Obesity and diabetes are major causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Food is the root cause of both these diseases: eating highly processed inflammatory food is the leading cause of these metabolic disorders. Therefore, as a society, we must not only educate others about this but also strive to improve people’s eating habits, especially for new generations. 

Every growing child needs to eat well-balanced healthy meals, which should ideally comprise the right amounts of macronutrients like fat, fiber, protein and carbohydrates. Consuming optimal amounts of these macronutrients in every meal enables us to go through our day with more energy and improved concentration, and also helps us avoid fatigue and disease.

The problem with the food at many schools is that their snack choices often entail readily available food such as chips, chocolates, energy drinks (most of them with over 20-25g of sugar), packed juices, sodas and sugary sports drinks, pizza etc. These foods are all ultra processed and full of high quantities of refined carbohydrates and sugar. Though this food gives us instant gratification, it sets us on a rollercoaster of constant cravings, lack of energy and tiredness. This pattern of eating ultimately causes hormonal imbalances, PCOS, insulin resistance, gut inflammation, severe digestive problems, diabetes and many more illnesses.

Being passionate students, who have faced difficulty finding healthy food options at school, we have created a well researched set of guidelines that schools should incorporate into their lunch menus. We hope that with the help of these guidelines, schools can adjust their menus so that students are provided with optimal nutrition at schools. 

Help us get enough signatures to get noticed by the New York City Department of Education and help us make this change!!

- Devika Gehlaut and Lauren Landy 

Our Proposed Nutrition Plan for NYC Schools:

Protein: The aim is to get 20-30g of protein per meal through quality animal sources (beef, fish, chicken, eggs) and plant proteins (cheese, unflavored Greek yogurt, tofu, chickpeas, black beans etc)

Fiber: The aim is to get 10g of fiber per meal (about 1-2 tablespoons of seeds). One can get fiber through non starchy colorful vegetables like bell pepper, broccoli, asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, spinach, zucchini, or seeds such as chia seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds.

Fat: Having a little healthy fat increases satiety and reduces cravings for junk food. Good sources are avocados, nuts, ghee, olive oil, coconut oil, coconut chunks, nut butters. Ideally, 1-2 tablespoons of any of these oils/butters should be added in the meal. 

Carbohydrates: Adding good carbohydrates to the meal would involve adding 1/4 cup of complex carbs such as vegetables or fruits to every meal. This would include berries, bananas, apples, sweet potatoes, quinoa, peas, beans etc.

Snacks:

In addition to the lunch menu, we also want to shed light towards the snacking options offered at schools. Oftentimes, they involve pre packaged processed foods, which we want to change by urging all schools to introduce healthier alternatives, so that every student has an alternative healthier food choice.

The following are some options for alternatives:

Currently Available: Sodas, fruit juices, sugary energy drinks
Proposed Alternative: Coconut water like Vita Coco (only 20 calories and full of electrolytes)

Currently Available: Oreo cookies, chocolates, other sugary snacks, high sugar high carbohydrate protein bars. Proposed Alternatives: Chobani plain nonfat Greek yogurt (80 calories, 4g sugar), Two Good strawberry flavored Greek yogurt (80 calories, only 2g sugar, 12g protein), IQ Protein bars (made of clean ingredients and contain no inflammatory oils like palm/soy/corn/sunflower)

Currently Available: Pizza, chips, and other highly processed snacks like Ritz Bits cheese crackers (full of trans fat, with only 3g protein and 17g carbs). Proposed Alternatives: Paleo valley beef sticks (70 calories, 0 sugar, 5g protein), Sargento cheese sticks (90 calories, 0 sugar, 7g protein), Simple mills almond flour crackers, Simple mills chocolate chip cookies/pecan cookies, Hummus pots, Fresh cut cucumber and carrot stick pots, Almond butter on the go snack packs such as Wild Friends  (free of added sugar and inflammatory vegetable oils), Bananas, Apples, Small takeaway boxes of blueberries/strawberries/ pomegranates/assorted fresh cut fruit

Drinks:

We also propose that schools have a fresh smoothie counter where students can buy freshly made smoothies full of well balanced wholesome ingredients. Many schools offer pre-made bottled energy drinks and coffees such as bottled Starbucks iced coffees, which are very high in sugar and have no nutritional value. 

Here are a few healthy and easy to make smoothie options that will benefit students by not only providing them with sufficient nutrients, but also keeping them full and energized throughout the day:

Banana Smoothie: 1 glass - milk/unsweetened nut milk + 1 banana (carbs and natural sugar) + 1tbsp hemp seeds (fiber and protein) + 1tbsp almond butter (good fat) + 1 scoop unflavoured whey protein (20 g protein)

Chocolate Blueberry Smoothie: 1 glass - milk/unsweetened nut milk + 1/4 cup blueberries (complex carbs) + 1 tbsp organic flax meal (fiber) + 1 tbsp almond butter (good fat) + 1 scoop chocolate flavored whey protein (20g protein)

Strawberry Smoothie: 1 glass - milk/unsweetened nut milk + 1/4 cup strawberries (complex carbs) + 1tbsp flax meal or hemp seeds (fiber) + 1tbsp almond/peanut butter (good fat) + 1 scoop unflavoured whey protein (20g protein)

As the nation of greatest wealth creators and leaders of innovation in business and technology, it's time to change the narrative of our health as a country. It all has to start from children - the students of today - who will be our next generation of global achievers and leaders. Let’s start by offering them well balanced eating options in schools, thereby laying the foundations of a life full of vitality and good health.