Last month, Oakland Raiders running back, Darren McFadden, joined the students at Grant Elementary for lunch to help celebrate the West Contra Costa Unified School District’s seventeenth annual Nutrition, Health and Fitness Festival.

Darren McFadden supports Fuel Up to Play 60, a national initiative encouraging kids to get involved in promoting healthy eating and physical activity in their schools.

I was honored to interview Darren in front of a crowd of excited students and staff. Darren spoke about the importance of “fueling up” with critical nutrient-rich foods and “playing for 60 minutes” every day. Students were thrilled to have the opportunity to ask their own questions to the Raiders star. The big surprise came when Darren began throwing a few passes to one of the students. Students cheered loudly with every pass. Darren ended his presentation by having the students join him in doing a few stretching exercises.

Dairy Council of California was pleased to participate in this special event recognizing Principal, Dr. Susan Berrington, the teachers , staff and students of Grant Elementary for their support to the West Contra Costa Unified school meals program.

Here is a link to a video of the event: Fuel Up to Play 60 Grant Elementary School. The segment begins at the 3:00 minute mark. 

Valerie Fung-A-Ling

Territory Manager

It is undisputed that the biggest public health concern of our time is obesity. We know the devastating financial toll it takes on our healthcare system, the burden it places on our communities and impact it has on an individual’s quality of life. Health professionals, politicians, community leaders, food industry experts, school administrators, corporate managers and parents are just a few of the important stakeholders working together to solve the obesity epidemic. Looking for possible solutions to the obesity crisis was the charge of the “Farm and Food Policy and Obesity Workshop” held at the University of California, Davis on May 21-22, 2010. The renowned speakers included university professors, economists, researchers, dietitians, agricultural and resource experts, USDA representatives and public policy leaders. The proceedings from the conference can be found on UC Davis website. The speakers weighed in with opinions and ideas for solving obesity. One underlying theme became apparent; we have no actual scientific evidence that any specific strategies work. It was also clear that we walk a fine line between the obesity crisis and a hunger epidemic occurring simultaneously in our country.

Strategies are currently underway in some communities to improve health while providing nourishment in an economically feasible way. Farm and food policy holds some promise to accomplishing this goal. Many are already looking at ways to connect people to the food supply, by offering a variety of nutritious foods in school food service operations, increasing the availability of farmer’s markets and/or supporting local farmers to continue to provide their communities with a variety of wholesome, safe and affordable foods. However, it is important to recognize that policies regarding farming and food are just one piece of the puzzle. There is still much to learn about how to get people to prepare and consume healthy food, how to create an environment conducive to health and still allow for personal choice. Food choice decisions are extremely complex and are driven by hunger, cost, taste preferences, emotional issues, cooking skills, time, food access just at name a few. Gail Woodward-Lopez of the UC Berkley Center for Weight and Health discussed this during her presentation titled "Research Informing Policy Change". Her research shows that the policies with the most impact are those that limit consumer sacrifice. For example, restaurants that "optimally default" their offerings to healthier ingredients and acceptable portions were more successful than those that provided menu labels which tend to be confusing to consumers. She concluded that research and evaluation should impact community action and policy change.

When developing solutions to the obesity crisis we all need to look at the big picture and resist placing blame on one piece of the equation. We must broaden our perspective and focus on what really works and more scientific studies are needed to determine what does work. However, I think we can all agree that policies shouldn't drive research, but the research should drive the policies. Farm and Food Policy can potentially help the obesity crisis but this alone will not solve it. A collaborative effort to look at the totality of issues impacting food choices will move us in the right direction toward improving our nation’s health.

Ashley Rosales, R.D.

Project Manager

Roughly 200 New Haven Unified students, parents and staff were out early on the track this past Saturday participating in a fundraiser to benefit all of New Haven’s Co-curricular programs. Dairy Council of California provided a healthy snack for the participants.

I arrived at Cesar Chavez Middle School bright and early to set up my yogurt parfait station for the runners. The sun was out, and festive music was already playing in the background. Participants ranging in age from kindergarten to 70 plus began arriving, sporting track shorts and carrying water bottles.

At 9 am sharp, Union City Mayor Mark Green and NUSD Superintendent Karen McVeigh fired the start gun to begin the 5K & 10K run….walkers were also welcome. By about 9:30, the top place finishers had already crossed the finish line and made their way over to my table to refuel with a health snack of cold yogurt, frozen berries and granola topping. Teens came back multiple times for refills. The weather was hot, so participants appreciated the reward of a cold, nourishing snack following their race.

I stayed until the final event - the relay (my favorite). The winning team – James Logan High School Boys team gobbled up the last of the yogurt parfaits.

Way to go New Haven Booster Association (and founding members: John Shockley, Michael Ritchie, Eileen Riener, Rebecca Venable, Natalie Haney & Rick LaPlante) for organizing a successful and HEALTHY event to “Save Student Activities”. It was a great day!

Valerie Fung-A-Ling

Territory Manager

The San Diego Chargers and Dairy Council of California teamed up with San Diego Unified School District to promote the Fuel Up to Play 60 program. This program encourages students to fuel up with healthy food and play at least 60 minutes per day. San Diego students, grades k-12, were asked to write an essay on what Fuel up to Play 60 meant to them. Teachers also joined in on the fun by sending in whole classroom entries. This is the eighth annual essay event San Diego has hosted and this year it was sponsored by SeaWorld Adventure Park and the Pear Bureau Northwest.

Entries were judged on correctness and thoroughness of answer, clarity, creativity, spelling, grammar and presentation. Participants in this contest are helping other students by encouraging them to be more active and to eat healthier food. Entries were presented through poems, essays and raps. First, second and third place prizes were awarded to winners in each of four grade categories; K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Prizes included gift cards to Barnes & Noble and SeaWorld prize packages. The list of winners and their winning essays have been announced on the San Diego Unified School District website.