Deephaven Elementary: Healthier Lunches on the Menu

Starting this fall, the school lunches at Minnetonka’s will look— and maybe taste—a little different. The school is piloting a new healthy lunch initiative as part of the Life Time Foundation’s "Healthy Kids, Healthy Planet" program.

“We expect to create additional opportunities for our students to obtain great-tasting, healthy foods, while increasing their activity levels,” said . “Ultimately, we believe this will have a direct effect on their energy, focus and performance both in and out of school.”

It’s estimated that at , students receive one-third of their daily calories from the school-provided lunches. For these lunches,  will limit the bleached flour, processed sugar, food coloring, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, trans fats, antibiotics and hormones.

Bahram Akradi, the founding chairman and president of Life Time Fitness, acknowledged the extra cost associated with a healthier menu. So as part of this initiative, the LifeTime Foundation has pledged to make up the price gap between the food currently served—lunches that fit into the school’s budget—and the food served under this new menu. It’s a change too important not to be made, Akradi said.

“Strained budgets and other restrictions can pose challenges that limit progress,” Akradi said. “(But) over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and the physical health of an entire generation is at stake.”

“Life Time’s support will allow us to initially test the impact of changes at our school, before making decisions about cost-effective changes for all Minnetonka Schools,” McGinley said.  

Also, Life Time Fitness will help redesign the school’s exercise programs and provide parents with the tools and information to improve diets and up the exercise at home.

applied for the Life Time program late last year. The school was chosen because of the high percentage of Deephaven parents who pledged their support for a menu change and their commitment to improved nutrition at home. Deephaven Elementary gathered signatures representing more than 53 percent of all students—the highest of all 25 Twin Cities schools that applied.

According to McGinley, securing this pilot program shows the Deephaven Elementary community's “commitment to serve the healthiest food and ingredients possible.”