Eventually, local vegetables and other healthier food options started to dominate the lunch and breakfast boxes, and parents and students were indignant. Telephone lines at the Public School System kept ringing. The community was demanding the food they used to have.
“A lot of people were calling and complaining and they want the old food back. It took a long time for the community to accept the changes,” Public School System Nutrition Month chairwoman Hee Jae Lee, who was yesterday’s guest speaker of the Saipan Rotary Club meeting at the Hyatt Regency said.
Lee said when she came on board, the PSS menu for lunches and breakfasts were looked down by many of the other states.
“Many changes in the school meals are needed but things have to go real slow because of acceptability challenges which means we have to get the children and the parents ready to accept the foods that we will be introducing into the school meals,” Lee said.
Following the initial “outrage” over the banishment of Spam, hotdogs and other fried foods from the school meals, Lee said they started to get positive feedback as the students got more used to seeing a variety of fruits and vegetables that adds flavor, color and more nourishment to the food boxes.
PSS supplies about 10,000 lunches and over 5,000 breakfasts to all schools in the CNMI for 180 days a year.
Lee said despite the government budget cuts, they have not yet received any notice of fund reduction for food services.
“We are fortunate to operate in a block grant, and for this we are thankful because we can still continue serving delicious and healthy food to our students,” lee said.
The CNMI Nutrition Month Committee composed of the PSS Food and Nutrition Services, Northern Marianas College- Cooperative Research and Extension Education Services, Public Health Women Infant Clinic and the Commonwealth Cancer Association is urging everybody to participate in the annual nutrition education programs this month.
Culture versus healthy food
Lee said local culture revolves around too much food and eating.
“Every day there is always an excuse to cook and eat plenty, with less exercise, factors that contribute to the high number of diabetes and obesity in the islands,” she said.
In line with its celebration of the Nutrition Month, the nutrition committee will conduct the island’s first-ever recipe contest next week where many schools have already confirmed to participate.
Lee said based on the original recipes that the students submitted many things grabbed the nutrition committee’s attention.
“We found out that many of the student’s original recipes contain much coconut oil for example, and we discovered that a lot of our students and even teachers have little knowledge about healthy eating and healthy food preparation,” Lee said.
For instance, coconut oil contains saturated fat and must be used sparingly.
“We would like to take advantage of the nutrition month to reach out to the community that they can keep the local culture but still promote healthy foods,” she said.
Lee said many of the recipes also show heavy use of monosodium glutamate and oil for deep frying which they would like to discourage.
People can still eat what they want but should keep everything in moderation.
“You don’t have to sacrifice and cut off what you are used to eating, but the idea is to help you keep everything in control,” she said.
Changes
Lee said in the last three years, PSS has been conducting body mass index for all the students in schools.
She said the BMI data showed that about 50 percent of the students aged 5 to 18 years old are overweight or obese, which is an alarming rate.
“With a healthy diet, we can reduce this number and eventually reduce the high number of diabetes and obesity in the CNMI,” she said.
The move of PSS to ban fundraising on campuses through selling baked foods, cookies and other items helped a lot in controlling the diet of the students while in school.
Lee said the nutrition committee is also looking at making changes in the school meals to reduce the amount of refined grains and increase whole grains.
“We are planning to reduce the servings of white rice and add brown rice to our meals, but we will go slowly with the changes to give time to the community to adapt to it,” she said.
Color-healthy lunches
Lee said they started the campaign last month urging all the restaurants and caterers in the island to join the nutrition month celebration but from over 50 that were contacted, only one has confirmed to participate.
“We received only one response from Subway Restaurant, but we are encouraging other restaurants and caterers to join,” Lee said.
Restaurants and caterers are urged to include three or more different colors in their daily menu and promote informed food choices and sound eating habits to the customers.
As an incentive, Lee said they will be contributing articles for publication, advertise online through the CCA website and other social networking sites such as Facebook page so diners will know where to go.
The deadline for food service providers is at 4:30 p.m. today, but interested establishments can still join, Lee said.
For more information, contact Lee at 237-3050, or email [email protected]., or visit www.eatright.org.
