Changing the Scene

School Nutrition Education Program

Missouri children are above the national norm in prevalence of overweight. Of 21,992 school-age children screened in fiscal year 2002, 21.3 percent were overweight, compared to the national average of 14 percent overweight adolescents ages 12-19 in 1991. A healthy school nutrition environment can be a tool for decreasing overweight in children and adolescents, developing lifelong healthy eating and physical activity behaviors, and preventing diseases related to overweight. The components of a healthy school nutrition environment are:

1. A commitment to nutrition and physical activity
2. Quality school meals
3. Other healthy food options
4. Pleasant eating experiences
5. Nutrition education
6. Marketing

To learn more about developing policy that will encourage healthy behaviors, order a copy of the "free" USDA Changing the Scene tool kit. For technical assistance in developing and implementing policy change, contact us.

Missouri's first statewide training for Changing the Scene: Improving the School Nutrition Environment was conducted May 6, 2003 via satellite for public and non-public schools. A second statewide training that expanded the audience to include child care providers was conducted via videoconference on Sept. 29, 2003. The complete set of power point slides and script from the May 6th training provides schools with information that will help in developing nutrition policies for individual schools or districts. Fill in the blanks of the Policy Checklist, another helpful tool for developing new policy.

• Are you wondering what foods and beverages your school can sell in vending machines so that students have the opportunity to make a healthy choice? See what other states are using as guidelines for vended foods.
• Do you need ideas for fund-raising items other than candy bars of low nutrient value? Check out the website link for food and non-food fundraisers that parents and students will enthusiastically support.
• Is your school’s curriculum coordinator in the process of selecting nutrition education curriculum that will teach students lifetime skills? Find out how Missouri educators can access sequential, behavior-based, integrated, evaluated, and in some cases, evidence-based nutrition curriculum.

Changing the Scene is not just for school food service! Each member of the team; parents, students, administrators, foodservice professionals, teachers, the community; has a role in creating a healthy school nutrition environment. A healthy school nutrition environment is one that instructs and encourages students to develop healthy eating and physical activity habits, an environment where students improve test scores, decrease behavior problems, and improve attendance due to good nutrition.

For additional information, refer to the School Health Policies and Programs Study, a national survey periodically conducted to assess school health policies and programs at the state, district, and school levels. For state-level summaries and more, visit the website www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/shpps/.