California children get an early start being "health smart."

Food and Nutrition, August, 1993 by Dee Amaden

It's 11:30 a.m., and six little pairs of hands are washed and ready for lunch at Kids Kingdom Day Care in El Cerrito, California. Today's menu includes mini-pizzas on whole-wheat English muffins with tomato sauce and parmesan and jack cheeses; lightly steamed carrots with mild seasonings; fresh tangerines; and milk.

And almost every healthy bite will quickly disappear.

These 3- and 4-yead-olds are already building the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating, thanks to getting the right start through a California project called SHAPE. They're also becoming little messengers of good nutrition who learn from each other at mealtime and sometimes bring home suggestions for mom and dad as well.

Through SHAPE (Shaping Health as Partners in Education) and its Southern California counterpart SPIN (School Partners in Nutrition), California is exploring ways to help children be healthier through dietary changes and nutrition education.

Part of the state's "Healthy Kids, Healthy California" initiative, SHAPE is funded and coordinated by the California Department of Education. USDA helps support SHAPE through the Nutrition Education and training Program (NET), which provides federal grants to states for nutrition education for children, parents, teachers, and food service operators.

Serving healthy meals kids like

SHAPE has several goals. An important one is to examine ways child nutrition program sponsors--such as schools, child care and Head Start centers, and family day care homes like Kids Kingdom--can serve more healthful meals that children will enjoy.

Through regional networks, the schools and child development agencies participating in SHAPE are testing ways to plan and prepare meals and snacks that more closely reflect the Dietary Guidelines for Americans jointly developed by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services.

Participating school districts and child development agencies are making changes like serving more fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as more legumes (dry beans and peas) and whole grains. They're also reducing the amount of fat and sodium in meals and snacks.

Another goal of SHAPE is to look at the impact of these changes. One consideration will be how well the children adjust to them. For example, do the children like the way food tastes when its is prepared in new ways? And, how difficult or easy is it for them to eat more or larger servings of certain foods?

Nutritional value is another consideration. Project consultants are working with the state and with local food service staff and child care sponsors to analyze the nutrient content of meals served at participating sites. Using computer analysis, they are looking at how well meals and snacks provide the nutrients children need for development and good health.

This information will be helpful to federal, state, and local program managers interested in assessing the feasibility of using nutrient standards (instead of the traditional USDA meal patterns) as a basis for planning and serving meals to children participating in the child nutrition programs. (For more background on USDA meal patterns, see sidebar on page 19.)

USDA, the California Department of Education, and the local agencies participating in the project are collaborating in this effort.

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) authorized a waiver from the standard child nutrition meal patterns to allow schools and child care agencies participating in SHAPE to explore practical methods of incorporating the Dietary Guidelines into child nutrition program meals.

Changes carefully planned and made

In planning meals and snacks, SHAPE participants follow what's callee the California Daily Food Guide (CDFG). Developed by three state agencies working together (the California departments of health services, education, and going), the guide contains specific dietary recommendations, including guidance on healthful meals and snacks for children.

Like the federal Dietary Guidelines, CDFG emphasizes balance, variety, and moderation. Reflecting California's rich diversity of cultures and food preferences, it allows for flexiblity in planning nourishing, wholesome meals and snacks.

Using the guide, schools and child development agencies taking part in SHAPE are making specific changes in three key areas. They are:

* increasing the number of servings of foods high in complex carbohydrates -- fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes;

* choosing low-fat and lean choices of protein foods, especially animal foods, such as meat and diary products;

* controlling the amount of fats, sugars, and high-calorie foods and beverages of low nutritional value.

Teaching children to choose well

Another goal of SHAPE is to help children get an early start in learning to make healthful food choices.

"We really want to get good food habits started early," says Paula James, nutrition program manager for the Contra Costa Child Care Council, which sponsors the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) for 600 family day care homes in this northern California country, near San Francisco.