The purpose of this

resource is to
encourage school
staff to support
increased
vegetables, fruit
and water
consumption
among children by
adopting school &
classroom policies.
Need for Promoting Vegetables,
Fruit & Water
A recent study found that over Recommended # of Vegetables &
half of children are not Fruit Servings per day:
adequately hydrated • Children aged 4 - 8: 5
(Kenney, Long, Cradock & Gortmaker, 2015).
• Children aged 9 – 13: 6
 Why should school play a role in Healthy
Eating?

• Healthy Eating is crucial to overall health and wellbeing.

• Schools are concerned with student health and wellbeing

because it is necessary to help students reach their full potential.
• Studies demonstrate that promoting student health and wellbeing can help
schools meet their educational goals, such as reduced absenteeism, fewer
behavioural problems, and higher school-wide test scores and grades.

• The adoption of Healthy Eating policies demonstrates that our

school is committed to reinforcing what is being taught in our
curriculum.

Source: http
://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/health_and_academics/pdf/health-academic-achievement.pdf).
 How Schools can Play a Role:
Four effective policies

1. 2. 3. 4.
Promote Rethink Rethink Fundraising
Water Rewards Celebrations
 HEALTHY
SCHOOL
POLICY:

1. Promote Water
5

• Example Policy Statement:
“Our school encourages
students to drink water
throughout the school day
and commits to providing
cold drinking water at all
events, programs or
meetings”.
• Policy Rationale: Water is
essential for good health. It
is also a simple, convenient,
and low-cost option for
quenching thirst. Let’s
encourage kids and families
to make water their first
choice to drink throughout
the day.
1. Promote Water
To support the adoption of the policy:
• Ensure that all existing water fountains are in good
working condition.
• Consider installing fountains with water bottle filling
capabilities or retrofitting current fountains so they
have bottle filling capabilities.
• Encourage students to keep a water bottle at their
desk or in an easily accessible location.
• Encourage students to drink water throughout the
school day.
• Do not offer any sugary drinks and juices as part of
the hot lunch program.
 1. Promote Water

WHY?
• Children need lots of water to stay hydrated and healthy. A steady supply is
necessary to keep bodies working properly.
• Water is involved in many important functions:
• Carries nutrients (like vitamins and minerals) to different parts of our bodies
• Moves waste (like carbon dioxide) out of our bodies
• Helps to digests food, maintain fluid balance, blood pressure and kidney
health
• Allows our muscles to work
• Reduces risk of dental caries
• Improves attention, memory, and cognition in children

• Water contains no sugar, calories, additives or caffeine. It is the smart choice to sip
on throughout the day. 
Sugar in most other
drinks adds up quickly …
 How many tsps. of sugar does the average
child consume?
Age Average Tsp of Added Sugar

1–3 12
4–8 21
9-13 29
14-18 34
9 – 13 23
14-18 25

Source: Johnson, K. et al. (2009). Dietary Sugars Intake and Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the
American Heart Association. Circulation, 120: 1011-1020.
Sugary drinks that are the largest contributor to
children's daily sugar intake!

# tsps. of sugar in:

10 5 9 7
10
 Water Research
Hydration, Nutrition and Cognition Research Unit
Dr. Caroline Edmonds
• Hydration during school hours is low
• Giving children a drink of water improved their
cognitive performance on tests of memory, attention,
and visual search tasks
• Children who have free access to water, on their desk,
drink more water than children who have limited
access

References
• Booth, P., Taylor, B., Edmonds, C.J. (2012). Water supplementation improves visual attention and fine motor
skills in schoolchildren. Education and Health, 30 (3), 75-79.
• Edmonds, C.J. (2010). Does having a drink of water help children think? A summary of some recent findings.
School Health, 6(5), 58–60.
• Edmonds, C.J. & Burford, D. (2009).  Should children drink more water? The effects of drinking water on
cognition in children. Appetite, 52, 776-779
• Edmonds, C.J. & Jeffes, B. (2009). Does having a drink help you think? 6–7 year old children show
improvements in cognitive performance from baseline to test after having a drink of water. Appetite, 53, 469-
472.
 Research

• Teachers thought that water on the desk may cause disruption in the
classroom and an increase in toilet trips
• Teachers who did allow water on the desk did initially notice an
increase in trips to the toilet but this increase did subside quickly
• Additionally, teachers did suggest that if they could be convinced that
drinking water had a positive effect on classroom performance they
would be more likely to consider allowing children to have easier access
to drinking water

12
 HEALTHY
SCHOOL
POLICY:

2. Rethink Rewards
13
 Rethink
2. RethinkRewards
Rewards

• Example Policy Statement: “Our

school/classroom commits to To support the adoption of the policy:
acknowledging the successes of • Keep a list of inexpensive rewards for children in your
children by using praise and/or
rewards such as pencils, erasers, classroom.
physical activity breaks, • Have students think, pair and share their ideas to be
teacher’s helper, principal’s
helper, etc.” recognized without using food.
• Create a wall of “Recognition Ideas” in the classroom or
• Policy Rationale: Rewarding
share school wide.
children with less healthy
choices/foods can undermine • Constructive Classroom Rewards; see
what is taught in the classroom https://cspinet.org/resource/constructive-classroom-rewar
about healthy eating, may foster ds-fact-sheet
a desire for sweets, and/or may
create an emotional link
between food and
accomplishment.

14
 HEALTHY
SCHOOL
POLICY:
Rethink Celebrations

15
 3. Rethink Celebrations

• Example Policy
Statement: “When
To support the adoption of the policy:
celebrating with • Limit classroom celebration days that include
food, our
school/classroom “treats” to once per month. If having more than
commits to using one celebration in a particular month offer/serve
healthy snacks, with
a strong emphasis vegetables and fruit or no food – just focus on
on vegetables, fruit fun or the reason for the celebration.
and water”.
• Policy Rationale: • At classroom celebrations, if food is going to be
Less nutritious food
served at school
served, please also offer vegetables and fruit in
events or addition to the “treat(s)”.
celebrations
undermines health
• Applies to food brought from home or food
teaching in the supplied by the school or teacher.
classroom and may
send the message • Vegetables and fruit can be served in creative
that fun and ‘treats’
naturally go
and fun ways, or celebrations can take place in
together. other ways that do not include food.
• Water is served as the beverage.

16
 True story: Last week my daughter was
excited to tell me that her class won the
door decorating contest. Then she
exclaimed “And we all got a mini chocolate
bars”

So what’s the problem?

 Rewards & Celebrations

WHY?
• It undermines curriculum efforts that address healthy eating.
• “It’s like teaching children a lesson on the importance of not smoking, and then handing out
ashtrays and lighters to the kids who did the best job listening” (cited in Puhl and Schwartz,
2003).
• When we provide children with candy or other non-nutritive foods as rewards, we are
fostering their desire for sweet and unhealthy foods (Baxter, 1997).
• Food rewards interfere with children’s natural ability to regulate their eating (Fedewa &
Courtney, 2014).
• Using food as a reward in schools is inappropriate because it creates an emotional
connection between foods and accomplishments (Institute of Medicine, 2007).
• Students who attend schools where vending machines, school stores, fundraising, and
rewards are pervasive have higher caloric intakes and higher Body Mass Indices (BMI)
(Fox, Dodd, Wilson, & Gleason, 2009).
• Between-meal snacks are linked to increased dental caries (Marshall et. al, 2005),
particularly when it is a sugary snack.
 Rewards & Celebrations

Using food:
• Connects food to mood by teaching children to eat even when they are
not hungry
• Confuses children by contradicting the classroom lessons about healthy
eating
• Discourages positive attitudes towards food and lifelong healthy eating
habits
• Encourages eating outside of meal or snack times, which interferes with
natural internal hunger and satiety cues
• Harms children’s dental health since frequent sugary treats can lead to
cavities
• Puts children with food allergies or other dietary constraints at risk, or else
excludes them

Source: http://brightbites.ca/rethinking-rewards/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=DC2ezZ7yyOg&feature=youtu.be
 HEALTHY
SCHOOL
POLICY:
Fundraising

21
 4. Fundraising

• Example Policy
Statement: “The
school, for purposes
of all fundraising, To support the adoption of the policy:
will, sell healthy • Inform parents about your schools’ healthy approach to
food items or non-
food related items fundraising.
for all fundraisers”. • Generate a list of other fundraising options such as: Norcard
• Policy Rationale: A wrapping paper, Fresh from the Farm, Funscript, QSP
healthy approach to
fundraising Magazine, Citrus, plant sales, garden pots etc.
demonstrates that
your school values
and promotes
healthy eating. Less
nutritious food
served for the
purpose of
fundraising
undermines health
teaching in the
classroom.

22
 4. Fundraising

WHY?
• Fundraising has been dominated by the food companies (e.g., chocolate bars,
pizza). It is unfortunate that the majority of school fundraising products don't
contribute to our kids' development or well-being.
• Often times fundraising efforts do not align with our schools’ missions and
values.
• Unhealthy fundraising undermines curriculum efforts that address healthy
eating.
 Four Action Steps
for a Healthier School Environment

1 2 3 4
Engage your school Promote the policy. Reflect.
Establish your policy community to identify Use letters, school
statements with non-food alternatives website, and social
stakeholders. for rewards, media. Be sure to
celebrations and explain the rationale
fundraising. for policy change.
Helpful Resources
1. Centre for Disease Control
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/npao/pdf/tips-for-teachers.pdf
Helpful Resources
2. BriteBites Website
http://brightbites.ca/
Helpful Resources
3. Healthy Schools Campaign Website
https://healthyschoolscampaign.org/
References

Caparosa, S., et al. (2013). Fundraising, celebrations and classroom rewards are
substantial sources of unhealthy foods and beverages on public school
campusesPublic Health Nutrition: 17(6), 1205–1213

Fedewa, A., et al. (2015). How food as a reward is detrimental to children's health,
learning, and behavior. Journal of School Health 85(9):648-58. DOI:
10.1111/josh.12294 ·

Fedewa, A., & Courtney, A., (2014). White Paper: The use of food as a reward in
classrooms: The disadvantages and the alternatives. Retrieved on Dec. 12, 2016
from https://kyhealthykids.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/whitepaper.pdf.

School Fundraising Takes a Healthy Turn. CCNMatthews Newswire (Jan 11, 2007): 1.