Special activities in Kansas bring nutrition to life

Food and Nutrition, July, 1985 by Joanne Widner

The Kansas State High School Activities Association has distributed the folder to all coaches in the state. Results of a postcard survey conducted last spring indicate a positive reaction from coaches. Additional copies are being made available to new coaches and to other interested people.

Ruth Leahy of Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, was involved in producing the coaches' folder. Her husband, Mike Leahy, is varsity basketball coach at Manhattan High School and president of the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association. Mike provided valuable input during the planning stages and is enthusiastic about the end result.

"The only training we coaches had had," says Leahy," was that we'd heard, and some of that was just old gossip. A few of the coaches may not pay much attention, of course, but most of them want to know what's right to eat on game day."

Leahy says that the folders are used on Parents' Night. "Every year," he says, "we have kids and parents ask if what you eat makes a difference." He can see the growing importance of nutrition to high school students, who are much more aware of eating right than they used to be.

Leahy runs off copies of the information in the folder, so kids can take it home. He thinks he's getting better results than when kids used candy bars for a quick energy boost and ended up "going hyper."

Joyce Dierking, Kansas nutrition education and training coordinator, says, "We had heard so many comments about the misinformation that coaches had and were providing to the athletes, the need was evident."

Lunchroom folder also distributed

A second folder was created for food service personnel. It includes a laminated poster with accompanying nutrition symbol stickers identifying the "A Team" (nutrients such as vitamins A, calcium, iron, etc.) to help students learn to identify and analyze nutrients in their menus.

It also sparks interest with a Riddle-a-Day pad, tying bad puns to good nutrition concepts. ("What food has vitamin B.sub.N.--niacin--and has ears but cannot hear? Corn, of course!")

The lunchroom folder was distributed at back-to-school workshops conducted in July and August 1984. Materials are now being used in elementary school lunchrooms, but an evaluation has not yet been done.

This year, two more folders will be added to the series. One for school nurses will cover diet and health, and one for secondary school counselors and nurses will address eating disorders.

On three separate tracks, Kansas is following a wholesome approach to better nutrition for its citizens through increased awareness of children, parents, school food service personnel, counselors, and cultural providers. It's a multidimensional reinforcement of an important message, for healthier Kansans tomorrow.

For more information, contact: Joyce Dierking Kansas State Education Building 120 East Tenth Street Topeka, Kansas 66642 Telephone: (913) 296-2276 Katie Armitage Kansas Museum of History 6425 South West Sixth Topeka, Kansas 66615 Telephone: (913) 272-8681