December 26, 2003

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Palo Alto Online

Column gives parents something to chew on

by Rachel Metz

For Anne Milliken, Red Vines and lollipops aren't just sticky sweets -- they're inspirational.

When Milliken, a licensed dietician and an El Carmelo Elementary School parent, saw her daughter leaving her kindergarten and first-grade classes with these teacher-distributed candies dangling from her mouth, she started talking to other parents. They agreed that while their kids are being taught proper dietary guidelines at school they're not learning to practice what is preached.

"The children are learning to pay lip service to health," Milliken said.

Milliken sought to change dietary habits at home, so she and Dr. Maggi Smeal started writing health articles for El Carmelo's newsletter, the Carmeletter. The articles are geared toward educating not only kids, but parents, in an effort to hammer home messages about healthy eating.

Columns include tips for parents on healthy after-school snacks and ways to improve kids' lunches by doing things like adding fruits and vegetables or replacing chips with crackers, pretzels or Japanese rice crackers. Ideas for articles come from personal experience and some emerge from what she sees on the American Dietetics Association's Web site, she said.

"I spend a lot of time thinking about what to focus on. I need to keep it short, so I need to focus on certain specifics that will get the message across as quickly as possible," Milliken said.

Apparently her work has struck a chord -- the articles have appeared in several other district school newsletters, including Palo Alto High School's Paly Reporter and Juana Briones' Briones Banner.

So far she's received positive feedback from people who have succeeded with her suggestions.

"(Parents are) realizing that they need to follow through. They can learn about healthy lifestyle and nutrition but it's not going to do them any good unless they follow through, and that's what they're doing," Milliken said.

In one column Milliken included links to Chex cereal recipes on the Internet. Two days later the mixes turned up at a holiday party she attended.

"It sort of surprised me that people are reading and following through," Milliken said.

Smeal agreed.

"They seem to be very eager to learn and find out about better ways to feed their kids," she said.

Rosemary Gill, the El Carmelo parent who made the Chex mix, thinks the articles are helpful in giving people specific suggestions for feeding their kids healthy foods.

While childhood obesity may not be an epidemic in Palo Alto, it's still a problem, Gill said.

"I think Anne's suggestions are a concrete way to try to address that on a small scale," she said.

El Carmelo Principal Lupe García said he's had discussions with teachers about not using sweets as the only reward for students.

"They're sensitive to that. I feel they are anyway," he said.

For García, healthy eating is about balance.

"I think it's critical that we provide children nutritious meals and sometimes we don't think about the alternatives, and I think that's one of the things Anne does. But I think providing sweets also has its place in a diet," he said.

The only negative comments Milliken's heard were from someone who read her article in the Paly Reporter and thought it was geared toward too young an audience.

Milliken's working to make the articles appeal to a broader age range and plans to start including some recipes -- perhaps some that older kids can make themselves.

While she may be helping some families' food choices, for Milliken, who stopped working at Stanford in 2002 to be a stay-at-home mom, it's also a fun way to keep her foot in the door with dietetics.

"Working in the hospital I would see somebody just once and they'd be out the door. I'd never see them again for follow-up or feedback, so it's nice to do (these articles) where I do get feedback and see some results," she said.

Rachel Metz can be e-mailed at rmetz@paweekly.com

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