September 11, 2023 • 14 mins
Board certified health and Nutrition Coach Daryn Mayer decodes the NYC Public School menus to find the healthiest choices and best kid-friendly snacks. Daryn Mayer is a Board Certified Health and Nutrition Coach, and owner of New York based Daryn Mayer Wellness. DarynMayerWellness.com
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to get connected with Nina DelRio, a weekly conversation about fitness,
health and happenings in our community onone oh six point seven light FM.
Good morning, and thanks for listeningto get connected. In back to school
season and with so much to getorganized, clothes and classes in the commute,
We're going to help you get astep ahead of what your kids are
(00:24):
eating. I'm joined by Darren Mayer, she's a board certified health and nutrition
coach to decode the school lunch menuand find the best kid friendly snacks.
Darren, thank you for being onthe show. Thank you so much for
having me. It's great to behere. Darren is also the owner of
New York based Darren Mayor Wellness.You can find out more at Darren Mayor
Wellness dot com. It's d AR y N Mayor Wellness dot com and
(00:49):
Darren. Because we're in the biggestschool district in the country, we're going
to dive into the New York Citypublic school lunch menu and meal plan,
which is the menu choice. Ithink there's one point one million kids in
New York City public schools, aboutseven hundred and fifty thousand eat these menus.
A day or choose from them.So thank you for doing so much
advanced work and taking a look atthe menu before we sort of start talk
about menus in general. How wouldyou rate the New York City public school
(01:12):
menu and maybe the average school lunchmenu. Well, I think there's a
lot of good aspects about the NewYork City lunch menu. For instance,
they banned certain ingredients like unhealthy preservativeslike BHT and BHA. They also ban
high fruit post corns, europe palmkernel oils, and a lot of different
(01:34):
preservatives in chemicals. So I thinkthat they do a good job with what
they have. There are some ingredientsthat are trying to slip through the cracks
and are still in our children's food, and you know, there's ways to
navigate around that. They're not terribleingredients, but they can be inflammatory if
(01:55):
they're eaten all the time and they'renot consumed in a balanced diet. Darren,
what do you mean by inflammatory?What are inflammatory foods? How do
they affect kids? So? Inflammatoryand foods or foods that contain added amounts
of sugar more than five or sixgrams of sugar per serving, Foods that
contain ingredients like enriched flour or bleachedflour to the school. The school system
(02:21):
bands bleached fower, but foods thatcontain enriched flour added sugars more than five
or six grams. Inflammatory oils likesoybean oil canola oil. These are more
man made oil, and these ingredientsover time can disrupt digectin and also brain
(02:42):
and body connection. So inflammatory oilslike soybean oil, canola oil, they
have high amounts of omey six andwill make a six. We have too
much in the body because it'll makea six is available in a lot of
different foods. It can caused inflammation. And the same thing with added sugars.
If a child is consuming too muchadded sugars, they're going to have
(03:06):
inflammation. That can lead to diabetesand it can lead to other health problems.
So what I tell my clients iswe want to alleviate as much inflammation
as possible, and you can dothat by eating foods that don't have inflammatory
ingredients. You can also do thatby adding foods that have fiber and protein
(03:30):
and healthy facts, because that willmake me feel more satiated and that will
help your brain and your body function. And the fiber will help to flush
out inflammatory ingredients from your body.The key to that kind of stuff is
being able to read their menus andread the nutrition labels. What are we
(03:50):
actually looking for when you talk aboutfiber and sugars and carbs and things like
that. So the school menu didnot provide any ingredient inform nation. What
I did was I looked up someof the companies at their ingredients and a
lot of the breads that I founddid contain enriched wheat flour. Now on
(04:13):
the school menu that I looked atmore recently, where they actually have the
actual menu, you know, forthe week, just instead of the list
of all the foods that they dohave whole wheat bread, you know,
wheat, whole wheat croissants. Somy recommendation would be too opt for those
foods that have the words whole wheatsin front of the bread, as opposed
(04:36):
to foods that just say dinner rolls, because at least even if there is
enriched flour, enriched wheat flour,you're still getting the benefit of the wheat
and the benefit of the fiber,which is better for you than just white
bread, which will turn to sugarin your body more quickly. Then something
(05:00):
that contains more five or like wholewheat. We're speaking with Darren Mayor.
She's a board certified health and nutritioncoach and owner of New York based Darren
Mayor Wellness. You can find outmore at Darrenmayor Wellness dot com. We're
talking about the school lunches in NewYork City. You're listening to get connected
on one oh six point seven LightFM. I'm Nina del Rio. There
are famously lots of vegan and vegetarianoptions on the New York City public school
(05:25):
menu, Darren and the K througheight menu, there's a whole vegetarian menu.
But just because food is vegan orvegetarian, it doesn't mean it's healthy.
You can't live on cheese fries everyday. Not every veggie burger is
healthy. If you are looking atthat menu or even trying to pack for
a kid, what are some greatkid friendly ideas in the vegan and vegetarian
(05:46):
department. So I love hummus.Hummus is a great option for vegans and
also for any child. Hummus withfresh vegetables. You can also put hummus
instead of salad dressing on salad becausea lot of salad dressing, especially in
the school system, will contain sugarsor inflammatory oil, so hamas is a
(06:09):
great option to use with salads andvegetables. Another great option is fresh fruits
and vegetables. I looked at themenu and they had a black bean wrap
that I thought looked very good fora child, and I would rather a
(06:30):
child choose the black bean wrap onthe same day that they're also offering crispy
chicken tenders with dipping sauce, becauseagain, the crispy is not good for
you. It is crispy, ismeans that it's fried, and dipping sauce
tends to have added sugars. So, whether you're vegan or you're just looking
(06:55):
for healthy options, by looking atall the options on the menu, and
what I recommend to clients and tolisteners is to highlight have three categories where
you're going to highlight all the foodsthat are on the menu. And the
first category is something I call thegreen category, the go foods, and
the green category or foods like fruitsand vegetables that you can eat all the
(07:19):
time and that you want your childto add to their plate for breakfast and
lunch. The second category would bethe yellow foods, which would be like
the black bean wrap that we talkedabout, or the hummus. It would
be. If you're not vegan,it would be a turkey burger. If
(07:40):
you are vegan, it could bea black bean burger. And those are
foods that you're going to eat,you know, in the serving size.
If they're served with a whole wheator a whole grain bread, okay,
that's great. If not, thenI would recommend choosing salads to add to
(08:01):
your plate. They also offer thingslike brown rice and other types of full
grains that are great add ons toyour meal without having to have breads that
are you know, just pure sugar. So those are just some options.
And then the red category would befoods like the cookies and you know the
(08:22):
French fries. Where you never wantto tell a child that they can't have
something. I always say that healthstarts at home, so by by teaching
your child how to enjoy these foodsthat they love in a healthier way.
For instance, with that cookie,you would put that cookie on a plate
and you would decorate the plate withfresh fruit, and you know, okay,
(08:46):
well you're gonna have the cookie beforewe have the cookie, we're gonna
make our decoration, and we're gonnaeat all the fruit in order to get
to the cookie. And by thetime they get to the cookie, they
will probably be full and they've hadsome you know, they had the sweet,
but they can have a little bitof the cookie. But the point
is it's about swapping in healthier foodsand healthier ingredients and swapping out less healthy.
(09:07):
One of the things you have actuallyin your plan is you've developed a
simple swap system. How is thatdesigned for long term choices? So the
simple swap system is a system.It's not a diet. There's no band
on any food or any categories,but categories like you would find in certain
diets. And what the simple swapsystem does it just teaches people how to
(09:28):
enjoy all the foods they love ina healthier way. So let's just talk
about ice cream. Okay, Likeice cream is really never going to be
on an actual diet. Now,ice cream is not something I would encourage
clients to eat all the time,but if they want to take their kids
for ice cream, as a simpleswap system, we would say, okay,
pick your flavor and let's take asmall size or a kitty size and
(09:52):
put it in the you know,the medium cup, and let's swap in
some healthy toppings fruit not seeds,unsweetened carab chips, and you're going to
eat those toppings with the ice cream. Those toppings have healthy facts. They
contain protein, and they contain fiber, so it's going to help your body
(10:13):
digest it more efficiently. And becausethe toppings have protein and fiber and the
healthy fact, you're going to becomemore satiated more easily. So you may
eat the whole ice cream, oryou may save it for another day.
It's all about teaching people how togive them freedom with food to enjoy.
We've got just a couple of minutesleft. I want to get into more
(10:35):
questions, Darren So. The NewYork City Department of Education also offers free
breakfast and after school meals to allpublic school students as well. To me,
breakfast always seems to be the diceiestbecause anywhere you go it's always hard
to avoid the sugar. What shouldyou steer your kids towards As far as
breakfast, Breakfast is the most importantmeal of the day because that is the
meal that feeds your brain and yourbody energy. There are some good choices
(10:58):
for breakfast on the school menus.I would recommend shredded wheat because that is
just pure wheat, that's a wholegrain, and adding in some low fat
or non fat milk or low fator non fat plain yogurt, as well
as adding in lots of fresh fruit. That's one good option. Also,
they do make omelets with cheese orwithout cheese or low fat cheese or fat
(11:22):
free cheese, and again adding invegetables if they're available, and fresh fruit,
and you could also incorporate a biscuitof the shredded wheat. They have
other good options like oatmeal that comparewith milk, and you could add in
non fat yogurt. A little extraprotein would the omelet. And also a
(11:43):
cereal called toasty os which is multigrain cereal and it does not have aggage
shimmer. So those are three goodoptions to start your day the right way.
That's great, so to wrap up. To be honest, dren I
was always the kid with the weirdfood. For some reason. My mother
had a thing for liver worst sandwiches, which was mortifying. You know,
(12:05):
there's there's always something about you know, your friends have the cool food,
or you're made fun of for noteating the cool food or whatever. How
can you help your kid feel likethey're they're not missing out and what they're
eating is normal, what you want, what your day is want. With
the simple swap system, your kidscan enjoy the potato chips or the pretzels.
(12:26):
They're just enjoying healthier version. Sojust to chocolate potato chips for a
minute. You know, there arecompanies that make potato chips made which is
avocado oil or olive oil and seasalt, which is healthy. You're getting
the benefit of the potato. Andthen you swap in some other types of
chips with those potato chips, likecucumber chips and carrot chips, and you
(12:46):
can make those with like a wavyslicers or this way they all look like
chips. And getting your kids involvedin the process, so taking them to
the supermarket and letting them pick outthe most colorful fruits and vegetables, playing
games with them in the supermarket,let's find the fiber and the protein and
(13:07):
the healthy fat in our you know, in our foods. Getting them involved
with reading labels, so they're takingcontrol of what they're eating, they're engaged,
they're involved, and they feel confidentand proud in what they're eating.
And what happens is is that whenyour child is having potato chips with avocado
oil and another child is eating potatochips or whatever other tortilla chips that are
(13:30):
not as healthy, you know,your child's gonna feel good at the fact
that they're eating something that's really goodfor them that they love, where somebody
else they might feel a little sorryfor it because, hey, you know
that mom's not as smart as mine, so you know, or whatever doesn't
know as much as mine or doesn'tknow about the Simple Swap system. So
it's really I always say healthy startsat home, and you know, getting
(13:52):
your kids involved and letting them makethe choices with you and teaching them,
it sets them up for long termhelp and it can help improve their brain
function and their resolves in school andtheir confidence because they feel good inside and
out. The New York City Departmentof Education has all the menus for the
(14:13):
school year, and the Simple SwapSystem is Darren Mayor's Plan, which you
can find out at Darrenmayor Wellness dotcom. D A R. Y nmayor
Wellness dot com. Thank you havea great day if you here too,
bybye. This has been get connectedwith Nina del Rio on one oh six
point seven Lightfm. The views andopinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect
(14:35):
the views of the station. Ifyou missed any part of our show or
want to share it, visit ourwebsite for downloads and podcasts at one O
six seven lightfm dot com. Thanksfor listening.
Welcome to get connected with Nina DelRio, a weekly conversation about fitness,
health and happenings in our community onone oh six point seven light FM.
Good morning, and thanks for listeningto get connected. In back to school
season and with so much to getorganized, clothes and classes in the commute,
We're going to help you get astep ahead of what your kids are
(00:24):
eating. I'm joined by Darren Mayer, she's a board certified health and nutrition
coach to decode the school lunch menuand find the best kid friendly snacks.
Darren, thank you for being onthe show. Thank you so much for
having me. It's great to behere. Darren is also the owner of
New York based Darren Mayor Wellness.You can find out more at Darren Mayor
Wellness dot com. It's d AR y N Mayor Wellness dot com and
(00:49):
Darren. Because we're in the biggestschool district in the country, we're going
to dive into the New York Citypublic school lunch menu and meal plan,
which is the menu choice. Ithink there's one point one million kids in
New York City public schools, aboutseven hundred and fifty thousand eat these menus.
A day or choose from them.So thank you for doing so much
advanced work and taking a look atthe menu before we sort of start talk
about menus in general. How wouldyou rate the New York City public school
(01:12):
menu and maybe the average school lunchmenu. Well, I think there's a
lot of good aspects about the NewYork City lunch menu. For instance,
they banned certain ingredients like unhealthy preservativeslike BHT and BHA. They also ban
high fruit post corns, europe palmkernel oils, and a lot of different
(01:34):
preservatives in chemicals. So I thinkthat they do a good job with what
they have. There are some ingredientsthat are trying to slip through the cracks
and are still in our children's food, and you know, there's ways to
navigate around that. They're not terribleingredients, but they can be inflammatory if
(01:55):
they're eaten all the time and they'renot consumed in a balanced diet. Darren,
what do you mean by inflammatory?What are inflammatory foods? How do
they affect kids? So? Inflammatoryand foods or foods that contain added amounts
of sugar more than five or sixgrams of sugar per serving, Foods that
contain ingredients like enriched flour or bleachedflour to the school. The school system
(02:21):
bands bleached fower, but foods thatcontain enriched flour added sugars more than five
or six grams. Inflammatory oils likesoybean oil canola oil. These are more
man made oil, and these ingredientsover time can disrupt digectin and also brain
(02:42):
and body connection. So inflammatory oilslike soybean oil, canola oil, they
have high amounts of omey six andwill make a six. We have too
much in the body because it'll makea six is available in a lot of
different foods. It can caused inflammation. And the same thing with added sugars.
If a child is consuming too muchadded sugars, they're going to have
(03:06):
inflammation. That can lead to diabetesand it can lead to other health problems.
So what I tell my clients iswe want to alleviate as much inflammation
as possible, and you can dothat by eating foods that don't have inflammatory
ingredients. You can also do thatby adding foods that have fiber and protein
(03:30):
and healthy facts, because that willmake me feel more satiated and that will
help your brain and your body function. And the fiber will help to flush
out inflammatory ingredients from your body.The key to that kind of stuff is
being able to read their menus andread the nutrition labels. What are we
(03:50):
actually looking for when you talk aboutfiber and sugars and carbs and things like
that. So the school menu didnot provide any ingredient inform nation. What
I did was I looked up someof the companies at their ingredients and a
lot of the breads that I founddid contain enriched wheat flour. Now on
(04:13):
the school menu that I looked atmore recently, where they actually have the
actual menu, you know, forthe week, just instead of the list
of all the foods that they dohave whole wheat bread, you know,
wheat, whole wheat croissants. Somy recommendation would be too opt for those
foods that have the words whole wheatsin front of the bread, as opposed
(04:36):
to foods that just say dinner rolls, because at least even if there is
enriched flour, enriched wheat flour,you're still getting the benefit of the wheat
and the benefit of the fiber,which is better for you than just white
bread, which will turn to sugarin your body more quickly. Then something
(05:00):
that contains more five or like wholewheat. We're speaking with Darren Mayor.
She's a board certified health and nutritioncoach and owner of New York based Darren
Mayor Wellness. You can find outmore at Darrenmayor Wellness dot com. We're
talking about the school lunches in NewYork City. You're listening to get connected
on one oh six point seven LightFM. I'm Nina del Rio. There
are famously lots of vegan and vegetarianoptions on the New York City public school
(05:25):
menu, Darren and the K througheight menu, there's a whole vegetarian menu.
But just because food is vegan orvegetarian, it doesn't mean it's healthy.
You can't live on cheese fries everyday. Not every veggie burger is
healthy. If you are looking atthat menu or even trying to pack for
a kid, what are some greatkid friendly ideas in the vegan and vegetarian
(05:46):
department. So I love hummus.Hummus is a great option for vegans and
also for any child. Hummus withfresh vegetables. You can also put hummus
instead of salad dressing on salad becausea lot of salad dressing, especially in
the school system, will contain sugarsor inflammatory oil, so hamas is a
(06:09):
great option to use with salads andvegetables. Another great option is fresh fruits
and vegetables. I looked at themenu and they had a black bean wrap
that I thought looked very good fora child, and I would rather a
(06:30):
child choose the black bean wrap onthe same day that they're also offering crispy
chicken tenders with dipping sauce, becauseagain, the crispy is not good for
you. It is crispy, ismeans that it's fried, and dipping sauce
tends to have added sugars. So, whether you're vegan or you're just looking
(06:55):
for healthy options, by looking atall the options on the menu, and
what I recommend to clients and tolisteners is to highlight have three categories where
you're going to highlight all the foodsthat are on the menu. And the
first category is something I call thegreen category, the go foods, and
the green category or foods like fruitsand vegetables that you can eat all the
(07:19):
time and that you want your childto add to their plate for breakfast and
lunch. The second category would bethe yellow foods, which would be like
the black bean wrap that we talkedabout, or the hummus. It would
be. If you're not vegan,it would be a turkey burger. If
(07:40):
you are vegan, it could bea black bean burger. And those are
foods that you're going to eat,you know, in the serving size.
If they're served with a whole wheator a whole grain bread, okay,
that's great. If not, thenI would recommend choosing salads to add to
(08:01):
your plate. They also offer thingslike brown rice and other types of full
grains that are great add ons toyour meal without having to have breads that
are you know, just pure sugar. So those are just some options.
And then the red category would befoods like the cookies and you know the
(08:22):
French fries. Where you never wantto tell a child that they can't have
something. I always say that healthstarts at home, so by by teaching
your child how to enjoy these foodsthat they love in a healthier way.
For instance, with that cookie,you would put that cookie on a plate
and you would decorate the plate withfresh fruit, and you know, okay,
(08:46):
well you're gonna have the cookie beforewe have the cookie, we're gonna
make our decoration, and we're gonnaeat all the fruit in order to get
to the cookie. And by thetime they get to the cookie, they
will probably be full and they've hadsome you know, they had the sweet,
but they can have a little bitof the cookie. But the point
is it's about swapping in healthier foodsand healthier ingredients and swapping out less healthy.
(09:07):
One of the things you have actuallyin your plan is you've developed a
simple swap system. How is thatdesigned for long term choices? So the
simple swap system is a system.It's not a diet. There's no band
on any food or any categories,but categories like you would find in certain
diets. And what the simple swapsystem does it just teaches people how to
(09:28):
enjoy all the foods they love ina healthier way. So let's just talk
about ice cream. Okay, Likeice cream is really never going to be
on an actual diet. Now,ice cream is not something I would encourage
clients to eat all the time,but if they want to take their kids
for ice cream, as a simpleswap system, we would say, okay,
pick your flavor and let's take asmall size or a kitty size and
(09:52):
put it in the you know,the medium cup, and let's swap in
some healthy toppings fruit not seeds,unsweetened carab chips, and you're going to
eat those toppings with the ice cream. Those toppings have healthy facts. They
contain protein, and they contain fiber, so it's going to help your body
(10:13):
digest it more efficiently. And becausethe toppings have protein and fiber and the
healthy fact, you're going to becomemore satiated more easily. So you may
eat the whole ice cream, oryou may save it for another day.
It's all about teaching people how togive them freedom with food to enjoy.
We've got just a couple of minutesleft. I want to get into more
(10:35):
questions, Darren So. The NewYork City Department of Education also offers free
breakfast and after school meals to allpublic school students as well. To me,
breakfast always seems to be the diceiestbecause anywhere you go it's always hard
to avoid the sugar. What shouldyou steer your kids towards As far as
breakfast, Breakfast is the most importantmeal of the day because that is the
meal that feeds your brain and yourbody energy. There are some good choices
(10:58):
for breakfast on the school menus.I would recommend shredded wheat because that is
just pure wheat, that's a wholegrain, and adding in some low fat
or non fat milk or low fator non fat plain yogurt, as well
as adding in lots of fresh fruit. That's one good option. Also,
they do make omelets with cheese orwithout cheese or low fat cheese or fat
(11:22):
free cheese, and again adding invegetables if they're available, and fresh fruit,
and you could also incorporate a biscuitof the shredded wheat. They have
other good options like oatmeal that comparewith milk, and you could add in
non fat yogurt. A little extraprotein would the omelet. And also a
(11:43):
cereal called toasty os which is multigrain cereal and it does not have aggage
shimmer. So those are three goodoptions to start your day the right way.
That's great, so to wrap up. To be honest, dren I
was always the kid with the weirdfood. For some reason. My mother
had a thing for liver worst sandwiches, which was mortifying. You know,
(12:05):
there's there's always something about you know, your friends have the cool food,
or you're made fun of for noteating the cool food or whatever. How
can you help your kid feel likethey're they're not missing out and what they're
eating is normal, what you want, what your day is want. With
the simple swap system, your kidscan enjoy the potato chips or the pretzels.
(12:26):
They're just enjoying healthier version. Sojust to chocolate potato chips for a
minute. You know, there arecompanies that make potato chips made which is
avocado oil or olive oil and seasalt, which is healthy. You're getting
the benefit of the potato. Andthen you swap in some other types of
chips with those potato chips, likecucumber chips and carrot chips, and you
(12:46):
can make those with like a wavyslicers or this way they all look like
chips. And getting your kids involvedin the process, so taking them to
the supermarket and letting them pick outthe most colorful fruits and vegetables, playing
games with them in the supermarket,let's find the fiber and the protein and
(13:07):
the healthy fat in our you know, in our foods. Getting them involved
with reading labels, so they're takingcontrol of what they're eating, they're engaged,
they're involved, and they feel confidentand proud in what they're eating.
And what happens is is that whenyour child is having potato chips with avocado
oil and another child is eating potatochips or whatever other tortilla chips that are
(13:30):
not as healthy, you know,your child's gonna feel good at the fact
that they're eating something that's really goodfor them that they love, where somebody
else they might feel a little sorryfor it because, hey, you know
that mom's not as smart as mine, so you know, or whatever doesn't
know as much as mine or doesn'tknow about the Simple Swap system. So
it's really I always say healthy startsat home, and you know, getting
(13:52):
your kids involved and letting them makethe choices with you and teaching them,
it sets them up for long termhelp and it can help improve their brain
function and their resolves in school andtheir confidence because they feel good inside and
out. The New York City Departmentof Education has all the menus for the
(14:13):
school year, and the Simple SwapSystem is Darren Mayor's Plan, which you
can find out at Darrenmayor Wellness dotcom. D A R. Y nmayor
Wellness dot com. Thank you havea great day if you here too,
bybye. This has been get connectedwith Nina del Rio on one oh six
point seven Lightfm. The views andopinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect
(14:35):
the views of the station. Ifyou missed any part of our show or
want to share it, visit ourwebsite for downloads and podcasts at one O
six seven lightfm dot com. Thanksfor listening.
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