Grab n Go Breakfast is a hit at Balboa High School
Balboa High School has started a pilot Grab n Go breakfast program, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the Bay Area. The Grab n Go is designed to encourage more students to start the day with a nutritious meal.
Students can arrive at school as late as five minutes before the 8:15 start time, grab the pre-bagged breakfast from the cafeteria line, and go right off to class. Breakfast can be eaten during the first ten minutes of class time. The traditional high school breakfast program provides a hot sit-down meal but requires students to arrive 20-30 minutes early.
After one week of operation, nearly twice as many students are eating the Grab n Go breakfast, compared with sit-down breakfast participation last school year. The goal is to increase participation at the 1000-student school to 200 students per day. On the most recent day, 156 Grab n Go breakfasts were served, nearly all of them to low-income students who qualify for free meals. The program is being promoted with a video produced by Balboa students and shown on the in-class Bal-TV. [Watch video - 7MB movie]
In a survey of 250 “Bal” students conducted last spring, 25% reported that they “never” eat breakfast, while another 50% said that they “sometimes” eat breakfast – meaning that on any given day, somewhere between 25-75% of the student population was coming into their first period classroom with an empty stomach. Among those who said they did eat breakfast, some indicated that the breakfast consisted of soda, potato chips, or other junk food. About 80% of those surveyed indicated that they would like to be able to eat breakfast during the start of first period, and another 15% said they might be willing to do so.
The Grab n Go breakfast includes a variety of items, such as cold cereal, bagel and cream cheese, fresh fruit, orange juice, fruit muffin, string cheese, yogurt, and milk. As the weather turns colder, hot items such as a breakfast burrito, pancakes, and waffles will be added to the menu. Breakfast is free to students who qualify for free lunch; the cost is 30 cents for those who qualify for reduced price lunch. All others pay $1.
Studies have linked eating breakfast with improved concentration in school children, and with helping people reach and maintain a healthy weight. Children who skip breakfast are twice as likely to be overweight as those who eat breakfast. Likewise, skipping breakfast has been shown to have a negative impact on cognitive functioning, dental health, cholesterol levels and insulin resistance, to increase the risk of heart disease, and can cause irritability and lethargy.
Balboa students who participated in the survey last spring named cold cereal as their #1 choice for breakfast; cereal was requested by twice as many students as the next most popular item (bread or toast.) Research reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association has confirmed that cereal is an ideal choice for breakfast, helping adolescent girls maintain a healthy weight as compared to their peers who skip breakfast or don’t eat cereal. Lead researcher Bruce Barton, president of the Maryland Medical Research Institute in Baltimore, said, “Cereal eating is almost a marker for a healthy lifestyle. It sets you up for the day, so you don't overeat.” [Note: this study was sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), with support from General Mills.]
Grab n Go by the numbers
Students can arrive at school as late as five minutes before the 8:15 start time, grab the pre-bagged breakfast from the cafeteria line, and go right off to class. Breakfast can be eaten during the first ten minutes of class time. The traditional high school breakfast program provides a hot sit-down meal but requires students to arrive 20-30 minutes early.
After one week of operation, nearly twice as many students are eating the Grab n Go breakfast, compared with sit-down breakfast participation last school year. The goal is to increase participation at the 1000-student school to 200 students per day. On the most recent day, 156 Grab n Go breakfasts were served, nearly all of them to low-income students who qualify for free meals. The program is being promoted with a video produced by Balboa students and shown on the in-class Bal-TV. [Watch video - 7MB movie]
In a survey of 250 “Bal” students conducted last spring, 25% reported that they “never” eat breakfast, while another 50% said that they “sometimes” eat breakfast – meaning that on any given day, somewhere between 25-75% of the student population was coming into their first period classroom with an empty stomach. Among those who said they did eat breakfast, some indicated that the breakfast consisted of soda, potato chips, or other junk food. About 80% of those surveyed indicated that they would like to be able to eat breakfast during the start of first period, and another 15% said they might be willing to do so.
The Grab n Go breakfast includes a variety of items, such as cold cereal, bagel and cream cheese, fresh fruit, orange juice, fruit muffin, string cheese, yogurt, and milk. As the weather turns colder, hot items such as a breakfast burrito, pancakes, and waffles will be added to the menu. Breakfast is free to students who qualify for free lunch; the cost is 30 cents for those who qualify for reduced price lunch. All others pay $1.
Studies have linked eating breakfast with improved concentration in school children, and with helping people reach and maintain a healthy weight. Children who skip breakfast are twice as likely to be overweight as those who eat breakfast. Likewise, skipping breakfast has been shown to have a negative impact on cognitive functioning, dental health, cholesterol levels and insulin resistance, to increase the risk of heart disease, and can cause irritability and lethargy.
Balboa students who participated in the survey last spring named cold cereal as their #1 choice for breakfast; cereal was requested by twice as many students as the next most popular item (bread or toast.) Research reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association has confirmed that cereal is an ideal choice for breakfast, helping adolescent girls maintain a healthy weight as compared to their peers who skip breakfast or don’t eat cereal. Lead researcher Bruce Barton, president of the Maryland Medical Research Institute in Baltimore, said, “Cereal eating is almost a marker for a healthy lifestyle. It sets you up for the day, so you don't overeat.” [Note: this study was sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), with support from General Mills.]
Grab n Go by the numbers
| 80 - | average number of students who ate breakfast in the Balboa cafeteria during 2004- 05 |
| 93 - | number of Grab n Go breakfasts served on the first day of the program |
| 156 - | number of Grab n Go breakfasts served on the fifth day of the program |
| 200- | target goal for participation |
| 47.4- | percentage of Balboa students who qualified for free or reduced price meals in 2004-05 (preliminary figures for the current year will be available mid-October) |
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