Alumna, mother works for healthy tummies

Problem: Getting children to eat healthy, especially when parents have little time to no time in the morning. Handing children $5 for lunch is a convenient alternative to the traditional brown bag.

Solution: Wholesome Tummies, a fresh and all-natural school lunch provider, co-founded by UCF alumna Samantha Gotlib.

Gotlib owned a marketing and promotional products' firm since her time at UCF.

"I loved it, but my passion once I had children was food and nutrition," Gotlib said. "I had twins, and I knew as soon as they were born that I was going to make their food from scratch."

Debbie Blacher, Wholesome Tummies co-founder, is Gotlib's neighbor and business partner. They discovered their shared interest in children's nutrition and decided to take school lunch into their own hands.

"Our kids attended preschools that only offered pizza, and it occurred to us that there is nothing healthy for lunch," Gotlib said. "We both wanted the best quality foods for our children and began to discuss business opportunities. We were busy and wanted flexibility, but I wasn't going to give my kids pizza three days a week."

Wholesome Tummies' recipes go through a trial process, ensuring students are eating the best quality meals.

"We'll conceive the recipes and then send it off to the nutritionist," Ren Acosta, Wholesome Tummies Orlando area manager, said. "[Sherri] will give us the guidelines we need. Then I input them into a system where all kitchens can access the recipes."

Sherri Flynt, co-author of Supersized Kids: How to Rescue Your Child from the Obesity Threat and head of Florida's Hospital Center for Nutritional Excellence, is Wholesome Tummies' nutritionist. She offers advice about healthy meals, such as what portion sizes should be for the different age groups.

"[Nutritional guidelines] can change from different places," Flynt said. "So I looked at different pediatric groups and organizations, such as MyPyramid.gov and American Academy of Pediatrics."

Acosta makes sure meals meet recommendations, that they are tasty and within budget. Children have a chance to input their thoughts, too.

"We ask the students pretty much every day: did you enjoy what you had today?" Acosta said. "As best we can, we take their suggestions, but they usually ask for pancakes."

Gotlib said that America needs a wake-up call as a country.

"We're a culture that likes to indulge ourselves. Whether it's Halloween, Thanksgiving or after soccer practice, kids are bombarded with snacks, treats and sugars," she said. "If it was isolated – if it was just one kid's birthday, that's one thing, but they're becoming a culture that needs to eat sweets."

Flynt said kids may eat up to five meals a day at school, and school districts are working hard to improve school lunch – Wholesome Tummies is one solution.

"Kids need to try new foods. They need to have a wide palette of choices," Flynt said. "Children really need to try food 10 to 12 times before they know if they like it, and parents need to keep offering those healthy choices."

Wholesome Tummies features portion-controlled lunches.

"We're not a weight loss company," Gotlib said. "Kids are going to want their treats and that's fine once in a while. It's Halloween, so we have chocolate pudding out there. It's a better alternative because it is portion-sized and [served] in moderation."

Acosta said it's important to realize you can maintain quality and still get all the experiences you had from unhealthy choices – just without sacrificing your health.

"You don't have to sacrifice flavor and pleasure in order to eat healthy. That's one of the main motivators behind recipe design – we're trying to takes things that are easily recognizable to people while keeping it whole with real food and no preservatives," he said.

Switching to Wholesome Tummies made a difference in one child's health.

"Late last year, I received a testimonial from a parent whose child had been a little overweight. She said that since starting with Wholesome Tummies four months earlier, their child had lost five pounds," Gotlib said. "That was the only change they made. [To hear that] was really rewarding."