Folio Mag Pg Vol MO

22

And in Michigan, the Detroit

Lions’ Youth Football coach led an

on-fi eld workout for students, with

players on hand to promote healthy

eating and physical activity

Fitness for All

Schools are tapping into every

resource available to boost fi tness in

kids—including kids with disabilities.

For example, the Miami-Dade Coun-

ty Public School System in Miami,

FL, participates in I Can Do It, You

Can Do It, a collaboration between

the U.S. Department of Health and

Human Service’s Offi ce on Disability,

the National Institutes Of Health, and

the President’s Council on Physical

Fitness and Sports.

Through the program, adult men-

tors are paired with students who

face physical or intellectual

disabilities.

By working with community

recreational groups and private

facilities, the school system is able to

offer unique opportunities to

students with disabilities. For in-

stance, kids can learn how to sail at

local sailing or yacht clubs, which are

generally empty during the week,

according to Jayne Greenberg,

Ed.D., executive director of physi-

cal education and health literacy for

the school system. Students with

disabilities can sign up to snorkel,

ride horses or play sled hockey or

wheelchair basketball with the help

of volunteers—all during the regular

school day.

Like Fuel Up to Play 60, the

program requires students to track

their fi tness habits online or on

paper. After six weeks of regular

exercise, they’re eligible for a

Presidential Active Lifestyle Award

(PALA) patch and certifi cate. Last

year, 1,200 Miami-Dade students

with disabilities received the

award. (For information, go to

www.presidentschallenge.org or call

800-258-8146.)

Miami-Dade’s regular PE

program also offers all children an

unusual roster of activities, such

as scuba diving and kayaking, and

spinning, yoga and Pilates classes.

“Now even kids who aren’t required

to take PE are opting back in,”

Greenberg says.

That’s true for students all

over the country, as more schools

take the lead in promoting fi tness.

“There’s no downside to exercise,”

says Boltz Middle School’s McVicker.

“It benefi ts everybody.”

Teenagers need to be active.

The more they use their bodies,

the better their brains work.

C M Y K 5 95

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25

“Students loved the idea,” says

Jamie Quiros, a Spanish teacher at

Boltz. “They brainstormed a list of

10 items they could see themselves

playing with and fi gured out how

much they could spend on the

items, based on the budget we had.”

The kids then placed the items

in different bins, from standard

gym fare like volleyballs, footballs

and basketballs, to unconventional

fi tness “gear” such as kites, juggling

sets, Frisbees and Hula-hoops.

Such activities limit competi-

tion, which can lead to unwelcome

social comparisons, and elimination

games. “It’s attractive to almost

every kid,” says Quiros. “There’s

something there for everybody.”

Teachers use the kits in vari-

ous situations—after students have

fi nished a project, for instance, or

as a reward after taking a test.

“If you put two or three 10-minute

exercise breaks into the school day,

that’s 20 to 30 minutes of exercise

kids weren’t getting before,” says

Pivarnik.

The kits are popular with both

teachers and students. “I’ve noticed

a radical increase in the number of

groups outside and being active,”

says Lisa McVicker, the school’s

principal. “It’s got everyone think-

ing, ‘How can I incorporate little

periods of activity into the day?’

Passive learning doesn’t work well,

especially at the middle-school

level. Teenagers need to be active.

The more they use their bodies, the

better their brains work.”

NFL on the Field for Kids

All 32 NFL teams are active in Fuel

Up to Play 60 in their local areas.

Players and team mascots have

attended school assemblies and

been featured in posters, videos,

PSAs and more, while students get

the opportunity to use stadiums

and training facilities. For example,

the Carolina Panthers opened “The

Fuel Up to Play 60 Kid’s Combine,”

a free area that promotes fi tness

through football drills for children

and their families on the Panthers’

practice fi elds.

In Arizona, the school with the

most Fuel Up to Play 60 points

won the chance to participate in

a special Cardinals Kids Camp at

the University of Phoenix Stadium,

where they tried out various ob-

stacle courses with an NFL theme.

ADVERTISEMENT

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Why is eating healthy so important?

ward: As a football player you have

to watch what you eat. The same

goes for our nation’s kids. A third

of them are dealing with an obesity

problem. And now with the econ-

omy taking away school programs

that educate students on how to eat

healthy, it’s really up to the kids to

get outside and apply their knowl-

edge on how to eat well on their

own instead of sitting on their couch

playing Xbox all day.

Where should students start when

it comes to making healthy eating

choices? Throw away all the junk

food. If you don’t have the accessibil-

ity, it makes it easier to eat healthy.

Ask your parents not to buy certain

things, and that makes it easier to

have good eating habits. Try not to

eat after 8 o’clock at night. Drink a

lot of water. And if you want a snack,

there’s nothing wrong with that, but

get fruit, like grapes or apples.

How can students help their

friends eat healthy? Nutrition is

everything. It takes a lot to be dis-

ciplined about that. Sometimes it

takes a friend; ask a friend to help

you. You can convince your friends

to help each other out. Ask each

other, “Did you drink water?”

Encourage your friends. At the end

of the day, if they lose weight, they

are proud of it and they’ll thank you.

What good changes can healthy

eating bring for teens? They’ll have

more energy and more self-esteem.

You should care about exercising

because it makes you feel a lot bet-

ter and improves your confi dence. A

lot of kids who are better with their

health are more confi dent than kids

who aren’t eating as healthy or who

don’t care.

Are there any big mistakes to

avoid when starting to work out?

You have to want to do it. You can

talk a lot about it, but if you don’t

take [the] road to doing it, then you

won’t get in shape.

You don’t have to start out right

away, you can go slowly. It’s like

smokers—you can’t quit overnight.

Walk a mile. If you feel comfortable

after that, add a half a mile. It’s hard

for the fi rst week, but in the long

haul, if you’re disciplined enough to

do it, it’s amazing how it works.

HINES WARD,

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver

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Throw Away the Junk Food

What are the easiest ways to build

fi tness into a daily routine?

jones-drew: Going outside for a

walk and talking, a pickup game of

basketball or kickball; just whatever

it is that you do, go outside and do it.

Instead of getting a ride from school,

walk home. Or take a bike. Swimming

is a great way to get exercise, too; it’s

the best way, actually, and it’s some-

thing people do for recreation, too.

How can healthy teens positively

infl uence their peers’ fi tness? Chal-

lenge your friends, and encourage

them to come outside. Even if you

can’t get them to eat healthy, if you

exercise with them you’re doing them

a favor.

If you exercise, can you pay less

attention to what you eat? You really

want to be doing both. You’re always

going to go back to your foundation

and what you know, so it’s all about

learning responsibility and great hab-

its. I had a higher metabolism when I

was young, so the things I’m used to

eating, now that I’m older, my body’s

not burning them in the same way.

What I’m doing now is re-teaching

myself, trying to get going the right

way. I wish I’d started eating healthy

earlier because then I’d be used to it.

Do you have any good tips on how to

eat healthy during the day? Always

carry fruit. It helps your body and

uses enzymes to help your body break

down what you’ve already eaten. Even

McDonald’s sells fruit , and it’s always

good to snack on those because it fi lls

you up right away, it’s not putting a lot

in your stomach, and it helps break

down everything else as well.

You don’t always have to eat

the exact perfect meal, but having

fruits and vegetables in your diet will

help out a bunch.

I like fruits like

nectarines, pine-

apples, and man-

gos. And I’m a big

broccoli fan—you

can’t knock it till

you try it!

MAURICE JONES-DREW, running back for the

Jacksonville Jaguars

Two NFL superstars share their secrets

about exercise and healthy eating.

by nayeli rodriguez

*Daily Recommendations: 3 cups of low-fat or fat-free milk or equivalent milk products for those 9 years of age and older and 2 cups of low-fat or fat-free milk or equivalent milk products for children 2-8 years old.

For more information, visit www.nationaldairycouncil.org/childnutrition.

ALL MILK—REGULAR AND

FLAVORED—CONTAINS A UNIQUE

COMBINATION OF NUTRIENTS

important for growth and develop-

ment, including three of the fi ve

“nutrients of concern” for which

children have inadequate intakes.

And, fl avored milk accounts for less

than 3.5% of added sugar intake in

children ages 6 to 12 and less than

2% in teens.

FIVE REASONS WHY FLAVORED

MILK MATTERS

1. Kids love the taste

Milk provides nutrients essential

for good health and kids will drink

more when it’s fl avored.

2. Nine essential nutrients

Flavored milk contains the same

nine essential nutrients as white

milk—calcium, potassium, phos-

phorus, protein, vitamins A, D and

B12, ribofl avin and niacin (niacin

equivalents)—and is a healthful

alternative to soft drinks.

3. Helps kids achieve 3 servings

Drinking low-fat or fat-free white

or fl avored milk helps kids get the

3 daily servings* of dairy foods

recommended by the Dietary

Guidelines for Americans.

4. Better diet quality

Children who drink fl avored milk

meet more of their nutrient needs;

do not consume more added sugar

or total fat; and are not heavier

than non-milk drinkers.

5. Top choice in schools

Low-fat fl avored milk is the most

popular milk choice in schools

and kids drink less (and get fewer

nutrients) if it’s taken away.

FLAVORED MILK PROVIDES NINE ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS

ADVERTISEMENT

These health and nutrition organizations support 3-Every-Day™ of Dairy, a science-based nutrition education program encouraging Americans to consume the recommended three daily

servings of nutrient-rich low-fat or fat-free milk and milk products to improve overall health.

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by ian yarett

There are recommendations—and then reality.

What Kids Eat

SOURCES: INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

71 percent of the recommended

meats and beans.

But 33 percent of those are in

the form of sandwiches and

burgers. Choose lean meats,

fi sh, and poultry —baked,

broiled, or grilled rather than

fried—and try to eat beans,

nuts, and seeds, as opposed

to just beef .

45 percent of the recommended fruits.

But 53 percent of

those are in the form

of juice. It’s better to

minimize consumption

of fruit drinks, which

are high in sugar .

44 percent of the recommended vegetables.

But 22 percent of those

vegetables are in the

form of fries and potato

chips. Stay away from

fried food when possible,

and eat more green and

orange vegetables.

73 percent of the recommended dairy.

But 31 percent of milk intake

is in the form of whole or

2 percent milk. Choose low-

fat or fat-free milk products

instead, and make sure to

fi nd other sources of calcium

if you don’t consume milk.

118 percent of the recommended grains.

But 27 percent of those

grains are in the form of

sandwiches, burgers,

and pizza. More whole

grains like brown rice or

whole-wheat bread

would be a better choice.

57 percent of the recommended oils.

But 28 percent of those oils

are in the form of corn-based

salty snacks and potato

chips. It’s best to get your

fats from fi sh, nuts, and

vegetable oils, while

minimizing consumption of

solid (saturated or trans) fats

like butter or margarine.

1. Increase access to and consumption of affordable and appealing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products and lean meats in and out of school.

2. Stimulate children and youth to be more physicallyactive for 60 minutes every day in and out of school.

3. Boost resources (fi nancial/rewards/incentives/training/technical assistance) to schools in order to improve physical fi tness and nutrition programs.

4. Educate and motivate children and youth to eat the recommended daily servings of nutrient-rich foods and beverages.

5. Empower children and youth to take action at their school and at home to develop their own pathways to better fi tness and nutrition for life.

ENDING CHILDHOOD OBESITY

WITHIN A GENERATION

We support school-based nutrition and physical

fi tness initiatives, such as Fuel Up to Play 60, that help

achieve these guiding principles:

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