May+Menu!

= ** May Menu **// Week One //  = = = Hello, parents and students! Here you will find this week's menu for snacks and lunch. Please feel free to email me with healthy recipes or nutritious meal ideas!

// **BON APPETIT!** //

Whole wheat toast (1/2 slice) Real fruit jelly (1 tsp) || peas (2 tbsp) mashed potatoes (2 ounces) grilled chicken pieces (2 ounces) diced pineapple (2 tbsp) whole milk (1/2 cup) || watermelon (2 tbsp) broccoli (2 tbsp) water || water || peanut butter (1 tsp) jelly (1 tsp) whole wheat bread (1 slice) apples slices (2 slices) carrot (3 sticks) soy milk (1/2 cup) || whole wheat crackers (2) cheese cube (1/2 oz) water || diced strawberries (2) water || whole grain pasta (2 tbsp) tuna (1 ounce) green beans (2 tablespoons) purple grapes (5) whole milk (1/2 cup) || celery sticks (3) peanut butter (1 tsp)water || Vanilla Wafers (3) || whole grain rice (2 tbsp) black beans (1/2 ounce) grilled chicken pieces(1/2 ounce) banana pieces (2 tbsp) soy milk (1/2 cup) || yogurt (1/4 cup) granola (2 tbsp) water || humus (2 tsp) water || sweet potatoes (2 tbsp) whole grain spaghetti (2 tbsp) meat sauce (1 ounce) sliced pear (2 tbsp) whole milk (1/2 cup) || green grapes (5) almonds (5) water ||
 * **DAY** || **Midmorning Snack** || **Lunch** || **Mid-afternoon Snack** ||
 * **Monday** || no sugar added 100% apple juice (1/2 cup)
 * **Tuesday** || diced peaches (1/4 cup)gram crackers (2)
 * **Wednesday** || croissant (1/4 whole)
 * **Thursday** || Orange Juice (1/2 cup)
 * **Friday** || pita slices (3)

// - // //**Fast Food Research**//

I chose to do my research at McDonald’s. Their entree order choices are a cheeseburger, hamburger, or chicken nuggets. The most popular choice that I observed children ordering at McDonald’s was the happy meal with a cheeseburger and fries. Chicken nuggets came in as a close second. (What part of a chicken does the //nugget// come from anyway?) All the children I observed preferred the unhealthier options and ate their entire meals.The happy meal orders came with a small fountain drink, which most children filled on their own. Their fountain beverage choices ranged from Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Diet Dr. Pepper, POWERaide, to Hi-C “Fruit Punch” (which is merely fruit flavored, not full of actual nutritional fruit juice). I observed one child who mixed all of the soda options into a single sugary cocktail. However, children do have the healthier option of ordering 1% low fat milk, fat free chocolate milk, or a small box of MinuteMaid apple juice.

The unhealthy, yet popular HappyMeal items are high in calories, fat, and cholesterol, not to mention sodium! The popular soft drinks had over two times the amount of sugar vs. the healthier option of 1% lowfat milk (12g of sugar in 1% milk vs. 29g found in coke). If children consumed these HappyMeals everyday, they would be getting more than the recommended amount of meat and would be missing out on their daily dose of fruits (1 cup) and vegetables (1 cup) (Marotz, 430). If I were to plan a healthier meal, it would not come from McDonald’s or any other fast food establishment! However, given the options at McDonald’s, a hamburger, side of apple slices, and a jug of 1% LowFat Milk is a slightly more nutritional meal combination catered towards children in a HappyMeal vs. the standard cheeseburger, small fry, and coke preferred by the children I observed.

The following are the nutritional results for the most popular food items children ordered: **Fat g** || **Trans** **Fat g** || **Cholesterol** **mg** || **Sodium** **mg** || **Dietary** **Fiber g** || **Protein**
 * **Food** || **Calories** || **Calories from Fat** || **Carbs g** || **Fat g** || **Saturated**

**g** || (without sauce) || 190 || 100 || 53 || 12 || 2 || 0 || 30 || 400 || 0 || 10 ||
 * Cheese-Burger || 300 || 110 || 37 || 12 || 6 || 0.5 || 40 || 750 || 2 || 15 ||
 * Small Fry || 230 || 100 || 43 || 11 || 2 || 0 || 0 || 160 || 3 || 3 ||
 * 4 Piece Chicken Nugget
 * Child Size Coke (12floz)

Sugar-29g || 110 || 0 || 29 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 5 || 0 || 0 ||

A more nutritional meal combination catered towards children (in a HappyMeal) is a hamburger, side of apple slices, and a 1% LowFat milk jug. Here is the nutritional information for the “healthiest” option:

**g** || **Saturated** **Fat g** || **Trans** **Fat g** || **Cholesterol** **mg** || **Sodium** **mg** || **Dietary** **Fiber g** || **Protein**
 * **Food** || **Calories** || **Calories from fat** || **Carbs g** || **Fat**

**g** ||
 * Hamburger || 250 || 80 || 31 || 9 || 3.5 || 0.5 || 25 || 490 || 2 || 12 ||
 * Apple Slices || 15 || 0 || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||
 * 1% LowFat Milk Jug

Sugar- 12g || 100 || 20 || 12 || 2.5 || 1.5 || 0 || 10 || 125 || 0 || 8 ||

** - ** **Nutrition In School Settings**


 * A good meal should be balanced, nutritious, and filling. With the right funding and resources, organizations such as the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), can provide schools with enough funding to serve nutritious meals. Programs like this are ideal because they have a list of requirements and menu recommendations schools should abide by. It ensures that proper sanitation, staffing, and nutrition policies (among other things!) are in place.**
 * School employees should keep in mind that a good menu includes familiar foods as well as new foods. This exposes children to menus of other cultures, as well as introduces them to new flavors and textures. A colorful plate tends to be more nutritious and can be fun for children to practice describing their foods. This helps expand a young child's vocabulary with words like: crisp, chewy, hot, round, smooth, and yellow.**
 * Personally, I think implementing a school vegetable and fruit garden would be beneficial to the school and studets. Many lessons can be intertwined by growing a garden. There are many Science lessons to learn (seasons, how plants grow, ecosystems, etc.), students will get time outside gain an appreciation for their planet, they will feel a sense of community by caring for a garden with their peers, they can learn about good nutrition, and when the plants have matured, they can pick, prepare, and eat them! Nothing beats fresh, nutritious fruits and veggies! Foods like carrots, lettuce, onions, oranges, pumpkins, peppers,** **radishes,** **strawberries,** **and tomatoes are all delicious, edible, and capable of growing in Florida.**