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Nutrition and Exercise Program
Since
Via Center takes a holistic approach to the children and adults we
serve, their health is of primary importance. We have developed
plans for a comprehensive nutrition and exercise program. More
information about the comprehensive program we would like to have is given at the bottom of
this page. Elements of the comprehensive program currently in
place include
- Hot, healthy and delicious lunches served to students each day:
These lunches are served at no cost to students or parents and
feature an abundance of fresh vegetables. Students are
encouraged to help with food preparation and to broaden their food
tastes by trying just a little of foods they may not be familiar
with. As a result, Via students are salad lovers with a
sophisticated range of food tastes.
- Students participate in twice-weekly programs in relaxation and movement.
These programs are taught by a visiting instructor who guides students
in movement, breathing, and other techniques for sensory integration,
stress reduction, and self-management.
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Proposed Comprehensive Nutrition and Exercise Program
Via Center has been able to help a great many people make significant
positive changes in their lives. Former Via students and
residential clients are now succeeding in special-ed classes in their
home school districts, attending programs in junior colleges, doing
well in adult work programs, holding-down jobs through supported
employment, and participating in the life of the community to a far
greater extent than might have been expected from their earlier
histories.
Despite the successes, we now have serious concerns about the health of
many of the developmentally challenged people we work with,
Specifically, we are concerned about the effects of poor diet and lack
of exercise on their health. Several of our students, for
example, have significant weight issues that put them at-risk for
serious diseases such as diabetes. The weight problems these
students are having are
much the same as those of other people living in industrialized
societies. They consume more calories than their activity levels
require and as a result are overweight. Also, their food habits
and preferences tend not to foods that nourish and support the body but
instead to junk foods. To address these lifestyle issues, we've
begun to offer programs designed to help students, staff, and families
develop positive and
long-lasting habits of exercise and nutrition.
In many of our students, problems with food intake vs activity
levels are compounded by high
levels of food sensitivities and allergies. We see a great many
health and/or behavioral problems that can be attributed to dietary
problems. For
example, we have students who are strongly and visibly effected with
hyperactivity, irritability, and/or diarrhea after eating sweets.
Although the effects of dyes and other additives and toxins may not be
as immediately apparent, the ingestion of these substances may have
both short and long-range consequences. Given the hair-trigger
reactions of the people we are working with, we believe that an
additive-free organic diet
could be of considerable benefit and are doing as much as we can
to provide this kind of food.
Our students need a diet of nourishing, organic food with
accommodations for food allergies and sensitivities. They also
need more exercise. We have a Physical Education program and are currently
preparing and serving a school-wide organic lunch at "Cafe Via" each
Friday with accommodations for food
allergies and sensitivities. Our daily snacks are always healthy and,
as often as possible, these snacks are organic. These are good
things to do but they are not enough to make
the significant changes we would like to see. Changing the eating
and exercise habits of
any child can be difficult. When retardation and "behaviors"
enter the picture, the challenges for the individual, the family, and
the program become even more difficult. To
make a significant difference in the lives of the people we work with,
we must change the culture, the culture of the children and adults we
work with, the culture of
their families, and we must change our own culture as well.
To effect
deep and lasting changes in attitudes and habits requires a
comprehensive program with a strong educational component. We
want to change our current Friday organic lunch program into a daily
snacks and lunches program featuring healthy, organic, and
"kid-friendly" foods. We also want to educate students about
nutrition and exercise and involve family-members and caregivers in
planning, training, and follow-through. To help each student develop
the motivation and skills needed to achieve ideal health and weight, we
need to provide more group and individual fitness activities. We
will need both additional monies and a strong program-wide commitment
to make these things happen.
In addition to providing nutritious, sugar-free,
organic lunches, we need to accommodate individuals with food allergies and
those on restricted diets such as the Autism Diet or the Feingold
Diet. (In a survey published by the Autism Research Institute in
2005, parents reported that removing foods such as gluten and casein
from their children's diets had a far greater impact on behavior than
did the use of meds. (See Parent Ratings of Behavioral Effects of
Biomedical Interventions in the March, 2005 issue of ARI) To
assist busy parents or caregivers trying to meet special dietary needs
of their children, we plan to prepare gluten-free/casein-free/ and
yeast-free (GF/CF/YF) suppers for purchase. Since we seek
long-range changes, tracking behaviors before and after dietary changes
are implemented will be important, as will educating families, students,
and staff about the "why's and "how's" of such diets.
A fully-implemented nutrition and exercise program would include the following elements:
• Team approach across environments with intensive home/ school collaboration
• Production of user-friendly educational materials
about the physical
and mental effects of specific foods and exercise with incorporation of
these materials into the general curriculum and into the daily activity schedules of
each participant
• Preparation and serving of balanced, nutritious, organic snack and lunches
• Daily "personal training" programs for each student
• Group activities such as weekly visits to the Y for swimming and exercise
• A Nutrition and Exercise Club for interested students and staff
• Data-based tracking of health and behavioral information
As this project develops, we will draw upon a number of funding sources:
1. Via's
WorkAbility 1 program grant will pay students for help in lunch and
snack preparation.
2. The WorkAbility 1 grant will also pay for
adaptive equipment to help these students in their work.
3.The parent
corporation will cover certain expenses such as rent, utilities,
liability insurance, and office expenses
through the general budget.
4.Donations of organic fruits and vegetables will be sought from
local health stores and f farmers markets
5. Funds for a community garden plot will be sought from the US Department
of Agriculture.
6. Eighth-grade students from Black Pines Circle
School's community service program who come to our school each Friday
to interact with our students can provide assistance with various
components of the proposed program.
7. We will launch a pilot
program involving the production of gluten-free, casein-free,
yeast-free, and soy-free suppers for busy people trying to accommodate
special diets..
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