It's time to plan our garden!

As New Yorkers look ahead to the first real warm day this year, gardeners across the city are dreaming up what to plant once the soil thaws enough to be workable. Our 5th Floor Terrace Garden needs some spring cleaning and TLC, but for now we're plotting what to put where and ordering seeds. In fact, we've already got some seedlings started in one of our 4th grade science classrooms.

On the list of what we hope to plant this year:

• Strawberries
• Corn
• Peas
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Brussels Sprouts
• Collard Greens
• Watermelon
• Blueberries
• Eggplant
• Okra
• Lettuce
• Herbs
• Cucumbers
• Peppers

What else should we add?

Food Pledges

Our Wellness Policy outlines our commitments to delivering a healthier nutrition environment. This work could not be done without a supportive and engaged staff.  As a community we pledge to:

1. Protect the HCZ healthy nutrition environment.
2. Keep “outside” food out of students’ hands and out of their view.
3. Recognize that food should not be used as a reward or punishment.

Healthy Homeroom Tips

We are pleased to announce that we are now providing teachers at Promise Academy with daily nutrition tips to discuss with their students during homeroom. Teachers can access the tips via the bulletin board on Infinite Campus. Tips will be themed around food, nutrition, and fitness.

Welcome to HCZ's Wellness Connection

At HCZ Community Wellness and Health is one of our top priorities. We have a variety of programs that work in this arena including the Educated Eaters Program, the Children's Health Fund and the Healthy Living Initiative. Find out more about each of these programs by clicking on the tabs at the top of this page.

One of the toughest challenges facing our children is obesity. Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in our country are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity contributes to adult health problems like diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.

We all want our children to achieve excellence—both in their schoolwork and their quality of life. The Harlem Children’s Zone is firmly committed to creating a healthy nutrition environment that supports and encourages an active lifestyle; we need help from staff, teachers, parents and students to cultivate a consistent message and reinforce healthy habits at HCZ. We tackle this important issue from a variety of fronts like serving healthier foods in the cafeteria, encouraging physical activity, and educating our community about the connection between nutrition and health.

At HCZ and Promise Academy, we are committed to:

1. Feed students a balanced healthy diet that is nutritious, delicious and sets them up to focus and succeed in their schoolwork and thrive in their lives.
2. Teach our community—by education and example—how to relate to food in a healthy way by improving nutrition education to staff, students and parents.
3. Encourage students and all members of our community to understand the relationship between healthy eating, an active lifestyle and their success—in and out of the classroom.

We are excited to get our entire community involved in our efforts to create a healthier environment and this blog is a way for us to all share in the vision and support this important goal. Thanks for visiting! Stop by again soon!

What is a healthy school nutrition environment?

The healthy school nutrition environment is a phrase that's become popular in the last several years as more and more parents, educators and policymakers have taken an interest in how to provide the next generation with the tools for learning to eat right for life. A healthy school nutrition environment is one that:

• Reinforces healthy eating in the school dining room, classroom, afterschool clubs, sports and special events
• Provides clear consistent nutrition messages encouraging students to eat well
• Educates students about the science behind good nutrition, the impact of diet on health, and the importance of an active balanced lifestyle in relationship to food
• Trains students how to choose foods that support their bodies and teaching them where their food comes from
• Encourages students to take ownership of their own food environment and food security
• Enables students to achieve full academic potential and obtain physical and mental growth
• Promotes lifelong healthy eating habits

Our Wellness Council meets quarterly to discuss how we are doing in our efforts to create a healthier nutrition environment and brainstorm ways that we can make more positive changes. If you want to learn more about the process we encourage you to start by reading this excellent guide from the Center for Eco Literary called Rethinking School Lunch.

Do you share home-cook-friendly recipes?

Chef Andrew often shares recipes for items served in our cafeteria that have been adapted for you to prepare at home. In addition, we have recipes that are developed for our Middle and High School Cooking Classes, the Healthy Living Challenge Cooking Classes, and our Parent Cooking Classes.

If there's ever an item or recipe that you would like to see us feature here on the blog, please just let us know! Otherwise check out the recipes page for a full list of the recipes that we've posted on the blog so far.

Click here to keep reading our FAQ section.

I see that you have a community Food Pledge that states "Food should never be used as a reward or a punishment." Why not?

At Harlem Children’s Zone and Promise Academy we believe that using food as a reward (or a punishment) sends the wrong message to our children and therefore it is not allowed.  This means that under no circumstances should any staff member encourage students using food as the incentive.

This Better School Food article describes the negative impact of using food as a reward quite well:

“The ultimate goal of rewarding children is to help them internalize positive behaviors so that they will not need a reward. Rewarding children in the home or in the classroom does not need to involve candy or food. Using candy or food as a reward reaches beyond the short-term benefits of good behavior. Rewarding children with food:
- Encourages overeating of foods high in sugar and fat
- Teaches children to eat when they're not hungry
- Teaches children to reward themselves with food
- Teaches children to connect food to mood
- Contributes to poor health
- Undermines healthy habits
By giving children empty calories as a reward for good behavior, we are saying "Here is something unhealthy for you because you behaved so well." Does this make sense?"

We don’t think so. Especially for a generation at risk of living shorter lives because of chronic diet-related diseases, using food as a reward or a punishment simply doesn't make sense. So, we do our best to teach kids how to eat healthfully for life. Certainly there are times and occasions when eating something special might be a way that you reward yourself (at holidays, on your birthday, after running a marathon), but we're here to train kids how to take control of their own relationship to food and how to find that balance in their own daily routine and for their own level of physical activity. That way they grow into adults who can thrive and live to their full potential rather than struggle with preventable diseases.

Read the full article for a list of alternatives to food rewards that can be used by parents. Also check out this article promoting a healthy school environment and providing ways that schools can offer Alternatives to Food as Reward.


Click here to keep reading our FAQ section.