Program Contact
Patti Delger515-281-5676
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Program Contact
Carrie Scheidel515-281-4758
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Team Nutrition
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On this page...
- Mini-Grants/Awards
- Youth in Action for a Healthy Iowa
- Being a Role Model
- Food Service Workshops
- Healthier US School Challenge
- 2005 Dietary Guidelines Fact Sheets
- Student Led Activity Ideas
- Team Nutrition Links
http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/
Team Nutrition's Goal is to improve children's lifelong eating and physical activity habits by using the principles of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPyramid .
Iowa Team Nutrition Grants
Currently the Iowa Department of Education is implementing two technical assistance/training grants (Team Nutrition 2007 - 2009 Grant and Team Nutrition 2008 - 2010 Grant), and one local wellness policy demonstration grant. The training grants allow the Iowa Department of Education to support Team Nutrition programs in schools, child care and summer food service programs across the state by providing:
• Training and technical assistance for Child Nutrition foodservice professionals to help them serve meals that look good, taste good and meet nutrition standards.
• Multifaceted, integrated nutrition education for youth and their parents. This education builds skills and motivation for youth to make healthy food and physical activity choices as part of a healthy lifestyle.
• Support for healthy eating and physical activity by involving school administrators and other school and community partners.
Team Nutrition Local Wellness Policy Demonstration Project, 2006 - 2009
Iowa has sixteen school districts involved in the Local Wellness Policy Demonstration Grant. Iowa, California and Pennsylvania are the only states awarded this grant. All three states are currently collecting the same data and each state is providing technical assistance to schools that are participating in the project. Successful strategies for implementing Local Wellness Policies will be identified and shared with all schools upon completion of the project.
USDA Team Nutrition
USDA's Team Nutrition is an integrated, behavior based, comprehensive plan for promoting the nutritional health of the Nation's children. This plan involves schools, parents, and the community in efforts to continuously improve school meals, and to promote the health and education of 50 million school children in more than 96,000 schools nationwide.
Team Nutrition uses three strategies to change behavior:
1. Training and Technical Assistance for Healthy School Meals The focus of the training and technical assistance is on:
- Planning and preparing healthy meals that appeal to ethnic and cultural taste preferences in all Child Nutrition Programs;
- Linking meals programs to other educational activities, such as learning in the classroom and developmental progress in child care;
- Providing nutrition expertise and awareness to the school or child care community; and
- Using sound business practices to assure the continued availability of healthy meals and the financial viability and accountability of school meal programs.
2. Nutrition Education
Through fun, interactive nutrition education children are encouraged to:
- Eat a variety of foods
- Eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
- Eat lower fat foods more often
- Get your calcium-rich foods
- Be physically active
3. School and Community Support
School and community support for healthy eating and physical activity focuses on three behavior outcomes for school and community leaders:
- Adopting and implementing school policies that promote healthy eating and physical activity;
- Providing school resources adequate to achieve success; and
- Fostering school and community environments that support healthy eating and physical activity.
Broad support is needed to provide nutritious meals, nutrition education, and healthy school and community environments. Adults can provide this support and positive messages in a variety of ways, through their actions and decisions.
Join the Team for Schools
Becoming a Team Nutrition School will help you focus attention on the important role nutritious school meals, nutrition education and a health-promoting environment play in helping students learn to enjoy healthy eating and physical activity. It will provide the framework for team efforts by school nutrition staff, teachers, parents, the media and other community members. As a new Team Nutrition School, you will receive resources both from USDA and the state of Iowa to help you plan and carry out activities for your students and their families.
We look forward to having you JOIN THE TEAM!
Join the Team - information for schools about Team Nutrition and online resources
Team Nutrition School Enrollment Form
Join the Team for Child Care and Summer Food Service Programs
Becoming a Team Nutrition child care or summer food service program, will help you focus attention on the important role nutritious child care/summer food service meals, nutrition education and a health-promoting environment play in helping children/students learn to enjoy healthy eating and physical activity. It will provide the framework for team efforts by nutrition staff, teachers, parents, the media and other community members. As a new Team Nutrition Program, you may receive resources both from USDA and the state of Iowa to help you plan and carry out activities for your children/students and their families.
We look forward to having you JOIN THE TEAM!
Join the Team - information for programs about Team Nutrition and online resources
Team Nutrition Program Enrollment Form
Mini-Grants/Awards
When USDA Team Nutrition Grant funding is available to the Iowa Department of Education, up to $500 mini-grants are available to assist schools/programs that want to enhance nutrition education, link nutrition and physical activity options, make policy changes regarding food and physical activity or conduct events to promote healthy eating and physical activity.
Guidance on Acceptable Team Nutrition Expenditures
Live Healthy Iowa Kids Team Nutrition Awards
The Live Healthy Iowa Kids Awards recognize schools that encourage young Iowans to increase their physical activity levels and make better food choices. The award program is sponsored by Iowa Department of Education's Team Nutrition Program and Iowa Partners: Action for Healthy Kids. Each award will include a certificate of recognition and $500 to be used to support school wellness activities. Only schools that have participated in the Live Healthy Iowa Kids 100 challenge are eligible to apply for an award. The application below includes questions related to how a school incorporates Live Healthy Iowa Kids into the school year. We suggest schools to complete the application with a committee of school personnel, such as their school wellness policy committee, with the requirement of including students in the application process.
Deadline to submit applications: Wednesday, April 22nd, 2010.
Live Healthy Iowa Kids Awards ApplicationThe Live Healthy Iowa Kids four-month activity begins on January 19th and goes until April 28th, 2010. To learn more about Live Healthy Iowa Kids and to register for the 4-month challenge click here.
Live Healthy Iowa also has an adult program that can showcase school staff living healthy lifestyles. This team-based physical activity, nutrition and weight loss program is designed to promote positive changes leading to a healthier lifestyle. To learn more about the Live Healthy Iowa adult program click here.
If you have any questions, contact Patti Delger or call at 515-281-5676.
Mini-Grant Success Stories
Kidsville Early Learning Center
CACFP Success Story - Eat Fresh!
The Child Care Council of Buchanan County (Kidsville Early Learning Center) is buying fresh fruit and vegetables from local farmers in the Independence area. Joe Olsen, Market Manager at the Independence Farmer's Market and Kelly Duritsa with the Independence Community Schools introduced Kidsville Director, Lois Baumert to local producers at the MOO ROO in Cedar Falls. The "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" program sponsored this event to introduce buyers with producers.
Through these connections, Kidsville has ordered strawberries, sweet corn, apples, green beans, peas, lettuce and squash. As the produce becomes available, the local farmers make deliveries to Kidsville.
The children are also involved by learning to snap peas, shuck corn, and plant their own garden. Kidsville teachers attended preschool curriculum training through ISU Extension called "Growing in the Garden" . The three and four year old children decided to grow sunflowers, sweet corn, carrots, lettuce and parsley. The plan is to make a salad for lunch, attract butterflies and feed the bunnies and birds!
By bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to the center from local farmers and creating a garden, the children are learning that eating fresh is healthy, fun and yummy!
Melcher-Dallas Elementary
Go The Distance Day Team Nutrition Mini-Grant Success Story at Melcher-Dallas Elementary SchoolGo the Distance Day was held Friday, May 1, 2009. Melcher-Dallas Elementary School had a fun day exercising, learning about healthy eating and trying some new foods. Go the Distance Day promoted five messages:
- Eat a variety of foods
- Eat more fruit, vegetables and grains
- Eat lower fat foods more often
- Be physically active every day
- Get your calcium rich foods
The day’s activities were funded by a $500 mini-grant from Team Nutrition. The funds provided the money necessary for all the food samples, and exercise and movement CD’s and videos which teachers can check out to use in their classrooms and inside during raining days for recess.
The schedule for Go the Distance Day included:
- Switch 30 minute recess times to before lunch
- Everybody took a walk for at least a half hour; could also jog/run/skip; use city block east of elementary school
- New CD’s and videos available for teachers to try in their classrooms. Angie said, “They were glad to have some resources for daily use and for use during rainy recess time. They were surprised that the tapes/CDs were fitness but also educational and incorporated listening skill building.”
- Food education and Food samples . Learned about fruits, vegetables, sugar in drinks, highlighted recipes to be sampled, benefits of whole wheat;
- 4th grade presented posters and did the talks as groups moved through the gym. Samples included: V-8 Fusion drinks; fresh pineapple and frozen black grapes, banana split smoothies; chicken/brown rice/vegetable stir fry; tuna whole wheat noodle hotdish; pizza burgers on whole wheat buns; whole wheat pasta salad with variety vegetables/fat free dressing; cucumber, cauliflower and carrots.
She reported that the weather was pretty nice for the walk around the block. Angie said, “It was so fun to see the kids out walking with teachers and staff, smiling and laughing together.” “Some were walking, some jogging, the older ones helped the younger ones. There were lots of smiles and many of the kids didn’t want to quit when the hour was up. Many liked to challenge themselves to see how many laps they could get in during the time.”
The food education activity went very well. The Fourth Grade class did a really good job creating their posters and practicing their talks so they could give a confident presentation to their fellow students. The 4th graders helped hand out the food samples for the classes and were encouraging other kids with comments like, “It tastes like pizza, but it’s on a whole wheat bun.” “You could even make this at home really easily.” Or “Did you try Mrs. Murphy’s stir fry? It’s awesome! Better than a Chinese restaurant.” And “Did you try to smoothie? It has everything that’s in a banana split, except the ice cream. It’s really good.”
The teachers asked the kids: What was your favorite thing you sampled?
“The cucumber!” “I loved everything!” “I liked the pizza burger, can we have them for lunch?” “I liked the pasta salad because it’s really good!” “I liked the frozen grapes and the pineapple—they were yummy!” “ I would eat everything if it was served at school lunch.” “The fusion (juice) was the best-the purple kind.” “Do we get to do this next year?”
Boyden-Hull Elementary
Live Healthy Iowa Kids Team Nutrition Mini-Grant Success Story at Boyden-Hull Elementary
The following article appeared in the Sioux County Index-Reporter Newspaper on April 29, 2009 and highlights how older students can positively impact younger students’ healthy food and physical activity habits.
DeWeerd promotes healthy living at Boyden-Hull Elementary
By Jeanne Visser
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Boyden-Hull second graders receive pedometers for healthy activity competition.
Compared to the rest of the state Boyden-Hull second grade students are doing quite well in the minutes of physical activity they’ve participated in this year.
Since Jan. 21, Team BHS, which is made up of the 50 second graders, has been recording their minutes of physical activity on monthly calendars. At the end of each month Devin DeWeerd collects the calendars and goes online to www.iowasportsfoundation.org/livehealthyiowakids/default.aspx to report the average minutes for the team.
Each week the kids also receive information from DeWeerd on healthy family eating, recipes and fun healthy physical games to play.
Last week he visited the classroom to play a Food Pyramid Portion Size Game and hand out free pedometers to each student for a competition between the two sections of second grade.
A senior at Boyden-Hull and the son of Don and Deb, from Hull, this is DeWeerd’s third year promoting healthy choices to elementary school kids. He creates games and activities and speaks to the young students about the importance of exercise and eating healthy foods.
“I think I got interested in this after I read an article several years ago that talked about the millions of children under the age of 12 who are obese,” he explained. “Childhood obesity can lead to so many health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, liver diseases and asthma.”
“As I read the statistics it
HIT
me that my sister was that age and I didn’t want anything like that to happen to my sister. I think I can make a difference at Boyden-Hull.”
This year he decided to get involved in the Live Healthy Iowa Kids 2009 campaign and applied for a grant to promote healthy kids. He received $250 to purchase the pedometers, make the Food Pyramid Portion Size game and purchase sub sandwiches and fruit juice for an example of a healthy meal at the end of the pedometer competition.
“I enjoy working with the kids, promoting healthy lifestyle choices, which can be utilized the rest of their lives,” he said.
Youth In Action for a Healthy Iowa
Outcomes
Sixty high school students and their adult advisors spent a day finding ways to improve their school health environments. Ideas to improve nutrition and increase physical activity were discussed, questions answered and solutions put into action plans. Comments included; “We learned many new ways to help our school get healthier.” “I now know new types of communication I can use to get the food/fitness message across.” “I loved the ideas that were shared, it gave us new ideas to bring to our own communities.” “We hope to make nutrition based changes at my school, and show how youth can make a difference!”
The Iowa Department of Education’s Team Nutrition Program and the State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council (SIYAC) sponsored the symposium which identified the problems and suggested solutions that make sense to Iowa high school students on how to improve healthy school environments, communities and their own personal eating and physical activity habits. Being a leader for change and a role model to others was emphasized.
School teams offered insightful views on how best to address this age group’s health habits in a day that was packed with great information and a lot of interaction/participation via keypad polling. Diana Reed, former Miss Iowa spoke on “Exercising Your Character” and Dan Wardell, IPTV gave a motivational send off presentation, “Go Forth Healthy Heroes.”
Below are documents to the polling outcomes from the symposium, handouts and presentations. More information is available from Patti Delger, Team Nutrition Project Director at 515-281-5676 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Bryan King, SIYAC Coordinator at 515-242-5023 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
School Environment Questions-Polling
Action for Healthy Kids Newsletter Fall 2008
Exercising Your Character by Diana Reed
The Obesity Epidemic and Iowa Students
Yeah! Your Voice Counts- A Toolkit for Youth Advocacy
Spring Symposioums
To expand upon the "Youth in Action for a Healthy Iowa Symposium" held in November of 2008, four regional symposiums were held this spring by the Iowa Department of Education's Team Nutrition program and the State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council (SIYAC). The symposiums were held at Cedar Rapids, Alta, Davenport, and Creston. Students and adult advisors attended, representing 39 schools from across the state. The symposiums included discussion on how Iowa high school students can support healthier school and community environments and change their own eating and physical activity habits. The teams developed action plans to take back to their schools as well as had the opportunity to apply for a $500 mini-grant. Polling and discussion questions, which were selected by SIYAC members, took place during each of the symposiums. The results are presented in the report below. For more information contact Team Nutrition, Co-Director, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Youth in Action for a Healthy Iowa Symposium Report
Being a Role Model for School Wellness
Adults by their actions serve as role models to students often without realizing it. School personnel, parents, and other adults that students come in contact with regularly are powerful role models when it comes to nutrition and physical activity. Students joining adults in action will support the district's wellness environment. The following tools are resources that can assist you in being a role model for school wellness.
Healthy Choices - Healthy Students Training DVD
All schools received Healthy Choices - Healthy Students training DVD in March, 2010. This DVD can be used to train Food Service staff on how to prepare and serve healthy meals that meet the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the HealthierUS School Challenge. The DVD demonstrates how school foodservice programs can prepare, serve, and market nutritious, appealing, attractive foods that students will choose to eat. Focus areas included in this training DVD are: legumes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.Each session is approximately 12-13 minutes in length and can be used for staff training in one sitting or broken into 3 different training sessions.
Executive Chef Benjamin Whitmore demonstrates the food preparation of six healthy recipes - Bean Burrito, Black Bean and Corn Salsa, 51% White Wheat Roll, Oatmeal Whole Wheat Raisin Cookie, Broccoli Salad and Vegetable Chicken Wrap. The following six recipes can easily be incorporated into your school menus to increase dried beans/legumes, increase whole grains and increase fruits and vegetables:
A Culinary Approach to School Wellness
During the month of May, 75 school district nutrition personnel attended Team Nutrition Chef Workshops held at four locations throughout Iowa. The Department of Education Bureau of Nutrition, Health and Transportation Services partnered with Iowa State University Extension Nutrition and Health Field Specialists and members of the American Culinary Federation of Iowa to "culinize" school meals. The goal was to make them more visually appealing to their customers - students who are used to eating many of their meals at restaurants and foods courts, and to increase amounts of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables and reduce the fat and sodium. Chefs provided their expertise on ways to jazz up the plate while working with groups of school personnel preparing entrees and side dishes. During this food production time, other workshop attendees discussed ways to better merchandise the meals and market the child nutrition program. One strategy discussed was to communicate use of healthful options to parents and district patrons. Kids know that chicken nuggets are served but parents need to know that these are baked and made with whole grain breading.At the Ottumwa workshop, participants experimented with
SEA
salt and fresh ground pepper as the seasoning on vegetables versus table salt. Ounce per ounce, these upscale seasonings may be more costly, but they won the taste test hands down, and because of stronger flavor, less of the product was used.
The menu at Moville included a roasted vegetable burrito with black beans wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. This meat alternate item is a lower cost option as well as healthier! The whole wheat tortillas are an Iowa Commodity item available to schools this year.
The Chef at Cedar Rapids opted to work solely with Commodity foods, to demonstrate ways these foods can be included into healthy menu options. Menu items included stir-fry brown rice with ham and egg, smoky ham and bean soup, roast turkey with sweet and sour fruit sauce (made with canned apricots) and breakfast burrito made with pork crumbles and served on a whole wheat tortilla. Many new school menu ideas were generated.
In Ankeny, the Chef used whole grains throughout the menu, such as whole wheat goulash and triple berry buckle made with whole grain topping.
Participants rated the success of the workshops very highly. Comments for what they found most useful included, "learning how to improve the positive image of our food service operation", "the uses of different commodities", "more ideas for healthy menus" and "hands-on cooking". Several of the schools attending indicated their intention to apply for and achieve the HealthierUS School Challenge award for nutrition excellence, found at http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/HealthierUS/index.html.
Team Nutrition Workshop: Role of Nutrition Program in a Healthy School Environment
Thirty school nutrition program directors and staff from 16 districts representing over 68,000 Iowa students participated in a Team Nutrition Workshop on the Iowa State University campus in the Joan Bice Underwood Tearoom June 11 and 12, 2009.
The workshop, with a theme of "The Role of Nutrition Programs in a Healthy School Environment" was sponsored by the Department of Education Bureau of Nutrition, Health and Transportation Services and ISU Extension through a Team Nutrition Grant from the USDA. ISU Extension Nutrition and Health field specialists also participated in the workshop and strategized with districts in their respective areas on action steps to improve the school health environment.
Each participant rotated through three break-out sessions: hands-on production experience with menu items that meet Dietary Guidelines for Americans; merchandising healthy menu options; and communication about child nutrition programs to school district stakeholders. Chef Cyndie Story showed how to "culinize" healthy school food choices. Donna Becker, RD, School Foodservice Director in Perry School District shared her experiences in a successful application in meeting the HealthierUS School Challenge and Jane Heikenen, Bureau Consultant, presented ways to incorporate USDA Commodity foods into healthy school menus.
Chef Cyndie Story, PhD, RD demonstrated ways to reduce sodium and fats and increase fruit, vegetable, and whole grain use in school meals, followed by participants preparing and evaluating selected recipes. HealthierUS School Challenge criteria were reviewed and school commitments to apply for this prestigious award were made by several schools.
Consultant and ISU graduate Chef Cyndie Story, PhD, RD; ISU Extension Specialist Catherine Strohbehn, PhD, RD; ISU research project coordinator Janell Meyer, and the Bureau Team Nutrition Project Directors Patti Delger and Carrie Scheidel facilitated each of these sessions. Foodservice and Lodging Management graduate students Amy Casselman and Allan Ortiz assisted with the production station.
A similar hands-on training, "The Role of the Meals Program in a Healthy Child Care Environment" was presented in the Joan Bice Underwood Tearoom in Ames on June 5th to twenty Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) participants. Robin Searles, Bureau Consultant assisted with the workshop. Below are several resources developed from each workshop.
Healthy Menu Planning Checklist-CACFP CACFP Operational Considerations Presentation Creating a Healthy Child Care Environment Presenation Dietary Guildlines and Menu Recommendations Presentation The Role of the Meals Program Presentation Broccoli and Cheese Frittata Fresh Fruit with Strawberry Yogurt Dip Multiple CACFP Recipes Oatmeal-Whole Wheat Raisin Cookies Sweet Potato Coins
Healthy Menu Planning Checklist-School Checklist for Retail Purchasing of Local Produce Buy Fresh Buy Local Healthier US School Challenge Presentation Using Commodities in Iowa for HUSSC Team Nutrition Marketing presentation 51% White Whole Wheat Roll Recipe Black Bean and Salsa Soup Broccoli and Cheese Frittata Fresh Fruit with Strawberry Yogurt Dip Oatmeal-Whole Wheat Raisin Cookies Pear Vinaigrette Salad Dressing Strawberry-Applesauce Smoothies Sweet Potato Coins Vegetable Wraps Vegetable Pizza with Whole Grain Crust
HealthierUS School Challenge 2008
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) recognizes schools that take a leadership role in helping students learn to make healthy eating and active lifestyle choices through the HealthierUS School Challenge. To qualify for the awards, a school must submit a formal application and meet basic criteria set forth by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The HUSSC criteria reflect the recommendations of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published recommendations (April 2007) for foods that should be served in schools, outside of the organized school lunch meals. HealthierUS Schools must also have a local school wellness policy as mandated by Congress. Local school wellness policies support the HUSSC initiative and affirm that schools play a critical role in promoting student health, preventing childhood obesity, and combating problems associated with poor nutrition and physical inactivity.
Applications must be submitted to the Iowa Department of Education for review and then are forwarded on to USDA by the State. Below are resources to assist schools with moving towards the recommended school meal HealthierUS School Challenge award. Applications and all materials are available at HealthierUS .
Click here for schools in Iowa who have received Gold and Silver HealthierUS School Challenge Awards.
2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Fact Sheets
Fact Sheets For Healthier School Meals
Developed by USDA for school foodservice professionals, these Fact Sheets offer strategies for purchasing, preparing, and serving meals consistent with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These resources can also be found at http://teamnutrition.usda.gov .
• “Use Low-fat Milk, Cheese and Yogurt ”
• “Jazz Up Your Menu With Fruits ”
• "Trim Trans Fat "
• "Meeting the Challenge of Rising Food Costs for Healthier School Meals "
• "Vary Your Vegetables "
• Be Salt Savvy – Cut Back on Sodium
• Limit Saturated Fat and Cholesterol
• Serve More Dry Beans and Peas
Student Led Activity Ideas
The links below provide a variety of ideas that students and others interested in fostering healthier nutrition and physical activity habits and promoting overall wellness might want to consider as ideas for use in their local schools. The ideas listed below were developed as part of a graduate student assignment at Iowa State University, by Christine Clarahan and Erin Tiffany.
Calcium Game during Lunch Hour (97.76 KB 2007-02-02 09:12:59)
Find That Food! (120.48 KB 2007-02-02 09:13:54)
Grain, Fruit, and Veggie Challenge (95.58 KB 2007-02-02 09:14:52)
Grocery Store Smarts (92.3 KB 2007-02-02 09:15:44)
School Lunch Display (166.66 KB 2007-02-02 09:16:32)
Variety is Rewarding! (91.5 KB 2007-02-02 09:17:25)
Be a student leader – be a role model - Eat Smart. Play Hard. ™