c.2013 New York Times News Service

For all her talent and determination to help children eat better, Michelle Obama could still pick up a few pointers from Helen Butleroff-Leahy, a 66-year-old former Rockette turned registered dietitian.

£66 or $102.63.

Butleroff-Leahy devotes her time to teaching children in disadvantaged neighborhoods about eating healthfully and exercising regularly. Her lessons take the form of musical productions, rehearsed in classrooms and on the stages of 52 New York City public schools so far. Children from each school do gymnastics and dance to a rap-based script by Roumel Reaux that entertains while explaining the essentials of good nutrition. The 45-minute production by Butleroff-Leahy is called “My Plate: The New Food Guide Musical.”

Truth be told, Butleroff-Leahy’s lessons, both nutritional and dramatic, could benefit American children in every socioeconomic group, for none are immune to the foods laden with sugar, salt and calories that pervade our society, both within and outside schools. I had the opportunity to watch her in action last month at Public School 81 in Brooklyn, where enthusiastic 8-year-olds from four second-grade classes joined four professionals to proclaim the virtues of “eating for the health of it.”

Tramaine Montell Ford, a dancer who performed in the movie “Hairspray,” portrayed an angelic “bad habit breaker” intent on reforming two junk-food junkies. The actors demonstrated the stultifying effects of poor nutrition, followed by Ford’s energizing message:

You are what you eat.

You got the power, you got the might

To eat right and keep it light.

The action then focused on food groups that foster good health: grains (whole, please) for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks; vegetables (especially dark-green and orange) and fruits (all colors are nutritious and delicious) for myriad health essentials; protein (meats, beans and nuts) for the strength to get up and go; and dairy (light or skim) for strong bones.

To celebrate vegetables, for example, green-shirted youngsters danced to “Rock Around the Clock,” did cartwheels and jumping jacks and spun hula hoops, while other children in red and yellow shirts did break-dancing to Ford’s rap about 20 vegetables, which he called “one of nature’s greatest wonders.”

Butleroff-Leahy spends three hours a week for 10 weeks in each school, devoting half an hour in each of three classes to hands-on nutrition lessons and the remaining half-hour to learning and rehearsingach production, start to final applause, costs about $4,000.

Butleroff-Leahy she said she hoped to be able to bring her musical message about healthy eating and exercise to many more schools throughout the country.

Of course, hers is but one of many philanthropic projects, local and national, aimed at countering the often atrocious eating habits of children by arming them with the information and enthusiasm they need to make better food choices.

The Children’s Aid Society, for example, has a Go!Healthy initiative that sponsors an “Iron Go!Chef” competition to teach wellness with nutrition and healthy cooking programs for young

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But however hard schools may try, their efforts can be easily undermined by pervasive societal influences. For example, while Nickelodeon has made some improvements in the kinds of foods advertised during its television programs for children, a new analysis of food ads during 28 hours of programs by the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that “nearly 70 percent are for junk.”

“Nickelodeon congratulates itself for running the occasional public service announcement promoting physical activity, but for each of those messages it’s running 30 ads for junk food,” said Margo G. Wooten, the center’s director for nutrition policy.

The network has made improvements. In 2005, an analysis by the center found that 88 percent of food ads on Nickelodeon were for unhealthy foods, but a similar sampling in 2012 showed a decline to 69 percent, which may reflect growing pressure on the food industry to reduce marketing to children. Nickelodeon could take a lesson from junk-food-free Qubo, a block of programming for children on the ION Television network.

Or perhaps Nickelodeon’s advertising executives should sit in on one of Butleroff-Leahy’s school productions.