The study assessed the profile and nutritional status of high school students, and the macro nutrient composition of the cafeteria menu to develop a cafeteria nutrition guide to influence students in consuming proper and adequate food intake.

Employing a descriptive-survey-interview research, a total of 1,117 high school students (M: 424. F:693) participated in the assessment of their nutritional status and evaluation of the cafeteria menu offerings. A total of 138 food items were analyzed for macro nutrient composition and classified into nutrition-risk categories. A Cafeteria Nutrition Guide (CNG) was developed and pretested to evaluate its Acceptability, Comprehensiveness, Persuasiveness, Relevance, and Usefulness. Frequency, Percentage, and Mean were used to analyze the data.

The study determined that 7 out of 10 students are normal in terms of their Body Mass Index (BMI). However, 2-3 out of 10 students are overweight or obese and at least 1 out of 10 students is classified as Thin or severely underweight. In terms of food quality, the school cafeteria offers 32 Code Green Foods, which are balanced in terms of macro nutrient component, 87 Code Yellow Foods, which are moderately acceptable as adequate and 19 Code Red Foods, which are high in salt, fat, or sugar. The developed Cafeteria Nutrition Guide shows high Acceptability, Comprehensiveness, Persuasiveness, Relevance, and Usefulness rate. The overall impression of the respondents remained high reflecting the CNGs intervening use to normalize the nutritional status of the students.

The Cafeteria Nutrition Guide serves as a means of transcending the message of moderate, balanced, and varied food consumption. The CNG imposes food items that must be taken in limited portions enabling the students to deviate to proper and healthy food choices to compensate the nutrition needs for their age group. The CNG serves as a secondary intervention to address both under and over nutrition.