Vegan Nutrition with Martey Davey

Marty Davey is a Registered Dietitian and has a Masters degree in Food and Nutrition from Marywood University. Currently, Marty is working on a book for elderly vegetarians/vegans discussing daily nutrition needs and including issues with acute and long term facility care when following a plant-based diet. A website is being built for Marty to further educate people about plant-based diets. She also has a private practice specializing in assisting clients transitioning from the conventional Western foods to a plant-based regime.

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I'm 15 years old and I attend high school. Unfortunately, my school is very much into Future Farmers of America and it is hard being vegan attending here. As president of the Vegetarian Awareness Group at my school, I want to know what I should say when I meet with the principal, since I want to discuss having vegan options added. I feel if I approach him with a health seeker's perspective, he may follow through quicker.

Dear Danielle,

You are very smart to think of coming from a health perspective. You can contact Amie Hamlin at http://www.healthylunches.org/resolution_nys.htm. She was able to motivate the New York state legislature to add vegan options to the school lunch program. She has all kinds of ideas and has made them work. I am also aware of school food policies. My thesis for my master's was working with our school district's food service manager. I worked in the cafeteria on a weekly basis for nine months.

First, you need to understand how the food gets to and is served at your school. The key person is the Food Service Manager. A school Food Service Manager has to balance fulfilling the United States Department of Agriculture's school lunch requirements and making a profit. Also, your school district should have a wellness policy that includes school food programs. A wellness policy is required by the US government to set standards for foods served and sold in your district. Your group should read it and see if there is a goal within the policy that you could complete by having vegan choices in the lunch program. Then, you can go to your principal and explain how you can help achieve this goal. Many wellness policies want to increase fiber and decrease fat in the school lunch. You can explain that plant-based protein foods are lower in fat, have no cholesterol and increase fiber in the diet. We are all concerned with the epidemic in childhood obesity, so perhaps including these products would help all of the students as well as the faculty and staff who eat in the cafeteria. Your principal should really appreciate the help in meeting a goal. Depending on what state you are in there may actually be consequences to not fulfilling the wellness policy goals in a set time.

The Food Service Manager needs to be a part of your discussions since they actually order the food. If you show that this is a long-term food choice and not some one month fad, that you are willing to do some research (finding recipes— VegFamily's Vegan Recipes and The Vegetarian Resource Groupwww.vrg.org/ are great sources), and help promote these changes to the students, you may find that they are willing to work with you.

Now, what can you do today? The simplest changes can be having different types of beans and whole grains on a salad bar and asking for whole wheat bread for sandwiches. Your group choosing these items on a regular basis shows the Food Service Manager that there is a market for these types of foods. And guess what else? These foods are pretty inexpensive. When it comes to ordering foods, cheap is good.

Your group could try to make this a bigger idea by having taste tests of different products to identify which are more acceptable by the student body. If you write to the food processing companies, many times they will donate the foods for such a student project. You could suggest a weekly vegan choice, such as, every Thursday there is a vegan choice. Again, you can work with the Food Service Manager to come up with a choice. The speed of the changes depends on your Food Service Manager and their openness.

Your group could also engage with the PTO/PTA to have healthy foods at school events. These are usual havens for junk foods. Check you wellness policy concerning foods served at school events or sold for school fund raisers.

Start with what your school can do today and then plan for how you can keep bringing in more products. Having been in the veggie struggle myself for over 25 years, your tenacity is your most important asset.

Disclaimer: The advice given here is for eductional purposes only. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

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