Smarter Lunchrooms Movement
Includes information about the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement, how to get started, online training opportunities, helpful resources, and contact information.Overview
A smarter lunchroom is one that influences students to choose healthier, more nutritious foods. Smarter lunchrooms give students an opportunity to select and consume a balanced diet, while providing them with a spectrum of choices. The Smarter Lunchroom Movement (SLM) applies research-based approaches that use low or no-cost strategies in the cafeteria environment to promote healthy eating behaviors.
About Smarter Lunchrooms Movement
What is the SLM? “It’s Not Nutrition until it’s Eaten”
The SLM is research-based with the goal of creating lunchrooms that guide healthy eating choices that are also sustainable and low-cost. It is a grassroots movement for those who are concerned about the way children eat and wish to help change unhealthy behaviors.
The SLM focuses on strategies that are:
- No-cost and low-cost
- Focused on the lunchroom environment
- Promotion healthful eating behaviors
- Sustainable
The six SLM principles aim to:
- Manage portion sizes
- Increase convenience
- Improve visibility
- Enhance taste expectations
- Use suggestive selling
- Set smart pricing strategies
How It Began
The SLM started in October 2010 as a result of a partnership between the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. This partnership produced the Cornell University Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs (BEN Center). The BEN Center promoted the SLM by applying research to school environments and creating the SLM National Office, which has provided multiple resources and toolkits to schools across the country.
How It Works
The SLM principles and practices are easy to implement. Schools can arrange their lunchrooms to nudge students toward nutritious foods by making some simple changes. For example, when a school wants to increase the number of students who choose to eat vegetables with their lunch, the school can use the SLM approach by encouraging students to come up with creative names for the vegetable dishes (such as Farm Fresh Veggie Mix) and display that name along with the vegetable in the cafeteria.
The Evidence
The best practices and lunchroom solutions that the SLM endorses have been studied and proven effective in a variety of schools across the country. To learn more about the evidence, visit the SLM of California (SLM of CA) web page
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The SLM of CA
The SLM of CA supports a sustainable, statewide system to provide SLM training and webinars, technical assistance, and web-based resources to California child nutrition professionals and other school community stakeholders.
In August 2013, the California Department of Education (CDE) became a founding partner of the SLM of CA, along with the Dairy Council of California, the University of California CalFresh Nutrition Education Program, the California Department of Public Health, and the California Food Policy Advocates. Working closely with the BEN Center to establish a statewide infrastructure, the CDE supported the rollout of the SLM of CA by collaborating with the SLM of CA partners in: (1) conducting multiyear, regional SLM workshops for child nutrition professionals; (2) launching a Technical Advising Professional (TAP) training and certification system; and (3) establishing an SLM of CA strategic planning process to sustain the collaboration.
Based on the leadership role of the CDE in the successful SLM of CA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service awarded the CDE a 2015 Team Nutrition (TN) Training Grant to enhance SLM in selected California school districts. The CDE awarded subgrants to 48 California schools in 24 school districts to conduct site assessments, provide staff training, develop SLM action plans, partner with TAPs to implement SLM and related nutrition education activities, conduct evaluations, and to report on success. On average, these TN schools increased their SLM implementation scores by 46 percent, and conducted 7.5 nutrition education interventions during School Year 2016–17.
The CDE continues to support the SLM of CA by helping California child nutrition professionals design their lunch lines to market the school meal program, and encourage students to enjoy eating healthier foods. The SLM of CA is based on the philosophy that a single training is not enough to help child nutrition staff navigate the challenges they face in making changes to their meal service strategies. Through the SLM of CA, child nutrition professionals complete training and are then connected to certified TAPs that provide need-based support including site visit assessments, frontline staff training, free resources, and guidance in obtaining support from their stakeholders.
For more information about the SLM of CA, please visit the SLM of CA web page
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