Connection Between Children’s Emotions, Mental Skills and Eating Habits

Agricultural Research Service scientists are studying the relationship between eating behaviors and cognitive control as an avenue to address childhood obesity. ARS photo by Scott Bauer.

American children are gaining weight. Obesity now affects one in six children and adolescents in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a major concern because extra pounds can increase risk for developing serious health problems in children, including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

While strategies to reduce childhood obesity include improving diet and increasing exercise, USDA scientists are looking for ways to prevent behaviors in children that may lead to obesity. Nutritionist Kevin Laugero, who works at the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, California, recently investigated the relationship between obesity, unhealthy eating behaviors and decreased mental skills in 3- to 6-year-olds.

Laugero and his colleagues at the University of California-Davis discovered, for the first time, a connection between young children’s eating behaviors and experiencing an emotional state. The team also found that mental skills, referred to here as “cognitive control,” are significantly associated with overeating and emotions.

Cognitive control allows us to remember, plan, organize, make decisions, manage time, maintain emotional and self-control, and curb inappropriate behavior.

“At an early age, these skills are rapidly developing,” Laugero says. “If we’re able to understand the relationship between eating behaviors and cognitive control, we may be able to develop preventive methods for young children to help control obesity.”

Researchers conducted several experiments to examine the balance between emotional state, snacking and cognitive control in preschool children. Cognitive control was measured through computerized and hands-on tasks, parent questionnaires and standardized teacher reports.

“Our research suggests that, even at a young age, children with lower cognitive control skills may be more likely to engage in emotional-based overeating,” Laugero says. “On the other hand, our results suggest that children with higher cognitive control skills may be less likely to overeat.”

Laugero and his colleagues are considering further studies, using intervention strategies, to improve cognitive control during preschool years. They would then follow up with children to see whether intervention encourages healthier eating habits, including less emotional eating, later in life

Posted by Sandra Avant, Public Affairs Specialist, Agricultural Research Service, on March 22, 2016 at 11:00 AM

Child Nutrition Programs: Income Eligibility Guidelines

This notice announces the Department’s annual adjustments to the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be used in determining eligibility for free and reduced price meals and free milk for the period from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017. These guidelines are used by schools, institutions, and facilities participating in the National School Lunch Program (and Commodity School Program), School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program for Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program. The annual adjustments are required by section 9 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The guidelines are intended to direct benefits to those children most in need and are revised annually to account for changes in the Consumer Price Index.

Type:
Notice
Publication Date:
Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Child Nutrition Program Integrity

The Food and Nutrition Service administers several programs that provide healthy food to children including the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the Summer Food Service Program, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, and the Special Milk Program.  Administered by State agencies, each of these programs helps fight hunger and obesity by reimbursing organizations such as schools, child care centers, and after-school programs for providing healthy meals to children.

This rule proposes to codify several provisions of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 affecting the integrity of the Child Nutrition Programs, including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the Special Milk Program for Children, the School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and State Administrative Expense Funds.

The Department is proposing to establish criteria for assessments against State agencies and program operators who jeopardize the integrity of any Child Nutrition Program; establish procedures for termination and disqualification of entities in the SFSP; modify State agency site review requirements in the CACFP; establish State liability for reimbursements incurred as a result of a State’s failure to conduct timely hearings in the CACFP; establish criteria for increased State audit funding for CACFP; establish procedures to prohibit the participation of entities or individuals terminated from any of the Child Nutrition Programs; establish serious deficiency and termination procedures for unaffiliated sponsored centers in the CACFP; eliminate cost-reimbursement food service management company contracts in the NSLP; and establish procurement training requirements for State agency and school food authority staff in the NSLP. In addition, this rulemaking would make several operational changes to improve oversight of an institution’s financial management and would also include several technical corrections to the regulations. The proposed rule is intended to improve the integrity of all Child Nutrition Programs.

Type:
Proposed Rule
RIN:
0584-AE08
Publication Date:
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Comment Period Date:
Tuesday, May 31, 2016

The School Nutrition Association ‘s 70th Annual National Conference (ANC)

The School Nutrition Association has a presence in every state across the country. View links to many of the stat. SNA’s 70th Annual National Conference (ANC) will be held July 10-13, 2016! Join more than 6,500 attendees, including school nutrition professionals, industry members and allied organization representatives at SNA’s premiere school nutrition event of the year. Come prepared for a fun, educational and thought-provoking experience in beautiful San Antonio, Texas!

The Event of The Year

Join thousands of your school nutrition peers for a four-day experience unlike anything else in the K-12 foodservice industry. When you walk through the doors of the Convention Center, you’ll quickly see why ANC is known as the “School Nutrition Event of the Year.”

Final Event

Be sure to pack your “retro best” outfit for the ANC Final Event. RAIN—a tribute to the Beatles—is a spectacular concert that will take you through the life and times of the world’s most celebrated band.

Education

With four days of education, discover countless choices to gain knowledge in the areas that have a direct impact on your job. Plus, you can kick-start your professional development a day early with pre-conference sessions.

Exhibit Hall

With over 200,000 square feet of exhibit space, the ANC Exhibit Hall is the place to discover the newest and most cutting-edge food, beverage, supply, equipment and service solutions to boost your school nutrition program’s menus and efficiency.

ANC Sweepstakes

Would you like a chance to win a free registration to ANC 2016 in San Antonio, Texas? Simply tell us how ANC helps you LEARN, LEAD & SUCCEED and you could win!

https://schoolnutrition.org/ANC2016/

 

Wordware Family Website Instructions : Lunch Cashier System (LCS1000) www.wordwareinc.com

Wordware Family Website Instructions

Registering on the Family Website

Important: You must fully complete registration in one session in order to guarantee that there are no problems with activating your account. If you think you may not be able to complete registration in a given time, please wait until you know you will not be interrupted. The majority of problems with access to the family site are caused by incomplete registrations.


With a web browser, go to www.wordwareinc.com

http://family.wordwareinc.com/

Enter username and password and click on the SIGN IN button

This will bring you to the New Account Registration screen Click on I HAVE A FAMILY KEY

o Click in the FAMILY KEY box

o Enter key numbers

o Click on the FINISH CONNECTING NEW FAMILY button

OR

  • Click on I HAVE A FAMILY ID AND PIN
  • Enter your Family ID and PIN
  • This will bring you to the New Account Registration page

Please note: Family IDs, PINs and Family Keys are provided by your school district. If you do not have this information, please contact your school.

  • Click on the drop arrow next to the STATE options box and select the appropriate state
  • Click on the SCHOOL NAME box and enter the appropriate school name
  • Click in the FAMILY ID box and enter the family ID number
  • Click in the FAMILY PIN box and enter the family Pin number
  • Click on the FINISH CONNECTING NEW FAMILY button

At this point, your registration is almost complete; however your account must be activated.

To activate your account, simply open your email account inbox and select the Wordware Inc email titled Wordware District Account Activation Required, then click on the contained link. It is very important that you complete activation before leaving this page.

Logging into Wordware Family Account

  • With a web browser, go to www.wordwareinc.com
  • Enter username and password and click on the SIGN IN button
  • This will bring you to the Account Dashboard home screen

Adding Funds to the Account

  • Click on ADD FUNDS button or click on the quick link I NEED TO ADD FUNDS TO MY FAMILY’S ACCOUNT
  • Complete the transaction using your district’s epay provider

Changing User Password

  • Click on USER MANAGEMENT
  • Click on the CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD link
  • Enter your current password
  • Create and confirm your new password
  • Click on CHANGE PASSWORD button


Changing User Security Question

  • Click on USER MANAGEMENT
  • Click on CHANGE YOUR SECURITY QUESTION
  • Click on drop the arrow next the SECURITY QUESTION options box
  • Select desired security question
  • Click in the SECURITY ANSWER box and enter answer
  • Click on the SAVE SECURITY QUESTION button

Changing Contact Preferences

  • Click on USER MANAGEMENT
  • Click in the box(es) of desired contact preferences
  • Click on the SAVE CONTACT PREFERENCES button

Connecting to Other Family Accounts

*Please be aware that at this time, you are able to connect to other family accounts. To remove other family accounts, you will need to contact your school lunch administrator.

  • Click on FAMILY ACCOUNTS
  • Click on CONNECT YOUR FAMILY ACCOUNT
  • Click on I HAVE A FAMILY KEY

o Click in the FAMILY KEY box

o Enter key numbers

o Click on the FINISH CONNECTING NEW FAMILY button

OR

  • Click on I HAVE A FAMILY ID AND PIN

o Click on the drop arrow next to the STATE options box and select the appropriate state

o Click in the SCHOOL NAME box and enter the appropriate school name

o Click in the FAMILY ID box and enter the family ID number

o Click in the FAMILY PIN box and enter the family Pin number

o Click on the FINISH CONNECTING NEW FAMILY button

Add Family User

  • Click on FAMILY ACCOUNTS
  • Go to the family account where the user will be added
  • Click on the ADD A FAMILY USER link
  • Click in the box behind EMAIL and enter the users email

*The new user will receive an email invitation from WordWareInc. With instructions on completing the process of being added to the account as a user

Pocola School District Provides Free and Reduced Lunch with lunch cashier system

Pocola School is in the process of changing over to a new system called lunch cashier system. This will allow us to notify you by balance in your student account. School Messenger will be a part of our lunch program as well. Until our system is available we want to remind parents of the policy of our lunch program. Students may charge up to -$12 before going on an alternative meal. When students charge up to -$6.00 they will not be allowed to charge extra items, (extra trays, drinks, ice cream), until the balance has been paid. You may still view your child’s account through the grade book system by using the password assigned to your child.

Wordware to Power lunch through PowerSchool – 150 Parkshore Dr Folsom, CA 95630

The Tech Department is currently working on a large project which involves updating all district computers through a 5 step process. The upgrade will allow us to turn off the Light speed antivirus product and to use the Microsoft Forefront antivirus that comes with our licensing for no additional cost. A new lunch program will be set up this summer changing lunch cashier systems from Wordware to Powerlunch through PowerSchool. VMWare management software was purchased to allow us to move virtual servers while they are running so updates can take place.

Riverside Elementary School – Register for Star Food – Chicken!

Welcome back! We look forward to serving everyone again this school year. Remember, if you are not registered at Wordware, the lunch cashier system, go to https://family.wordwareinc.com and click the orange ‘Quick and Easy Registration’ link on the right side.

Email erdjea@sdmfschools.org or call (262) 250-6462 to request the family key you will need in step
2. You can then monitor your family lunch balance, see daily student purchases, set your own low balance email notification level and make an online payment using FeeZee, plus more! If you have any questions regarding the school lunch program, please don’t hesitate to call (262) 250-6461 or (262) 250-6462.

We are here to help in any way we can! Did you know? We are serving a higher quality chicken this year. We have premium chicken tenders, Asian orange chicken and chicken drumsticks that are all products using whole muscle chicken. Try them for lunch when they are on the menu. You won’t be disappointed! This month’s Star Food is… Chicken!

Fun Chicken Facts:
Male chickens are called “roosters” and the females are called “hens.” Baby chickens are called “chicks.”
A healthy chicken lays about 265 eggs each year.
Chickens lay white, brown, blue or green eggs.

Ashwaubenon School District – Manage your Meal Account (Wordware Nutrition Software)

Welcome to the Ashwaubenon School District where we have a long-standing history of high academic achievement and student opportunities . We provide a comprehensive PK-12 educational program with instruction at all levels to meet the needs of all students regardless of their differences in abilities, interests, and learning styles. Our extensive co-curricular program enables our students to become well-rounded individuals.

Ashwaubenon is unique in the region for our world language program in which German and Spanish are offered to students from Grade 1 to Grade 12, and for being one of the first school districts to implement a community service graduation requirement.

As a district we are committed to:
providing the highest quality programs, services, and staff,
maintaining a healthy and safe learning environment,
serving as proactive agents of change,
being responsible stewards of district resources,
engaging our community in the educational process, and
monitoring and evaluating results for continuous improvement.

Payment Options & Account Balances

METHOD OF PAYMENT
We are pleased to offer parents several meal payment options:

  • Elementary children can turn payment envelopes in to their teachers or main office.
  • Secondary students can turn envelopes in to the cashiers.
  • Phone in credit card to the Business Office at 920.492.2905, Ext. 1006.
  • Automatically withdrawn electronically from checking account or credit card.
  • Manage your Meal Account (Wordware)  or  Pay Online (e-Funds).

You are in full control of your account. By providing your home and/or work email address, an email notification informing you of the student’s name, purpose of the payment, and amount will be sent to you each time that a payment is to be processed.

 

ACCOUNT BALANCES
If you would like an itemized statement of your account, or if you would like to know your account balance, call 920.492.2905, Ext. 1006 or view your account online. Do not wait for the phone notification system to contact you, but rather, deposit monthly amounts into your family’s account.

  • Account drops to $10 – a payment envelope will be sent home.
  • Account drops to $0 – your children will be restricted to reimbursable meal choices only.
  • Account balance drops to a negative $15 – the family account will be deactivated. K-8 students will be offered a sandwich and milk, at no expense. High school students will have to borrow from a friend or pay cash.

MEAL ACCOUNT BALANCES ONLINE & E-MAIL NOTIFICATIONS OF BALANCE
Go to: www.wordwareinc.com

  • Enter Username and Password
  • A statement of your account will appear.

If you wish to participate but have not received your Family Key Number, call 920.492.2905 Ext. 1006.

 

E~funds For Schools allows families several payment options. Meal payments can be automatically electronically withdrawn from your checking  account or charged to your credit card. You have the flexibility to pay at anytime through the school’s website. No payments will be allowed without your knowledge and authorization through this secure payment system.

The Cornell School District Launches Wordware’s New Nutrition Software LCS1000 Mayflower

The Cornell School District incorporated The Lunch Cashier System software by Wordware, Inc. for keeping track of the lunch program. The Cornell School District is excited to launch phase one of the new nutrition software.  The nutrition department has updated their systems to LCS1000 Mayflower by Wordware Inc.

LCS1000 Mayflower is a comprehensive, integrated food service management solution for K-12 School Districts. It provides all of the tools required to run a smooth and efficient food service operation. LCS1000 Mayflower is a suite of easy-to-use, highly-integrated software modules.

It may take a few weeks for everything to get up and running smoothly so we ask that students and parents are patient during this transition process. We are confident the new software will benefit the department and satisfy our customer needs and expectations.

What’s New?

The point of sale system has been implemented and features touch screen point of sale monitors that can display the students’ picture as the lunch card is scanned. This will allow for accurate identification of the customer.

The biggest change will be in how parents pay for lunches. Currently when parents deposit lunch money they then have to select where they want those credits to go between breakfast, lunch, or cash. At times this system has caused confusion for parents and they have accidently deposited money to the wrong option. With the new system, all money will be deposited into one account .

Wordware is continually developing their nutrition software to meet and exceed the needs and demands of our customers across multiple settings. Based on our customer needs and technology environments, we have created a fully web based program that will run on any HTML5 device and can be deployed as a fully cloud based solution or on an appliance. What does that mean to you? You can deploy our software any way you choose without a major investment in your infrastructure.

Wordware dedicated for providing best nutrition software to the schools for the health of students and to make worry free their parents.

When parents log into Lunch Cashier System they will deposit their student’s money into one account. This cash account will fund all lunch, breakfast or a la carte purchases. Parent username and passwords for Lunch Cashier System will not change.

Our Solutions

Family Based- Money deposited goes into a family account. This eliminates multiple entries and allows schools focus on the household.
Automated letter generation and reporting … built in timeline to streamline workflow … plus processing direct certification saves hours if not days of work. Particularly if there are multiple students in the same household (another benefit of a family based solution).

Wordware’s unique onscreen marking system keeps the student status anonymous to any onlooker while allowing the cafeteria staff to process the proper meal selection.

Because Wordware is web based and server based our networked LCS1000 keeps lines running fast regardless of internet speeds. Plus if the internet is down any data captured on the LCS1000 syncs to the cloud back up as soon as the connection is re-established. No data is lost.

Wordware provides robust reporting capabilities with on demand access to all the critical information staff and administration needs. Cash reporting … balances … student and family activity … meal detail etc. Just to name a few.

http://www.cornell.k12.wi.us/uploads/2011-12/Technology%20Plan%2012-15.doc

Technology solutions for the cafeteria and beyond..