Fact Finder: Trimming the fat at school

Next week, school will start again in Jefferson and Shelby counties.

As the students head out each day, parents worry what they're being exposed to without them around.

But have you ever worried about their diet? Our important facts find some disturbing numbers for you.

More than 34 percent of children 10 to 17 years old are overweight in Alabama. That comes from a 2003 study by the childhood obesity network. And Alabama ranks 43rd in the country when it comes to overweight children.

At Birmingham's Carver High School, the last day of summer school was also the last day anything would sizzle in the lunchroom.

Meaning, there will no longer be any frying going on. All the deep fryers have been given the deep freeze... so to speak.

Spencer Taylor is the child nutrition director for the Birmingham School District.

“We've actually been on this trail for more than a year now,” Taylor said.

Instead of dropping various foods in a vat of grease, the district will now cook their chow differently and healthier by baking, not frying.

“We'll replace a lot of our fried items with baking, steaming broiling and those techniques,” Taylor said.

Taylor says Carver High is the last of the schools to dump the grease — and the fryers.

“There are more than 60 of these fryers at Birmingham public schools, once they are all disconnected, drained and cleaned, they're gonna be auctioned off,” Taylor said.

All of this is an effort to fight the fat.

“I feel we have an obligation to do our part in combating childhood obesity, which is very high in Alabama and Jefferson County,” Taylor said.

And childhood obesity is an issue across the country and here at home.

Fact is, of the 10-17 year olds surveyed in 2003 by the Childhood Obesity Action Network, 34.6 percent in Alabama were overweight, compared to 30.6 percent nationally.

Alabama ranks 43rd in the country when it comes to overweight children.

Higher income children in our state have the fifth highest prevalence of overweight children or obesity in the country at 27.3 percent.

Almost one in three white children, or 30.3 percent in our state are overweight or obese — the 6th highest in the country, compared to 26.6 percent nationwide.

For black children, the number is 41.9 percent in the state, 41.2 percent nationwide.

Getting rid of fried school lunches is only one part of the equation.

Edwin Marty Jones runs the Jones Valley Urban Farm in Birmingham. It's a horticultural oasis in the middle of a concrete jungle. Jones Valley hope to change things in Alabama... one crop at a time. When we stopped by they were harvesting.

Jones Valley uses more than 3 acres of vacant downtown property to grow organic produce and flowers and plant educational seeds in the community about healthy food.

“We take over vacant properties in the city,” Jones said. “We turn those vacant properties into production farms; we grow produce on those lots. We sell the produce. We use the profits to run education programs to teach mainly kids where there food comes from.”

Jones Valley has a number of programs to increase healthy eating, the like the ASAP program. ASAP stands for the Arts & Science of Agriculture.

It's a hands-on science class offered to high school students both as semester-long courses during the school year and as individual field trips. In fact, these harvesters are from the Alabama School of Fine Arts... they're volunteers.

Jones said trimming of the fat among children is a multi-phased process. Healthy eating and removing the fryers is just one part.

“The obesity epidemic is an interesting beast,” Jones said. “On the surface, it looks like a pretty simple equation. You get kids to eat better food, fresher food, problem solved. Unfortunately, there are so many forces working the other direction.”

Like sugary soft drinks and very unhealthy snacks. The Alabama Department of Education is addressing that too.

They have a standard in place that focuses on decreasing fat and sugar and increasing nutrient density, as well as moderating portion sizes for school snacks.

In the guidelines, snack serving foods must be:
• Low or moderate in fat
• Have less than 30 grams of carbohydrate
• Have less than 360 mg of sodium
• Contain 5% daily value or more of at least one: vitamin a, vitamin c, iron,
Calcium, or fiber

The types of snack items include:
• Beverages
• Snacks and desserts
• Fruits and vegetables

Also, portion sizes are limited for certain items.

The Jones Valley Urban Farm is working that angle too. They're part of something called the Jefferson County Healthy Kids Coalition.

“The main thing that has to change, the policymakers have to realize that if we don't invest now in children's health, what we're gonna see in five and ten years is an incredible burden on our tax system,” Jones said.

In the form he says, of unhealthy adults. They have a plan to help with that too.

Jones Valley Urban Farm not only works with students and kids about healthy eating, they also have a portion of their farm dedicated to the community. One section is just for folks who live nearby to come out and grow fresh fruits and vegetables.

Dealing in adulthood, with what the Birmingham school district is now doing during childhood... starting with the fryers.

“We are happy to provide a service to our students and wanna do all we can to work in their best interest,” Taylor said.