Boca Bonanza: Sutton community gets a lesson on nutrition through school program

An entire community is getting educated about healthy lifestyle choices and nutrition through an elementary school program.

Students at Sutton Elementary have been participating in a nutrition program since February, and through their education, parents and the rest of the community are learning about the right things to eat as well.

"We are teaching the kids, and now the kids are teaching the parents," said teacher Rob Debach. "The kids are aware of making the right choices, and they are helping their parents make the right choices, too."

As part of the program, Ingrid Shaginoff, a licensed nutritionist, has talked to a number of classrooms about making the right diet choices, and how those choices can affect the students for years to come.

"Professionally, most of my work as a health administrator is dealing with adults who develop diabetes or heart disease, and they both are preventable through the right nutrition and wellness plan," Shaginoff said. "As a health-care professional, I realize that adults aren't receptive to change, especially in their diets. But with kids, you can start them on the right track now."

In Debach's physical education classes, he asks the students if they made good choices as to what they are eating. He also asks them what activities they have participated in as part of a wellness program.

"We want them to do anything that involves movement, rather than sitting in front of the TV or the Nintendo," Debach said. "Anything that involves movement -- whether it's doing regular exercises or something like hauling wood -- is the goal."

Principal Dan Kitchin said he has already seen a difference among the students.

"We are starting to see more fruit in the packed lunches, and the kids are eating it rather than throwing it away," Kitchin said. "When they go through the lunch line and want to buy three brownies, we ask them if they are making good choices. A lot of times, they will buy a brownie and some fruit or a Fruit Roll-Up. They are starting to look at what they are eating more. We aren't going to force anybody to eat anything, but we at least want them to be more aware of what they are eating and how it affects them."

Debach said he, too, has noticed a change in students. They are coming up to him in the hallways and telling him what kind of exercise they did last night, and the healthy foods they ate at home.

"They'll come up to me and ask if a certain food is healthy or not," Debach said. "It shows they are conscious about making the right decisions."

The program got its start because of genuine concern Kitchin and other teachers had for the students.

"We would see students coming in and eating three or four brownies for lunch and that's it, and we said, that isn't right," Kitchin said. "We had several children we were concerned about, but they jumped right into the program."

Earlier this week, the parents directly got involved with the nutrition program. Through a $200 grant from Valley Hospital, Sutton Elementary staff and Shaginoff served healthy foods to parents during teacher/parent conferences. The menu consisted of Boca burgers, vegetarian hot dogs, natural peanut butter, fruit salad, a low-fat alternative to nachos and a number of other foods. Soy milk and other soy-based beverages were also available.

"Some of the adults are hesitant to try them, but if they try it and like it, that one taste may be all it takes for them to start trying better nutritional foods at home all the time," Shaginoff said. "This gives us a chance to talk to the parents and take a school program to the entire community.

"My big pet peeve is pop. There are 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can of pop, and even more in the 20-ounce bottles they sell today," Shaginoff said. "We are trying to teach the students and the parents that pop is OK as a once-in-a-while treat, but not all the time."

Students have been keeping charts on their nutrition choices and wellness plan, and have been rewarded with tickets that go into a drawing. One bike will be awarded in each grade level through the drawing.

"The bikes may be motivation for the students, but I think being accountable for what they eat and what they do is a bigger thing for them," Debach said. "They are taking responsibility themselves, without being asked to."