10.16.2013 Smarter Lunchrooms Movement makes a debut in Los Angeles County.
In an effort to encourage students to select, eat, and enjoy nutritious foods, CFPA’s REAL Team hosted a one-day Smarter Lunchrooms workshop in September for school districts across Los Angeles County. During the workshop, Kate Hoy from Cornell’s B.E.N Center, focused on the use of no-cost and low-cost changes to the lunchroom environment designed to get students to take and eat more fruits, vegetables, and plain milk.
Research from the B.E.N Center shows that simple changes such as relocating fruit, renaming vegetables, and prompting students to enjoy healthy foods increases sales of target items, sometimes by more than 100%!
Over 15,000 schools across the nation have already joined the movement, including Merced City School District in California. Any lunchroom can be improved. What better way to show your support for school meals during National School Lunch Week by helping your local school cafeteria join the Smarter Lunchroom Movement.
To get started download the Best Practices Implementation Guide. PDF
And visit smarterlunchrooms.org to learn what’s new with the movement and download training materials.
Join the movement and help us reach our goal of having each school in California implement at least one Smarter Lunchrooms strategy. There’s nothing to lose but lots to be gained.
Even hospitals are seeing the benefit of redesigning cafeterias to make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Learn more about the Hospital Healthy Food Initiative. Link
For more information, please contact Ariana Oliva at 213-482-8200 x203 or at ariana@cfpa.net.
The Los Angeles Smarter Lunchrooms Training was made possible by funding from the Department of Health & Human Services through the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The training was also made possible with support from the Coalition for a Healthy North Long Beach with funding from the Kaiser HEAL Zone Initiative.
