School Nutrition

School Health Program nutritionists collaborate with the Cambridge Public Schools to increase the number of healthy and appealing food choices available to students. The nutritionists also provide classroom education, organize school-based outreach programs for families, and strive to create a healthy nutritional environment in the schools and in after-school programs.

PROGRAMS

Fit Together

Schools host interactive family nights focused on healthy eating and physical activity. Pediatricians, school nurses, physical education teachers, and nutritionists team up to answer parent questions about healthy weight.

Nutrition After School

Cooking classes, teacher training, and healthy snack ideas are ways that nutritionists bring healthy eating to the after-school setting. Through the “Apple Co-Op” at the Gately Youth Center, kids sell affordable, locally grown apples to other Cambridge after-school programs.

Tasty Choices

Nutritionists work with a professional chef to develop new recipes, and then organize “taste tests” for students and train kitchen staff how to prepare the dishes.  Haitian vegetable soup, green leaf salad, and healthy wraps are some of the popular items introduced to school menus since 2004. The Growing Healthy “farm-to-school” initiative has extended this work by helping schools buy locally grown produce.