Running Head: Choose My Plate!

Kendra Quinton
#18964
Dr. Miller
March 10, 2016

Running Head: Choose My Plate!

Introduction
In todays economy there are children that are becoming more obese. There are several
reasons why. The first reason is not having nutritional meals in school and at home. The other
issue is not getting enough physical activity. According to the WebMD website it says that The
proportion of young children who are overweight or obese has increased about 60% in the past
20 years. They have estimated that 43 million children worldwide are overweight or obese, and
81% of them live in developing countries. The number is expected to increase to about 60
million over the next decade.(Hendrick) These numbers stated are unbelievable, we need to
teach our children to choose better, but not only that to have healthier meals in our schools.
The tool myplate is an excellent resource to see nutritional information in our schools.
This is also a great tool for parents to see how much nutrition you are serving to your children at

Running Head: Choose My Plate!

home. It also can show which groups you need to implement more into your childs life. We as
educators should teach our students the importance of being healthy, by choosing the healthier
options when it comes to lunch and breakfast.
National Standards for School Meals
The standard for school meals has all the nutritional standards for the schools. It breaks
down what the students should be eating at breakfast and lunch while in school. Some of the
things include to offer fruit at breakfast and at lunch, meals that have meet calorie ranges, have
milk that is fat free, and require students to pick a fruit and vegetable when getting their lunch.
These are just a few points that the standards say to have in schools. With that being said schools
are trying to implement these key points, however some struggle. (Nutrition Standards in the
National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, 2012)
When it comes to my school, they meet some of the national standards. For breakfast
they have the options to get whole grain cereal, oatmeal, carrots and donuts. Students tend to go
towards the donuts than pick oatmeal or carrots. These two are usually not touched. When it
comes to lunch the students have multiple options that they can choose from, there are usually
three to four options. Some of the options are healthy like the protein bistro pack and, romaine
salad and chicken. However there are some options that arent so healthy. This includes pizza,
cheeseburgers and pretzels/cheese. However in each of the meals that are presented to the school
the always want their students to pick a vegetable and fruit in their lunch. Although this school
wants their students to pick a vegetable and fruit, the teacher tends to see all the students
throwing this away when lunch time is over. They are required to pick it, however they never eat
it.

Running Head: Choose My Plate!

My school is on a free reduced policy, the must follow the local school policy. The policy
provides low cost or free reduced lunches in schools. The nutritional requirements are to have
school meals that meet the meal pattern and nutrition standards. These meals need to increase the
availability in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in the school menu. ( National School Lunch
Program, 2013)
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
When looking at the dietary guidelines for Americas there are three key
recommendations. These recommendations are there to help you eat healthier food for your body
while consuming fewer calories. When you make informed food choice and have physical
activity throughout your life you will maintain a healthy weight and have great overall health.
The three key recommendations are balancing calories to manage weight, food components to
reduce, and foods and nutrients to increase. (Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010)
Looking at the student and his intake of food at breakfast and lunch he didnt meet the
target that is presented on myplate. This student only consumed 960 calories with 1040 empty
calories(it goes off of a 2000 calories). When looking at this students income of food it is far
below the target that was supposed to be met. This student was under in each of the four food
group that are presented in the chart, however this student almost met the target goal in the milk
group. With the two meals that this student consumed he/she ate 4 ounces of grains, 1 cup of
vegetables, 1 1/4 cup of fruits, 2 1/2 cups of dairy, and 1 1/2 ounces of protein.
This student also had an intake of 12 grams of saturated fat, from a teacher perspective
this has to come from the pizza that this student ate at lunch. This is the only fatty food that has a
lot of fat in it. The student also has eaten 1049 grams of sodium and 2 grams of sugar. With these

Running Head: Choose My Plate!

two meals combined this student will need to have at least 150 minutes of physical activity each
week. Children need to have at least 60 minutes a day of physical activity, in this case this
student will have to have bigger amount of physical activity to maintain a healthier body weight.
Improvements on Food in Schools
When the first thing that I want to improve is to have a healthier breakfast. I can see that
my school is trying to implement whole wheat grains, but they need to get ride of the donuts.
Students tend to want to eat this instead of the other options that are available to them. I would
include a fruit in subsitue of the vegetable. This is because not a lot of students like carrots and
that is the only option they have. However if we have like a banana, or pineapple the students
would probably pick that instead of the donuts and carrots.
Another thing that I would improve is not to have pizza as an option. At this school they
get their pizza from Papa Johns and its not healthy with all that grease. Instead of pizza in the
school they could trade it out for something that will help with maintaing a healthier body
weight. They also could improve on giving more fruits and vegetables to the students. It is a
requirement to have one of these on your plate when getting your lunch, however most of them
through it away. With that being said they can improve in this area and find a way that the
students will eat more fruits and not just through them away.
Lastly, an improvement that can be improved in schools is teach about healthy eating. We
seem to not teach our students about how healthy eating can affect our bodies and minds. If we
eat healthy meals and get the right amount of calories each day for our bodies, than the students
will be more energetic to learn. This topic could be improved at any school, just some info why
its better to eat healthy foods and to exercise daily.

Running Head: Choose My Plate!

Reflection
As future teachers I believe that we should educate our students on healthy eating. This is
an important content to know because, if the students learn how to pick a healthy meal and have
physical activity the will have a healthier body weight. I feel that we should integrate nutritional
skills into other core subjects. By doing this we are teaching the content of the core subjects, but
also slipping in some important information about nutrition.
This website is great for students to see how much the consume of each food group, the
fat intake, sodium added sugars, and how much exercise they need. Having a website like
myplate can show students how they are eating and if they are eating healthy. Its a great visual
representation of their diet for breakfast and lunch. Since it is an online resource students could
go on anytime and update their intake of food to see which food group they need to work on and
which they might need to cut back on.
How I would use this type of resource in my classroom would be to teach to my students
about healthy nutrition. What I would do is have my student us this resource to track their food
for an entire week. After a week the students will look at the visual and write something down
that they could fix, so their meals will be more nutritionist. Than we would track their meals
again after they have added something that will help them maintain a healthy body weight. We
will than compare the results and see how they are different and same. This can give the students
to see how they are acting different in class like if they are more awake or active. I feel this
would be a fun activity to show students that when we eat a more nutritional meal that it can help
our brain and body.

Running Head: Choose My Plate!

The only fast food restaurants that I have seen close to the school is McDonalds and
wendys, and chic fa la. There are a lot of pizza places around it as well. However most of these
fast food places are close to the 101 when people can quickly get off to get their food. One thing
that I have seen at the school is parents bringing their lunch for the day and half the time it is fast
food. Picking a fast food place for your childs lunch is not what parents should do. We need to
keep the rate of obesity down, and we cant do that if parents and schools are not feeding the
students a nutritional meal.

Running Head: Choose My Plate!

References


Choose MyPlate. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2016, from http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (2010, January) Retrieved March 10, 2015, from
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/dietary_guidelines_for_americans/ExecSumm.pdf

Hendrick, B. (2010, October 21). Obesity in Kids Rises Around the World. Retrieved
March 10, 2016, from http://www.webmd.com/children/news/20101021/obesity-in-kids-risesaround-the-world

National School Lunch Program. (2013,September) Retrieved March 9, 2015, from http://
www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/NSLPFactSheet.pdf

Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. (2012)
Retrieved March 9, 2015, from https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/
2012-1010.pdf

Running Head: Choose My Plate!

Criteria

Points (5) Exemplary

Introduction
SCORE:
x1

Introduction was well

organized and created
a plan for the paper

ChooseMyPlat
e Analysis
SCORE:
x1

One breakfast and one

lunch (or 2 restaurant
options) were

evaluated
Results reflect a
hypothetical student
Screen shot was

included

Application of
results and
proposed
changes
SCORE:
x1

Summary/
Reflection
SCORE:
x1

Writing
SCORE:
x1

Contained a very
detailed application of
National Standards
for School Meals

Contains very
detailed applications
of Dietary Guidelines
for Americans

Contains very
detailed discussions
for 3 changes to
improve nutrition

A summary of the
current state of the
schools nutrition was
included
Summary of changes
were included
A detailed reflection
regarding how this
teacher knowledge of
students impacts your
students inside and
outside your
classroom
Proper grammar and
punctuation is used
throughout the
proposal

All sentences are

clear & developed
Paper was at least 3
pages with standard
margins, font, & text
size

Points (3) Proficient

Points (1) Needs Improvement

Introduction was
somewhat organized and
created a plan for the
paper

Only one breakfast or

lunch (or 1 restaurant
option) was evaluated

Results reflected a
hypothetical student, but
not enough information
was provided
Screen shot was
included, but incomplete
Contained a somewhat
detailed application of
National Standards for

School Meals
Contained somewhat
detailed applications of
Dietary Guidelines for
Americans
Contains somewhat
detailed discussions only
2 changes to improve
nutrition

A summary of the
current state of the
school in terms of
nutrition was included
but did not align with

paper
A summary of the
proposed changes was
included but did not
align with paper
A general reflection of
how this data impacts
your students

Most grammar and

correct punctuation is
used throughout the

proposal
Most sentences are clear

& developed
Paper was 1-3 pages with
standard margins, font,
and size of text

Introduction was disorganized

and did not create a plan for
the paper
Only one breakfast or lunch
(or 1 restaurant option) was
evaluated but was incomplete
Results did not reflect a
hypothetical student
Screen shot was not included

Contained little detail on the

application of National
Standards for School Meals
Contained little detail on the
application of Dietary
Guidelines for Americans
Contained little detail or only
included 1 change to improve
nutrition

A summary of the current

state of the school in terms of
nutrition was not included
A summary of the proposed
changes was not included
A reflection of the practical
data as it relates to your
classroom was missing or
incomplete

Many grammar and correct

punctuation issues are found
throughout the proposal
Many sentences are not clear
and underdeveloped
Paper was less than 1 page in
length with larger than
standard margins, font text
size

Running Head: Choose My Plate!

Referencing
Style
SCORE:
x1

APA style referencing

used throughout paper
and on the reference
sheet
The file document

name contains
Lastname.firstname.a
ssign#.course#
This rubric was

attached

10

APA style referencing

mostly used throughout
the paper and on the
reference sheet with

some errors
The file name somewhat
contains the
Lastname.firstname.assig
nment#.course#
This rubric was added
but not at the end

Many errors in APA style

referencing throughout the
paper and on the reference
sheet
The file document name does
not contain the
Lastname.firstname.assignme
nt#.course#
This rubric was not added to
the document submitted