Running head: CHOOSE MY PLATE ASSIGNMENT

PPE 310: Health Literacy in Schools

Choose My Plate Assignment
Kaylie Henley
Professor Mary Dean
March 20, 2016

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Introduction
Childhood Obesity is an on going issue that needs additional study done towards
decreasing it. obesity in children correlates with the amount of physical activity,
academic achievement and healthy eating choices. Teachers have tried over decades to
teach students to make healthy choices every day. In an effort to increase the healthy
lifestyle for students The United States Department of Agriculture developed a Food
Tracker web tool where the nutritional value of what students are eating is put into
perspective for parents and students.
Summary
The assignment began with pretending to be a student at Mohave Middle School
that would typically eat in the cafeteria for breakfast and lunch. The food options were
then put into the United States Department of Agriculture Food Tracker to display the
nutritional value of each item. This allowed for a proper examination to see if the school

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is providing healthy options that follow the guidelines of the National Standards for
School Meals and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The standards showed that the
school needs to provide changes in nutritional choices for students. Throughout the rest
of the assignment, the nutritional facts as well as what items can be changed to enhance
the value of meals within the school.
National Standards for School Meals
The National Standards for School Meals are in place to be a guideline for schools
to model their meals. The Mohave Middle School menu falls in line with the standards.
The school does provide fruits and vegetables at both breakfast and lunch, but not a
variety of choices. the standard states specific vegetable subgroups weekly (dark green,
orange, legumes, and other as defined in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines) (Nutrition,
2012).. The only vegetables that are served separately for both meals are the carrots. The
students have no variety and the school is only falling in line because it is under the
orange category. The school also does provide the students with a daily meat/meat
alternate at breakfast (Nutrition, 2012) they do this with a hardboiled egg is served daily
in the morning. Overall, Mohave does a reasonable job of following the National
Standards. The school is also on a free-reduced policy because it is a Title I school. One
of the requirements is that the school must have whole grain requirement and a
variety of vegetables in a nutrient-dense form (Nutrition,2012). The school provides
these options but as stated previously there are a very limited amount of vegetables. The
school offers whole grain options for breakfast more then lunch items, but these options
are not as popular as the unhealthy option, Poptarts. The school provides students with
opportunities to have well-balanced meals.

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Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The Dietary Guidelines encompass two main concepts, that the students will
maintain calorie balance to achieve and sustain a healthy weight and focus on
consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages(Dietary Guidelines,2010). As a pretend
student at Mohave I was able to put a typical breakfast and lunch in the Food Tracker
program, which showed that the school is over supplying the amount of grain that the
students need in their diet. The student was over their grains consumption 16% and had
absolutely no protein (SuperTracker,2016). The breakfast and lunch combined also did
have so serious findings with the sodium and saturated fat. The student was over their
limit of 2300mg of sodium by a 314 mg. This is a dangerous amount especially since this
is only two meals and there is still more room for food intake. The saturated fat was
already at limit for a student with 22 grams (SuperTracker,2016).
With the student consuming this amount of sodium and saturated fat the Dietary
guideline are not being met. The student will have major intake of calories that is not
healthy and will contribute to massive weight gain. The calorie intake is at 1673 by the
middle of the day and the maximum should be at 2000 (SuperTracker,2016). This means
that the school is not meeting those guidelines to keep the students healthy. The student
that I decided to make did not do any physical activity during the day because only a
select amount of students at Mohave have P.E. After examining this student thoroughly
the school has areas that need to be improved in order to make them fully in compliance
with the Dietary guidelines for Americans.
Improvements on Nutrition

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After looking at the results of the Food Tracker compared to the Standards and
guidelines there are multiple things that need to be improved. Students are not achieving
all the elements for a proper diet especially in the area of protein (SuperTracker,2016).
The students need more options for proteins during their breakfast. I see that if the school
provided more opportunities for hot meals for breakfast that this could help eliminate this
problem. As of right now the school breakfasts are filled with whole grain option and
only one option for protein (Mohave, 2016). The students only have the option of a hardboiled egg and a majority of students would not choose this food. By adding a hot meal
choice more students will be more opt to add protein to their meal.
Secondly the students are having a high amount of sodium and saturated fats. As
stated prior the students was over in sodium and meet the maximum amount they should
have for saturated fats (SuperTracker,2016). Student need to provided with more natural
food that are fresh and less processed. By replacing some prepackaged items the school
will tighten some lose ends in their areas.
Lastly, the students need more variety in their fruit and vegetables at Mohave
Middle School. The student in the Food Tracker only had the option of carrots, potatoes
and an apple for their fruits and vegetables. This is a very small amount of options for the
students and really does not fall in line with the guidelines and standards. The standards
state that students must have a variety of colors and limited starch. When the students
have a limitation on just having a starch and carrots the students choose to not eat these
things on their plate. The school may possibly be the only place that students are getting
the nutritional value that they need. It is the duty of the school to provide as many healthy

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choices for the students to have a better lifestyle.
Reflection
This activity has great benefits when implemented in a middle school setting.
Being a middle school teacher, I see that students are starting to learn how to be
independent within and out of the classroom. The students need to be aware of the
choices that are making can affect their life in the long run. This is also a time that
parents need to be involved in their students diets. Parents and students need to go on the
SUSD website and talk to their students about what are the healthier choices to have for
breakfast and lunch. Parents need to be aware of what the school has for their students
then decide as a family if bringing lunch is a good choice or making the students aware of
the options that they need to have well-balanced diet.
As schoolteachers we can go on the Food Tracker tool with their student in the
classroom. The students can tell the teacher what they eat, put it in the tracker and discuss
these food selections. Each student can analyze their food and decide to make goals in
order to keep them on track. As a school we can talk about the National Standards for
School Meals with our students and then align what the students are eating with the
standards. The students can then track their food choices weekly and see if they are
working towards their goal. This will allow students to be aware of what goals they are
working for and then after a set time schedule, they can choose a new goal to work on or
keep with the same one.
After looking at the views of parents, students and teachers we need to address
these concerns with Mohave Middle School. Once we all can advocate for proper
breakfast and lunches for the students, their well being will be embedded in the their life

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long choices and gearing choices that are positively geared towards the community.
Allowing everyone to be more aware of the nutritional value, the parents and students are
more willing to fight for better meals at Mohave Middle School.

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References
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (2010, January). Retrieved March 16, 2016 from
http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2010.asp#overview
March 2016 Mohave Middle School Meals . (2016,March). Retrieved March 16, 2016
from http://scottsdale.nutrislice.com/menu/mohave/lunch/
Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.
(2012). Federal Registrar, 77(17), 4088-4089. Retrieved March 12, 2016, from
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/2012-1010.pdf
SuperTracker: My Foods. My Fitness. My Health. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2016, from
https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/foodtracker.aspx