New Jersey school district working to get more healthy greens in students' diets

• "There are many benefits of fruits and vegetables in general," but green vegetables are noted for helping reduce heart attack risk and high blood pressure by lowering cholesterol when paired with a low-fat diet, Registered Dietician Nancy Reismeier, clinical nutrition manager at Gracedale, the Northampton County nursing home in Upper Nazareth Township, says.
• Those phytochemicals "gobble up carcinogens" by neutralizing free radicals, substances that can cause cell damage and can be a precursor to cancer.
• These phytochemicals aren't things you can get in a simple multivitamin, Reismeier says, so eating a balance of fruits, vegetables and grains can give the body those important chemical compounds.
• Especially high in phytochemicals are some of the green vegetables on the menu at Gracedale: Brussels sprouts, spinach, broccoli, snap peas, peppers, cucumbers, parsley and cabbage.
• Pratt, whose book has been a best seller, is a senior staff ophthalmologist at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., and brought his "SuperFoods" philosophy to the Oprah Winfrey Show.
• All vegetables have the vitamins needed for body growth and energy, and are a vital part of the diet he says.
• And he finds the 8,500 students eating meals his department provides at the district's 24 elementary and secondary schools are getting their share of green vegetables.
• Celery sticks served with peanut butter or ranch dip are popular too.
• The district also receives frozen green beans and peas from the USDA as part of the National School Lunch program, Kenna explains.
• A favorite for elementary school-age lunchers is a "salad shaker" -- a salad in a cup which students can shake ranch dressing into.
• "You've gotta be creative with the salads," Kenna says, since students are young consumers and want the variety and types of food trends they are seeing at restaurants and in prepackaged foods.