Healthy school lunch: Kids trying new salad bar

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — It’s hard to get kids to do things. “Wash your hands… brush your teeth… eat your vegetables.”

That is a problem.  “Absolutely,” says Linda Stoll,  Jefferson County Public Schools Executive Director of Food and Nutrition Services. “We’ve tried several different approaches. For a couple of years we tried stealth health.” That would be hiding good food, in not-so-good food. A swing and a miss.

Today, the approach is just the opposite. It’s right out in the open and it all starts with the salad bar. “Now we’re trying loud and proud and put those vegetables out there where the kids can see ‘em,” Stoll says.

Kids at Jeffco schools, like Lasley Elementary in Lakewood, always had the option of fruits and vegetables.  But now with the new salad bar they can actually take as much as they want, with one stipulation. “They have to eat everything they take,” says Stoll.

Lasley is one of 11 Jeffco schools getting a brand new, portable and kid friendly salad bar, complete with sneeze guard. They cost about $3,000 each and were purchased through grants.

The idea is to give kids more choices so down the road, as adults, they’ll make better choices and buy healthier food.

And yes, ranch dressing is provided with the new salad bars.  It is low fat, however.