California Health & Longevity Institute experts share healthy cooking menus with Oak Park Unified School District cafeteria staff

Children and teens returning to school in the Oak Park Unified School District this September have healthier options for school lunches, thanks to nutrition experts at California Health & Longevity Institute. Cafeteria staff from the public school system attended training sessions that included a cooking demonstration and menu tasting of more than 50 new recipes created by Director of Nutrition Paulette Lambert, who is also a registered dietitian, chef and certified diabetic educator. California Health & Longevity Institute, which is located within Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, donates its time, resources and expertise to positively impact the nutrition provided in the system’s schools.

Ms. Lambert redesigned menus for three elementary schools and the high school café together with Julie Suarez, director of business operations for the Oak Park Unified School District. The new menus include increased quantities of fruits, vegetables and whole grains while relying less on prepackaged, preserved foods typically high in sodium, saturated fat and calories. For the elementary students, a two-week rotation features kid-friendly menu concepts such as taco day and turkey chili. The menu overhaul for Oak Park High School’s convenient “grab and go” café format includes trendy, globally infused dishes young adults enjoy eating such as a chicken pesto panini sandwich and barbecue chicken salad.

In past decades, the school cafeteria employee role shifted from preparing meals from scratch to opening and heating prepackaged foods. To provide more nutritious meals, district administration decided to return to creating more fresh food on-site at the schools, requiring additional training for employees. School principals, administrators and the superintendent also attended the training session ensuring their participation and leadership will drive implementation.

“It’s important to teach the cafeteria workers who prepare our children’s lunches about these valuable nutrition concepts as well as healthy cooking methods,” said Ms. Lambert. “With this training, the cafeteria staff is back in the mode of being involved in food preparation.” In addition to providing the training, the school system outfitted the cafeteria staff (comprised mostly of school system mothers) with new uniforms to give them a greater sense of style to complement their newfound knowledge.

“By investing in our cafeteria workers, we are investing in the health of our children. This professional development provides our cafeteria employees with the tools and education they need to implement these healthy changes in our menus,” said Ms. Suarez. “Their new uniforms give them an extra boost of confidence and panache!”

A top priority for the system, Oak Park Unified School District promotes healthy schools by supporting wellness, good nutrition and regular physical activity as vital components of the total learning environment. Additionally, childhood obesity is a growing national concern from local to national government levels. School food plays a crucial role in contributing to the overall health of the nation’s children.

• 30-40% of children’s calories are eaten at school each day
• 80% of US schools cook fewer than half of their entrees from scratch
• 50% of children eat less than one serving of vegetable or fruit per day; 7-10 servings of vegetables and fruit are recommended daily for disease prevention
• 65% of the US population is overweight or obese
• 15-28% of US children are overweight
• 27% increase of overweight and obese children in the last 10 years