Today's guest on the Greenhero Podcast is Audrey Lawson-Sanchez, Founder and Executive Director of Balanced. After years of working as a teacher and seeing the devastating impacts of nutrition insecurity and diet-related disease in children, Audrey decided she wanted to do something about it. So she founded Balanced, a nutrition security and public health advocacy organization with a mission to improve the menus in schools, hospitals, and other community institutions to help people and communities around the world balance, build, launch, and run campaigns focused on replacing at least 20% of the known disease-causing foods on institutional menus with health-promoting plant rich alternatives.
Most people are familiar with food security–ensuring that everyone has enough food so they don't go hungry. Nutrition security takes that concept and elevates it, making sure the food that is available is high-quality and nutritious. Typically, folks who are food insecure also have very limited access to fruits and vegetables, especially in institutional locations like schools and hospitals.
At these locations, there is often a food director who is tasked with building a menu within guidelines set by the government. The trick is, the food becomes a profitable source of income, or at the very least, doesn’t lose the school money if kids eat the food provided. With 30 million children depending on school lunch at a free or reduced cost, it’s important that this be nutritious food, but it isn’t. At the same time, if the child doesn’t eat the food, the school loses money.
There is often an argument that “this is what they eat at home”. While partially true, Audrey reminds us that at school, there is someone whose job is to prepare the food the students eat, and they should be exposed to new foods at school. It takes 15 exposures to acquire a taste, she says. It’s better to include them through ‘stealth health’ by not announcing huge and massive changes to the menu, as that could prevent kids from trying the food. Simply changing to a different nugget or burrito can be better accepted by offering it. There is an opportunity on the curriculum side as well. Students are constantly taught “this is what you should eat” or “these nutrients are good for you.” But those options aren’t available even in their own cafeteria.
The structure of Balanced is a sort of nesting doll. At the center is their grassroots advocacy program, where they train individuals in their communities to launch healthy menu campaigns, providing everything they need to put pressure on institutions to look to make a change. Balanced helps these advocates build positive momentum through a real stakeholder in the community. On top of that ‘doll’ is their institutional outreach program. This is where Balanced reaches out to these institutions and communicates what they’re about, what they can provide, and how it operates. From there, it’s all about policy work on a state level to get these changes implemented.
Things You’ll Learn
Most people are familiar with food security–ensuring that everyone has enough food so they don't go hungry. Nutrition security takes that concept and elevates it, making sure the food that is available is high-quality and nutritious.
Typically, folks who are food insecure also have very limited access to fruits and vegetables, especially in institutional locations like schools and hospitals.
Combating nutrient-deficient menus can be difficult, as companies will find ways to maneuver around guidelines to fit within the specifications presented, leaving students with huge holes in their diets.
LINKS AND SOCIAL
@thebalancedorg
Today's guest on the Greenhero Podcast is Audrey Lawson-Sanchez, Founder and Executive Director of Balanced. After years of working as a teacher and seeing the devastating impacts of nutrition insecurity and diet-related disease in children, Audrey decided she wanted to do something about it. So she founded Balanced, a nutrition security and public health advocacy organization with a mission to improve the menus in schools, hospitals, and other community institutions to help people and communities around the world balance, build, launch, and run campaigns focused on replacing at least 20% of the known disease-causing foods on institutional menus with health-promoting plant rich alternatives.
Most people are familiar with food security–ensuring that everyone has enough food so they don't go hungry. Nutrition security takes that concept and elevates it, making sure the food that is available is high-quality and nutritious. Typically, folks who are food insecure also have very limited access to fruits and vegetables, especially in institutional locations like schools and hospitals.
At these locations, there is often a food director who is tasked with building a menu within guidelines set by the government. The trick is, the food becomes a profitable source of income, or at the very least, doesn’t lose the school money if kids eat the food provided. With 30 million children depending on school lunch at a free or reduced cost, it’s important that this be nutritious food, but it isn’t. At the same time, if the child doesn’t eat the food, the school loses money.
There is often an argument that “this is what they eat at home”. While partially true, Audrey reminds us that at school, there is someone whose job is to prepare the food the students eat, and they should be exposed to new foods at school. It takes 15 exposures to acquire a taste, she says. It’s better to include them through ‘stealth health’ by not announcing huge and massive changes to the menu, as that could prevent kids from trying the food. Simply changing to a different nugget or burrito can be better accepted by offering it. There is an opportunity on the curriculum side as well. Students are constantly taught “this is what you should eat” or “these nutrients are good for you.” But those options aren’t available even in their own cafeteria.
The structure of Balanced is a sort of nesting doll. At the center is their grassroots advocacy program, where they train individuals in their communities to launch healthy menu campaigns, providing everything they need to put pressure on institutions to look to make a change. Balanced helps these advocates build positive momentum through a real stakeholder in the community. On top of that ‘doll’ is their institutional outreach program. This is where Balanced reaches out to these institutions and communicates what they’re about, what they can provide, and how it operates. From there, it’s all about policy work on a state level to get these changes implemented.
Things You’ll Learn
Most people are familiar with food security–ensuring that everyone has enough food so they don't go hungry. Nutrition security takes that concept and elevates it, making sure the food that is available is high-quality and nutritious.
Typically, folks who are food insecure also have very limited access to fruits and vegetables, especially in institutional locations like schools and hospitals.
Combating nutrient-deficient menus can be difficult, as companies will find ways to maneuver around guidelines to fit within the specifications presented, leaving students with huge holes in their diets.
LINKS AND SOCIAL
@thebalancedorg