growteachfeedA Complete Curriculum To Inspire Healthy Lifestyles at School

SIMPLE ADVICE FOR PARENTS TO INSPIRE HEALTHY LIFESTYLES

AT HOME

SMARTER NUTRITION

GARDENING PROJECTS

SCHOOL SUPPORT

HEALTHY RECIPES

parent guide

published by

HOW YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Listen to kids these days and you’ll realize that there’s a serious disconnect between knowledge of food, its source and health. As parents, educators and responsible adults, we all need to do more to inspire healthy lifestyles among our children. And we are trying to make it easy to do so.

Encourage your school district to use Grow Teach Feed: A Complete Curriculum to Inspire Healthy Lifestyles at School, a powerful new tool that gives teachers and foodservice professionals the resources they need to implement a comprehensive approach to getting healthy food and nutrition education into the mouths and minds of students.

Apply simple “Grow Teach Feed” principles at home to nurture a healthier connection between your child and food. We’ve included a few simple tips to get started in this pamphlet. You can also visit our website and subscribe to our email newsletter at www.organicschoolproject.org for great tips and timely advice on how to give your own kids a better chance against childhood obesity through knowledge and healthier eating habits.

Get involved with Organic School Project as a volunteer or as a donor and help us fulfill our mission of transforming educational feeding institutions and raising the food consciousness at America’s public and private schools. Contact us at 312-492-8800 to find out how you can help, or email colleen@organicschoolproject.org today.

The Organic School Project is a non-profit organization that reconnects school children to their food source through organic gardening, wellness education and healthy eating.

We have encouraged healthy lifestyles for over 3,500 kids and thousands of families since our founding in 2005 and are continuing to improve the ways in which children interact

with, think about and consume food.

Help support or mission by recommending Grow Teach Feed: A Complete Curriculum to Inspire Healthy Lifestyles In Schools to your local school district. You can also contact us

directly at 312-492-8800 to find out how to get involved in serving our school children’s needs.

1043 West Grand AvenueChicago, Illinois 60642

312.492.8800www.organicschoolproject.org

GET YOUR SCHOOL TO “GROW TEACH FEED”

GARDEN, COOK & EAT SMARTER AT HOME

GET INVOLVED!

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growteachfeedA Complete Curriculum To Inspire Healthy Lifestyles at School

G A R D E N I N G A T H O M E

S M A R T E R N U T R I T I O N

H E A L T H I E R E A T I N G

SUPPORT YOUR CH I LD ’ S HEALTHY L I FESTYLE AT SCHOOL – I T ’ S EASY !

Finally, a gardening journal is a must for tracking the garden’s progress from empty soil to harvest. Have your child sketch a diagram of what is planted where. And don’t forget a timeline that charts plant growth, weather, insects found, etc. There are numerous resources online that will help, from plant names to feeding tips to seed companies. Enjoy your time with your child through gardening – it’s time that all of you will treasure even more than what you harvest from the garden itself.

1. Teach your kids how to read labelsDiscover for yourself and teach your children what to look for on labels in order to make better choices in nutrition. Here is what to have them look for:

Fiber: Fiber is critical to a functioning digestive system and a healthy body. Check the labels and you’ll see of bowl of oatmeal, for example, delivers a whopping 25 grams of it. Look for key foods high in fiber.

Trans fats: Trans fats are a bad type of fat. Chemically created, they are not natural and the human body simply does not know how to metabolize these fats well, so they end up as stored fat, which contributes to health problems.

Artificial anything: Natural ingredients are the smart choice, especially when dealing with nutrition. Today’s foods can be loaded with unnatural preservatives.

Sugar: It’s seemingly in everything and – like salt – you should be careful about how much you consume. Too much sugar causes a wide range of health problems including aggression, weight gain, diabetes, and fatigue.

Sodium: How much is TOO much? Well, if you simply buy products with low or no sodium added, you can always add some to taste later and avoid the risk.

Calories: Last on the list for a good reason. If you get rid of trans fat, high sodium, high sugar, and artificial additives in foods you buy at the store, your calories will naturally be lower on average than products with all of those bad things.

1. Cook family meals together three times a weekMealtimes are an important part of sharing family time together, far too often dismissed in our hurry-up culture. No matter where you’re starting from, here are a few suggestions for bringing back family mealtimes:

Start simply – even one or two meals together a week provides some benefit to children, so don’t be afraid to start out with a few meals a week and work towards

a daily mealtime ritual.

Make family meals mandatory. No exceptions!

Introduce “family food” important to your heritage, and make it clear that the kids are expected to try it, letting them know why it is important.

Invent your own family food rituals, dishes and traditions.

Ban the television from dinner time.

Share the cooking tasks – and the cleanup, too.

Get your children a cookbook for kids and learn together. And if your child just happens to be a culinary natural, let them take on more of the cooking.

Remember, mealtimes are about more than just eating food. They’re a chance to sit at the table and share events of the day. Children who eat meals together with their families even have better vocabularies – the opportunity to use new words during dinner conversation contributes to language development.

Whether you have young children or teens, your family will benefit from making family meals a regular part of daily life. Create structure, ritual and strengthen feelings of belonging, as well as the opportunity to learn important cooking and nutrition skills.

We developed the Grow Teach Feed Collection as a tool to help further the cause of caring for our planet and the people on the planet, especially our children. Used by schools to educate kids on food and the environment while feeding them wholesome meals, the Collection provides instruction on growing food to connect kids with Mother Earth and direction to assist the lunch ladies in serving more and more food from scratch and sourcing more and more local and organic food.

As a parent, relative or friend of a student, your role in supporting and nurturing this education is critical. We not only want to empower and inspire all those within the current system to keep doing what they are doing—educating and feeding kids—but also enlist your support in raising their consciousness about serving better food that will have a lasting effect on the kids’ futures. Telling your school about this tool that will help incorporate healthier food through a realistic approach—without excessively increases to the price of each lunch—is a good place to start.

Additionally, here are some tips that you, as a parent, can use to help inspire a healthier lifestyle for your child while complementing the nutritional education he or she receives in school. You’ll find that your efforts will yield lasting results as your child grows.

1. Start your own vegetable garden at homeIt’s not as hard as it sounds, and it’s full of hidden lessons. In one afternoon, you can work with your child to start something as small as an indoor potted vegetable planter or, if space allows, as ambitious as a vegetable garden in the backyard.

School-aged children are ready for the challenge of outdoor gardens with a variety of vegetables, fruits and flowers. Starting a garden at home, tending it and eventually harvesting the food it yields, is an eye-opening experience for most children. Digging, planting, watering, weeding and watching a garden spring to life will help them develop a green thumb and a new appreciation for the world around them.

Make sure the garden is a stress-free zone for your children. Get creative by planting unusual-looking vegetables – inexpensive seed packs for nearly everything are available. Your child will be excited and engaged by his or her new creations.

Consider dressing up your child’s growing area with crafts – like stepping stones – you can do together while waiting for seeds to bloom. Making the garden your child’s own personal space gets them committed well before the plants emerge from the ground

Call your school district and ask them to obtain the Organic School Project’s Grow Teach Feed: A Complete Curriculum to Inspire Healthy Lifestyles In Schools. It is an all-inclusive tool to implementing a comprehensive program to connect kids with smarter nutrition, sustainable growing practices and healthier food at K-8 educational institutions. Copies can be ordered from the Organic School Project by calling 312-492-8800.

Call us and let us know that your child’s school district would benefit from the Grow Teach Feed Collection and we’ll offer them a free preview of what the program is all about. Support from parents is key to encouraging school systems to adjust and update their practices, but the Organic School Project would like to partner with parents in approaching educational policy-makers to effect change.

tell your school about the Grow Teach Feed Collection

...or tell us about your child’s school

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How you can help your kids