Feed the mind, feed the body

Feed the mind, feed the body

News

By: Sandra Bolan

About one-third of elementary aged children and two-thirds of high school students don’t eat breakfast on a daily basis, according to Breakfast for Learning.

Yet, research has consistently shown eating a well-balanced diet is necessary to maintain energy levels throughout the day, as well as remain focused.

The Simcoe County Nutrition Program for School-Aged Children has provided a solution — the Eat Well to Excel program.

“We co-ordinate, organize and feed breakfast, lunch and snack programs to all schools in Simcoe County,” explained Janice Matthews, co-ordinator for South Simcoe’s Eat Well to Excel program. “It’s a universal program that’s available and open to all students.”

Bradford’s Fred C. Cook Elementary School just started its third year with the program, but before that, some teachers provided students with food they purchased themselves.

“One day, I had a student in my class saying he was hungry,” Barbara Briand, the school’s core French teacher and Eat Well to Excel program leader said. “I gave him one of my snacks. Then another boy said he was hungry and I gave him another of my snacks.”

Before long she was bringing in apples and bananas for the students.

Seeing the need to provide more assistance to its students, the school became involved in the Eat Well to Excel’s snack program.

Every morning, baskets filled with fresh fruit, vegetables, yogurt tubes, and whole grain pitas and bagels are distributed to the school’s 13 classrooms. Ms Briand used to do this herself, but now students come in early to pack and deliver the baskets.

Snacks are provided to about 250 of the school’s students each day, Ms Briand said.

Holy Trinity High School also participates in the program and, just like at Fred C. Cook, it was preceded by assistance being provided to some students by staff.

“In previous years, we would keep a little stash of food in the school for emergency basis. But it was a very personal thing. Now, we don’t have to do that anymore,” Noreen McDonald, Holy Trinity’s special education resource teacher said, adding this is the school’s second year with the program.

Every morning, Ms McDonald fills a cart with 100 per cent juice boxes, cheese strings, yogurt tubes, fresh fruit and small bags of Cheerios and Corn Bran for students and staff to take.

“Any student or staff person can come by before classes start and they can come get something healthy to eat for breakfast or (take with them for) later in the day,” Ms McDonald said.

“It’s not just for kids who are having a hard time financially, it’s for kids who can’t get it together in the morning.”

Which is why no one is required to write down their name or list what they take.

“Kids who don’t have a snack don’t like to admit they don’t have a snack,” Ms Briand said.

The program provides funding to every Catholic and public elementary and high school in Ontario, through the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.

On average, it costs $6,800 a year to feed 40 children in the breakfast program.

 That breaks down to 85 cents a day, five days a week for an entire school year.
 
The snack program, which is more popular than the breakfast program in Simcoe County, provides students with items such as fresh fruit, whole wheat crackers and yogurt tubes for about 55 cents a day per student or $110 a school year.

“There are kids that are hungry, but want a chocolate bar. We don’t serve that,” Ms McDonald said.

Foods distributed by volunteers through the Eat Well to Excel program come from Canada’s Food Guide.

Although not every school has to provide a selection of food from all four food groups —  fruits and vegetables, grain products, milk and alternatives and meat and alternatives — most try to provide items from at least two of the major groups.

“We’re also trying to encourage good nutrition with the program,” Ms Matthews said.

“There is an almost overwhelming amount of high fat, high sugar, high trans fat and sodium foods out there. Processed food is the norm. Healthy, nutritional food is not the norm.”

Breakfast for Learning, which is part of the Canadian Living Foundation, recently released its 2007 report card on nutrition for school aged children and it gives children and adolescents a D, when it comes to meeting the daily nutritional requirements set out by the 2007 Canada Food Guide.

The report card shows that only 50 per cent of children and adolescents get the minimum number of servings per day of vegetables and fruit. The Canada Food Guide recommends five or six servings a day for children aged four to 13 and seven or eight daily servings for those 14 to 18.

French fries do not count as a vegetable, although 28 per cent of respondents ate them at least twice a week.

When it comes to getting enough grain products, 75 per cent are not, according to the report card. The minimum is four servings a day for children under nine years of age.

On the bright side, 92 per cent of all age groups are getting the minimum number of milk and alternative servings a day.

The Canada Food Guide recommends all Canadians consume at least two servings of milk per day, while those aged nine to 18 should consume three to four servings a day.

“Eating properly makes you function better during the day, whether you’re a student, a teacher, rich or poor,” Ms McDonald said.

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