Chartwells Celebrates National Nutrition Month

Across the district, students tasted a range of different food samplings provided by Chartwells School Dining Services, Newtown’s food service provider, on Thursday, March 8, to held celebrate National Nutrition Month.

At Newtown Middle School and Reed Intermediate School humus samplings were offered with vegetables and whole grain pita chips, according to Chartwells’ Food Service Director Dan Shields and Chartwells’ Resident Dietician Jill Patterson.

“Our theme around National Nutrition Month is to build up a meal in a bowl,” said Mr Shield’s in Newtown High School’s cafeteria, where food options were laid out on tables for students during lunch waves.

One table held a sampling of a spicy Thai noodle chicken salad and another table had a rice and curried chicken offering. Barrie Lobo and Jeremy Santana, chefs from Masonicare of Newtown, were also on hand to help offer the students their healthy food options.

“Kids get really excited to have an executive chef here,” said Chartwells Regional Marketing Manager Tammy Williams, who was also at the high school on Thursday.

Along with Chartwells, a major provider of dining services for more than 550 public school districts and private schools nationwide, according to Ms Patterson, the Newtown school district also demonstrated its commitment to establishing the framework for a long, healthier life with its various National Nutrition Month activities.

National Nutrition Month is a nutrition education and information campaign conducted annually in March by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, formerly American Dietetic Association. 

The March 2012 National Nutrition Month theme is “Get Your Plate in Shape,” which reinforces the key messages of MyPlate, the United States Department of Agriculture icon that supports the dietary recommendations from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans to fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables and serves as a less complex visual reminder to make healthier food choices. 

During the National Nutrition Month celebration on Thursday, NHS students who built a plate that consists of one food item from each of the five food groups (fruit, vegetable, grain, meat/meat alternate, and milk) received a raffle ticket and the opportunity to win a prize.

“There are many simple changes that can be made to support healthy eating efforts and we can all benefit from these simple changes to improve what our children eat,” said Ms Patterson. “Healthy eating requires planning so our National Nutrition Month activities will help students become more conscious about what they are eating.”