'Biggest Loser' Runner-Up Tara Costa Wants NYC Students To Eat 'Breakfast in the Classroom'

Tara Costa, runner-up to last season's Biggest Loserstopped by to deliver breakfast to the anchors on set as part of a Breakfast in the Classroom initiative with NYC Public Schools and the American Dairy Council. She will also share quick fitness tips that have helped her keep off the pounds.

It’s National School Breakfast Week and 100 principals throughout the City have gotten breakfast delivered courtesy of the American Dairy Association & Dairy Council, Inc. to show just how easy it is to start the day with a healthy and nutritious meal when it is delivered right to your desk – a benefit all NYC public school students could soon be enjoying!

Breakfast in the Classroom is a new food service program being offered in New York City public schools that delivers breakfast right to the desk of students in their homeroom class ensuring that they start the day with a healthy and nutritious meal. Although breakfast is offered before school in the cafeteria, the program is underutilized as many kids can’t get to school early. The goal of the 100 breakfast deliveries to principals is to encourage them to adopt the Breakfast in the Classroom program at their school and thus increase the number of students who start the day with breakfast so they are better prepared for the academic day ahead.

Without breakfast, children have little chance of consuming the 40-plus key nutrients needed for healthy growth and development. Hungry children simply cannot focus on learning. By bringing breakfast into the classroom, students receive the absolute best chance to achieve better nutrition, and better learning.

The numerous benefits of serving Breakfast in the Classroom include:
• Ensures highest levels of breakfast participation
• Reduces incidence of tardiness, nurse visits and absenteeism
• Increases students’ attention span and ability to learn
• Enhances nutrition, which has been shown to result in better concentration, clearer
thinking and higher standardized test scores
• Works as an effective tool in the fight against childhood obesity
• Can be flexibly scheduled during reading time, attendance time or however it best fits
with each teacher’s morning routine
• Students enjoy the experience of eating breakfast at their desks
• After eating together as a group, students are ready to learn together as well
• Easy execution for teachers and school administrators alike
• Various School Food Breakfast in the Classroom models to choose from