Teens teach healthy habits.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - When they started visiting elementary classrooms last fall to teach youngsters about healthy food choices, Springfield High School students Mariah Vandegriffe and Lindsey Leighton anticipated a very tough sell.

But what they heard from kids surprised them.

"We expected them to say (they were snacking on) things like cookies and crackers, but there were a lot of kids who said they go home and eat carrot sticks and ranch dressing for a snack," said Vandegriffe, a senior. "We were shocked, and really glad, actually."

They heard similar stories Tuesday at Mount Vernon Elementary School, where the girls - who launched the awareness campaign as a project for their DECA marketing class - gave a 20-minute presentation to 14 fourth-graders and passed around baggies of broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes and carrots with nonfat ranch dressing and organic peanut butter for dipping.

Asked what kinds of afternoon snacks they usually eat, none of the children mentioned potato chips, chocolate chip cookies, candy bars or any other time-honored, after-school artery cloggers, although a handful of students kept quiet. Instead, it was grapes, carrot sticks, granola bars, apples and, according to one girl, mandarin oranges with peanut butter.

That's not to say there isn't room for improvement. 10-year-old Zack Moore, for example, claimed that he had never tried broccoli before Tuesday, when he took a tentative nibble and declared it "not so good." Nor did he care for the cherry tomatoes, also a first: "I don't like sour."

But Zack was able to list a lot of healthful foods he loves and eats a lot of: carrots, peaches, apples, baked chicken and even salad.

Vandegriffe and Leighton said they hope their presentation will reinforce good habits and maybe encourage students to branch out a little and try something new - such as peanut butter as a veggie dip.

Sharing worries over junk food and escalating childhood obesity, the girls designed the campaign last fall and have given their presentation - called PYRAMID, which stands for Promoting Youths' Regular Activity and a More Improved Diet - in nine or 10 fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms throughout the district.

"We wanted to find a way that maybe we could help students, before they go into middle school and are affected by all this advertising and junk food," Vandegriffe said.

The presentation explains the new food pyramid, called MyPyramid, a food guidance system and symbol unveiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2005. MyPyramid replaces the Food Guide Pyramid introduced in 1992, emphasizing the need for a more individualized approach to improving diet and lifestyle.

As part of the project, the girls also visited fast-food outlets to scope out low-fat, nutritious menu options. For instance, they told the students, you can order a yummy yogurt fruit parfait at McDonald's, a veggie burger at Burger King or a baked potato at Wendy's.

Carl's Jr. fared the worst, they said, with little more than orange juice and milk in the way of healthy fare.

They offered other ideas for making healthy food fun: combining foods you might not think of pairing up, such as apples and cheese, or making a rainbow out of the fruits and vegetables at your table - a strategy Leighton, a junior, learned from her mother.

The girls hope their efforts will complement the district's fledgling wellness policy, approved in June. The new policy sets guidelines regarding food served on campus, nutrition education and physical activity, and an ongoing Wellness Council soon will be appointed to help implement elements of the policy.

Mount Vernon health and P.E. teacher Colleen Hunter, who teaches all of the school's fourth-graders, said that Tuesday was the second time the girls have given their presentation to one of her classes; both times, she's been impressed with their poise and the quality of the information.

"It adds to the nutrition lessons that I'm teaching through the district's adopted health curriculum," she said. "It also gives more of a daily-living kind of a feeling to it, especially since it's kids teaching it. Even though they're older, they're still kids, and it provides a different context than they get from educators. Sometimes kids learn more easily from kids."