Back to Top

Power Panther Tour August 18 - October 17, 2008

The Power Panther is touring across South Dakota and can be booked for a stop at your school, child care agency, or outside school program. The Power Panther is a great way to encourage young children to Eat Smart, Play Hard, and Sit Less. Move More. To request a visit, please complete the form on our website at http://www.doe.sd.gov/oess/cans/nutrition/ .

Back to Top

Balancing the Food Service Budget

The steeply rising cost of food will make balancing the budget more of a challenge - be sure to communicate those changes with those who prepare and approve budgets so they can make solid decisions in setting prices for the coming year and planning for expenditures. Prices have always gone up - so the idea of rising costs is no surprise but the surprise comes in just how much it changed this year.

FNS released the second School Lunch and Breakfast Cost Study on Friday, April 11, 2008. The full report can be found on the web at: (http://www.fns.usda.gov/oane/) under "Recent Releases” on the right-hand side. Click here for another website from Economic Research Service's Consumer Price Index shows changes in food prices.

Wakpala Elementary Receives “Love your Veggies” Grant

Congratulations to the Smee District 's Wakpala Elementary on winning the Hidden Valley Ranch  "Love your Veggies" grant for South Dakota. That's quite the accomplishment. It was a competitive process. They will receive a $10,000 grant from Hidden Valley for their project for next school year.

The original information out from Hidden Valley said they would award one grant in each state. Evidently some states did not apply and a few states got two grants.

You can read more about it at http://loveyourveggiesgrants.org/.

Back to Top

Off-Site Meal Requests

The end of the school year is a popular time for teachers to plan field trips. Did you know that if the field trip is going to be an educational event and happen over a meal period, you can claim those meals? NSLP Memo #26.1 has the Off-Site Meal Request form that should be completed and sent into CANS at least one week prior to the event. The form can serve as a tool for the food service department to help teachers realize the kitchen needs planning time. CANS needs to have time to review the submitted menu to be sure it meets requirements to be a reimbursable meal that will be handled at proper food safety temperatures. The form will be faxed back to the school granting approval of the off-site meal request.
 

Back to Top

MyPyramid: Preventing Osteoporosis with Healthy Choices

It is important for youth to get enough calcium rich foods to help prevent osteoporosis, but in order to prevent obesity, it is important to offer them calcium rich foods that are low fat or non-fat and with little added sugar.

Lots of healthy foods and beverages have calcium in them including nonfat and low fat milk. The Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid state that regular nonfat and low fat milk and nonfat and low fat milk equivalents are good choices because they don’t have added sugar and are low fat, but they aren’t the only choices—there are other ways to get calcium. The key is for students to learn that calcium is important, learn what the sources of calcium are, and then make choices that fit into their calorie salary for the day. For those that don’t like milk, can’t drink milk, or won’t drink milk there are lots of other options including other dairy food items and many nondairy food and beverage options.

Soy milk, almond milk, and rice milk are the most similar options in taste and appearance to cow’s milk and they are fortified with the same vitamins and minerals found in cow’s milk. Calcium fortified orange juice and calcium fortified vegetable juice are two additional beverages that could be sold a la carte along with soy milk, rice milk or almond milk to try to entice those students that won’t drink regular milk to drink an alternative beverage with calcium in it.

Many foods also have calcium including cheese (be sure to serve non fat or low fat), cottage cheese (serve nonfat or low fat), yogurt (look for yogurt that isn’t as high in sugar), fortified breakfast cereals (look for cereals without a lot of added sugar), legumes (such as soybeans), sardines, pink salmon, spinach, tofu packed in calcium, as well as fortified bread (serve whole grain).

Students who are vegan (don’t eat meat, or dairy, or eggs) and that eat a lot of legumes and vegetables such as spinach and eat fortified cereals may be getting enough calcium without adding in fortified beverages such as soy milk or orange juice. If you have students at your school who can’t or won’t drink milk, consider offering nonfat and low fat alternative items such as string cheese, yogurt, soy milk, and calcium fortified orange juice as a la carte choices so that they will have a better chance of getting their calcium needs met.

For more information about preventing osteoporosis, please visit the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website http://cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/nutrition/nutrition_for_everyone/bonehealth/

And for more information about sources of calcium both dairy and nondairy please visit http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/milk_tips.html

Back to Top

Resource Corner

The Food and Nutrition Service recently released and updated version of the Eat Smart. Play Hard.™ for Educators web site. The new version has been redesigned to meet the needs of educators with new navigation and nutrition education resources including:

• An online, searchable database of Eat Smart. Play Hard.™ materials. Users can specify a desired topic, format, audience, and/or language to retrieve customized search results.
• The "Power Panther Corner" makes it even easier to access and download the expanded image files, guidance and request forms for Power Panther appearances, ready-to-go scripts for use with Power Panther, the photo gallery of Power Panther's travels and more.
• "Get Involved!" provides tips on how to get results from the Campaign, one-click access to letters, drop-in articles, and "Bright Ideas" for using the materials.

Back to Top

Building for the Future with the CACFP

Upcoming Training Events –

“CACFP Plus!” Workshops

May 7         Rapid City        Youth & Family Services

May 20       Pierre               Kneip Building

May 27       Sioux Falls        Augustana College

June 3        Aberdeen        Aberdeen Catholic Schools

June 4        Watertown      Lake Area Technical Institute

“CACFP Basic” Workshops

May 6         Rapid City        Youth & Family Services

May 28       Sioux Falls        Sioux Falls School District

July 29       Pierre               SD Capital Lake Visitor’s Center

The CACFP Plus! workshops are designed for veteran staff that have a solid understanding of Program requirements. The CACFP Basic workshops are designed for new staff that need to be trained in the basics of the CACFP. The basics class is limited to 25 participants per class. Pre-registration is required. There is no charge to attend. For more information, please contact Melissa Halling at (605) 280-2696 or by email at melissa.halling@state.sd.us.

CACFP Basics –

Meal Time in the Child and Adult Care Food Program – The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) reimburses centers and homes for serving nutritious meals to the children or adults in their care. Many different facilities operate the CACFP, all sharing the common goal of bringing nutritious meals and snacks to participants (Child Care Centers, Family Child Care Homes, After-School Care Programs, Shelters, and Adult Day Care Centers). Our CACFP Basics topic this month is meal time is not a battle ground.

Power struggles: meal time is not a battleground

“Clean your plate! No dessert until you eat your vegetables! If you behave you can have a piece of candy.”

Do these phrases sound familiar? Before you say them again, stop and think about the negative effect such words may have on the child's eating, turning meals and feeding into a battle which nobody wins.

Parents and caregivers pressure children about eating with good intentions. They want the best for the child - so he or she can grow strong and healthy. Research has shown that when adults pressure children about eating, they don't eat well or grow as well.

Forcing or pressuring a child to eat can take on many different forms. Forcing is counterproductive because it takes away the option of not eating. An infant should not be forced to nurse faster or more slowly than their natural tempo. Forcing can be stopping a child from eating with their fingers or offering a bribe or praise for eating certain foods.

Children use the meal time for showing their independence. Sometimes food isn't the issue at all. Eating is just one more way children learn about the world. They use battles about food to test their independence.

Most children are picky about what they eat at some point in their early years. The issue may be a dislike of the food or an issue of control. When a child refuses to eat something we've prepared, we may feel personally rejected.

It's important to offer the child some choices regarding food selection when practical. Don't become a short order cook. Instead, try asking the child, "Would you like peas or carrots with lunch today?" or "would you like your milk in the blue cup or the red cup?"

When a child senses that a parent or caregiver is concerned about his or her eating, the child may use food to manipulate them. It's a sure fire way to get attention. The less of an issue you make about food the less of an issue it becomes. All you need to do is provide a variety of healthy and nutritious foods and leave the rest up to the child.

Don't worry about one day's nutrition. It is not a problem if a child nibbles only a few grains of rice at one meal or eats nothing but bananas for an entire day. Studies have found that when children are offered a balanced diet over the long term they will usually eat everything they need for good health.

Back to Top

Kids in the Kitchen

Mouse in the House – from South Central Child Development In, Menu Planner

• 1 canned pear half

• String licorice

• 2 miniature marshmallows

• 2 dried apricots

• 2 whole cloves

Place pear facedown on a plate. For ears, insert toothpick halves into the apricots and stick them into the pear. Cut mini marshmallows with cloves and attach them to the pear (remind kids not to eat the cloves). The licorice tail can be curled around a child’s finger and stick where all tails go.

Back to Top

Kids on the Move

Catch the Balloon or Balloon Bop
Adapted from http://wilderdom.com/games/PhysicalActivities.html.

Have the children stand in a circle. Toss a balloon in the air and call someone’s name. That person must catch the balloon before it touches the ground. If the person succeeds, he/she then tosses the balloon up and calls the next name. An extension of this game can be that the balloon is not caught but rather it is kept in the air using a body part (hand, head, knee, elbow, etc).

Back to Top

"Sodabriety" Healthy Challenge

Improve your health and have a little fun by participating in the Sodabriety Healthy Challenge! This challenge encourages decreasing intake of sweetened beverages. Sweetened beverages are the main source of sugar in the American diet and can lead to unwanted weight gain and tooth decay. 

The Sodabriety challenge will count water intake and run May 1-31. South Dakotans can participate either on teams or as individuals. For more information and to sign-up, go to www.healthysd.gov.

Back to Top

WHY’s New Farm to School Program Guide

WHY (World Hunger Year) has recently created a small guide for grassroots organizations and community groups to help them create Farm to School Programs in their counties, towns, or communities. Farm to School Programs bring food from local farms into school foods, increasing child nutrition, strengthening local economies and farms, and educating kids and their schools about farms, produce, and food. The guide profiles four excellent model organizations around the country. Together, Food Stamps and healthy school lunches are a crucial first defense against hunger and malnutrition. There are two versions of it, one for printing as a booklet and the other for printing on the full length of the paper. Click on the following link: www.worldhungeryear.org/info_center/farm_to_school.pdf.

Farewell to LeEtta   

CANS bid farewell to LeEtta Shaffner on Friday Apr 25. She has worked here since February of 2005. She will be missed. We appreciated her work and her contributions to our office. LeEtta enjoyed a challenge and looked for better ways to do the work. LeEtta will be working independently as a website designer. The position has been announced and we hope to fill it soon.

Back to Top