Healthy teachers equals healthy students: An intervention to change school culture

Combating the obesity epidemic and pervasive chronic diet-related disease requires a cultural shift in attitudes toward health and wellness. Schools should be leveraged more effectively as a platform to catalyze this change. FoodFight's Teacher Wellness Program focuses on educating and gaining the buy-in of school staff who shape school culture. While garden grants and cooking classes teach complimentary skills, food literacy education is key to developing critical consumers who wield the knowledge to make informed, healthy choices. Through a 6-hour intervention, participants learn: the basic principles of a healthy diet, reading food labels, navigating the supermarket, the impact of marketing on consumer choices, and the politics influencing our food system. To reinforce this learning, FoodFight provides: curriculum and training on how to teach and mentor students, parent wellness workshops, and the opportunity for staff to be paired with a wellness coach. Outcome research conducted by the Program in Nutrition, Columbia University reports that 90% of participants agreed that FoodFight has changed their eating and buying habits, and shown increases in: general nutrition knowledge; understanding of whole foods; media literacy; and, improved self-efficacy regarding health; as well as, decreases in sugar-sweetened beverage and processed food consumption. Once armed with the knowledge necessary to transform their own health and wellbeing, teachers and other school staff serve as role models for students and become agents of change in their schools and communities.