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Sheryl: How did nutritional advocacy become your
life's work?

Dr. Butler: I almost lost my life to a stroke 13 years ago. It
was that near death experience that changed the direction of
my life. At that time, I went from the misery and depression of
fighting a battle that 60 million Americans are currently engaged
in and the diseases that come with it, to the opportunity to fight
my way back with the support of a 12 step program and by doing
the proper research to become educated on the importance of
a healthy diet and physical fitness. I then learned, that when we
do not consume the right amount of calories and the nutrition
that we need to fuel our bodies, along with the fitness and
exercise necessary to burn off the extra calories, the combination,
becomes a ticking bomb which was the ultimate wake up call for
Yvonne Butler. It was after finding my way back and changing
my personal lifestyle, while I was in the school house with the
children and seeing the many challenges that they too were
facing, that I came to the realization that this would become
an epidemic, and decided to do something about it.

Sheryl: Do you anticipate the Healthy Kids Smart Kids program being adopted by schools nationwide?

Dr. Butler: Well, we have already replicated the program in 19
schools in the Fulton County (GA) area impacting 20 thousand
students and their families in those communities.
So as were a decade ago, when I was in Browns Mill Elementary School in Lithonia (GA) and we hadn't replicated it in the system
to see if it was sustainable or if it would have the same impact,
what I can tell you today, is that it's having great success and
that the model works.

I also know that the recent launch of First Lady Michelle Obama's “Let's Move” initiative has the potential for great success.
We now have a great opportunity to change things, because of
the executive order put in place by our President reaches
across the isles and includes at least 5 to 6 governmental
agencies such as USDA, HHF, the Secretary of Education Arne
Duncan and others who can make a real difference. However,
for this to work, we also need individuals at the school level who know what goes on in the schools and understand how the kids should be trained. So I truly believe that we have to work together to make this happen and without a doubt, I am a big champion for all of this.

Sheryl: Could the lessons of Healthy Kids Smart Kids
be the answer to the special education sector of the
public schools system?

Dr. Butler: Oh God yes!, You know, I had the opportunity to run
two schools for 10 years—one for high achievers—the brightest
of kids, and another regular ED which had several special needs
classes, some with behavior disorders, and others with children
who were mildly mentally handicap. At that time, we had a real
mixture of kids who were mainstreamed into different classes,
and there wasn't this big separation, no matter what the
challenge was. Many of these children, were on medications for
behavioral and attention deficit disorders, and what I would tell
their parents, was that even if they stopped asking the doctor
for medicine for ADD, but the child was still getting sugar
and everything that would take out the vitamins and minerals
necessary help the brain focus, taking away the medication
would be useless. Another problem was the lack of exercise.
We never intended to take PE out of the schools but with all the
worry about test scores (around the country), the children were
kept indoors to keep working. Under my program, we started
the day with some physical movement which provided oxygen
to the brain, and helped the kids get all the jitters out, so that
they could focus. It's a sad fact that as we speak, most of our
children and people around America are on more medication than
ever before for conditions such as depression and hypertension,
which is crazy. We need to understand that if we don't gain control of our children's diets, and put physical activity back into their lives--this will become the first generation of children to die before their parents.

Sheryl: As part of your program, what tools are the children given to continue making healthy eating
choices at home?

Dr. Butler: First, we educated our children on the whole concept
of good nutrition--which became part of their academic rigor (even
in math, and reading). I knew that I had to make the program into something that got into their brains—and that was healthy and
appealing to make the kids buy into it. These days it's the kids
who run households. It's the kids who make recording artist
and entertainers millionaires. So I knew that I had to empower
my kids to understand that if they ate their fruits and vegetables and if they could actually be part of growing these foods
and making the connections between nutrition and a healthy
eyesight, not getting diabetes or other diseases--then they could become like their favorite artist or athlete, or they could
look like the people doing these amazing things as entertainers. Kids now want to be like the next reality show star, they want
to be on American Idol, but don't have a clue as to how much it
takes to get there, so we had to make the connections for them.

You also have to tie it to the home. We gave them homework
assignments where they got so many points for certain classes,
like joining the cooking club or for going to the park and getting
their parents to go with them, or just taking part in preparing
a meal! Those were some of the things that we trained our
children to do everyday. You know, If you make children part of
fixing a problem, and they become involved in finding a solution
to it, they are harder on themselves than any adult could ever
be. What we saw within 6 months of implementing “Healthy kids,
Smart kids” was a decline in discipline referrals—a drop of 23%
within the first 6 months! Counseling referrals that dropped 30%
within a year of implementing the program. Instead of having
2 cabinets filled with children's medications (prescribed by their
doctors), we ended up with only two containers of medication.
And the 300 files of children who were excused from physical
activity by their doctor's, had now become only 2 to 3 children
with physical disabilities, who were now participating in some
form of physical education.

Also in answer to my quest for solutions I developed tool kits,
because at the time I needed certain resources that were
nonexistent. One of the things that I developed was a morning
school dance to get their hearts pumping. Every morning, kids,
teachers and everyone else in the building would work out for
the first 3 to 5 minutes of the school morning by dancing to Stevie
Wonder, Mary J Blige or by doing some line dancing. In this way,
by all of us doing the same thing at the same time whether by
moving or just being silly, it showed the kids that even at 50 we
could still relate to them in a real way. For the teachers we
created worksheets, awards and video that explained everything
they ought to do. And if that was not enough I commissioned
my band teacher to write songs and music, that the kids
participated in, which we then turned into a CD.

Sheryl: What can parents do to get their school involved
in providing healthier eating alternatives for the students?

Dr. Butler: One thing I believe that parents need to do sooner
than later, is to make contact with their school systems, their
senators and their congress people on the state and local level.
We at the school house need to be part of the planning phase,
because within the next 90 days they will be evaluating every
program that's out there, to see what works or doesn't work
and we have to get models on the table to be looked at and
evaluated. I really believe that the people who live and work
in these environments have good input and have programs
that work. There are many foundations, and companies out
there that can help with capacity building or whatever the
joint relationship is but parents need to be vocal sooner than
later because once there's a plan put in place is to late pretty
much to go back.

Sheryl: What is your source of inspiration?

Dr. Butler: Well Sheryl, each day that I get up and I can breath
and I don't have a shortness of breath, or I am not depressed and
I know that I am making a difference and people are hearing me,
I am renewed and energized. So when I see Yvonne Butler doing
an interview with Tavis Smiley or cooking with Martha Stewart,
going to a day care center and playing and talking with the kids
or sitting on The Robert Wood Johnson committee for the ”Healthy
Kids, Healthy Communities” to influence them—I am renewed.

To learn more be sure to visit: Healthy Kids Smart Kids