Matt Morgan is the foodservice director for the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Houston, which expects to enroll 98,000 students by the end of the school year. As the nation grapples with childhood obesity, school foodservice directors are on the front lines.

That led R&I to ask:

Q: What is proving to be students' hardest eating habit to change?

A: The most difficult eating habits to change are eating too much and making poor food choices. Students don't know what a portion size should be because many of them have grown up with the terms “super-size” or “value-added.” They think a hamburger should be a half-pound of beef, not just three ounces.

Many of them have never looked at how many calories they are actually consuming, so they are just unaware. Learning how many calories they need and getting those calories from nutrient-dense food sources is a challenge for the students and for the majority of the population.