upLIFT Newsletter | SY 2022-2023 | Issue 6 | March 2023 |
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The Arizona Department of Education Health and Nutrition Services (HNS) division is excited to continue the "Serve a Rainbow" initiative for this school year! This initiative aims to urge operators to promote a colorful spread of unique and delicious fruits and vegetables for students to enjoy throughout the school year. Every other month, HNS/upLIFT will announce a new "Serve a Rainbow" produce color for your team to feature and serve in your schools. Service can be as simple as a vegetable plated on a tray, or fruits and vegetables intricately presented to students in a colorful display or salad bar! The creativity is up to you!
Last month, Prescott Unified School District harvested and served red tomatoes at two of their school sites. Taylor Hicks school served cherry tomatoes during meal service, that were harvested from their school garden! Beefsteak tomatoes from the Hernandez Farm in Paulden, sourced from the Prescott Farmers Market, were served at Lincoln School and seasoned with Italian seasoning. Students were very excited to try this new local treat! HNS loves seeing this yummy red produce being grown and served locally in Arizona schools! |
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The featured color for March and April is... |
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We challenge you to implement what you learn from the monthly webinars and resources to help you serve a unique variety of produce that is rich in color over the course of this school year. Now is the time to show off your oranges, kumquats, carrots, papayas and more! HNS encourages you to email pictures of your colorful service lines to Ashley.Kennedy@azed.gov so we can showcase your beautiful produce in future upLIFT newsletters! HNS can't wait to see YOU "serve a rainbow" to your students! |
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Join us for our upcoming upLIFT Webinar!
upLIFT Webinar Series: Prepare for the Proposed Rule
March 21, 2023 at 1:30 pm
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has established the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative to improve the nutritional quality of school meals through food systems transformation, school food authority recognition and technical assistance, the generation and sharing of innovative ideas and tested practices, and grants. These efforts will support the proposed rule with new school nutrition standards in a few key areas based on the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Join us as we review the Dietary Guidelines and discuss the latest research for added sugars, reduced sodium limits, and standards for whole grain. We will also describe each of USDA's initiatives to be successful in implementing the possible proposed rule changes! Don't miss next month's upLIFT webinar! |
Casa Grande Elementary School District serves up a new scratch-made recipe!
The food service team at Casa Grande Elementary School District was excited to prepare and serve a brand-new blueberry pancake scratch recipe! The recipe included whole wheat flour and fresh blueberries and was cooked in a long sheet pan. The pancake was then cut into squares instead of the traditional round cut before serving. The students at Casa Grande were happy to enjoy a delicious new recipe! HNS promotes creativity and celebrates schools who inspire others!
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Research Rundown
This month's Research Rundown article summarizes the evidence on the effectiveness of school meal "nudge" interventions influencing the eating and food waste behaviors in students. "Nudges" studied in this article included: re-naming vegetables, slicing fruit, and encouraging white milk selection. Check out this month's Research Rundown to learn about scientifically proven strategies to increase consumption and reduce waste in school meals, and how you can incorporate them! |
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Featured Food - Orange Cauliflower!
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Together, we can influence positive
dietary behaviors in students! |
This institution is an equal opportunity provider. |
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