Michelle Obama has really helped promote a new trend and a very healthy one,  fresh farm foods.

I know many schools are trying to incorporate fresh grown fruits and vegetables into their cafeteria program and their nutrition education programs.  I ran across this fairly new organization and wanted to share it with you.

Farm to School brings healthy food from local farms to school children nationwide. The program teaches students about the path from farm to fork, and instills healthy eating habits that can last a lifetime. At the same time, use of local produce in school meals and educational activities provides a new direct market for farmers in the area and mitigates environmental impacts of transporting food long distances.

They have created a network to help parents and teachers find this type of program into their local schools.   Meeting local farmers and learning about how foods are grown are all part of helping kids love nutrition!

Find a Farm to School Program by clicking on your state.

Related Resources- from our website Nourish Interactive:

Fruits and vegetables worksheets

Food pyramid food groups – fun coloring and learning sheets

Michelle Obama speaks out on the new initiative “Let’s Move”

Let’s Move will give parents the support they need, provide healthier food in schools, help our kids to be more physically active, and make healthy, affordable food available in every part of our country.

We support Michelle Obama and our President 100%.

Healthy Choice Resources

Fun Healthy Goals and Tracking sheets

Nutrition Games and Tools for Kids

Nutrition Tools for Parents

Nutrition Tools for Teachers

A very exciting and ambitious goal was set by President Obama this week.

President Obama has announced that a task force on Childhood Obesity has been created.

Spurred by the sad fact that:

• kids are predicted to have a shorter life span than their parents
• childhood obesity and the related diseases has tripled among children
• current strategies are not working

President Obama has made this one of his key missions:

TO FIGHT CHILDHOOD OBESITY

He is:

• redoubling the efforts to solve the problem
• he wants the problem solved within a generation!
• he wants a comprehensive plan delivered in 90 days!!

Wow, that is quite a hefty goal and schedule.  I applaud the fact that he is taking such a strong stand to address this serious issue head on.

I still don’t think most people/parents realize what this will mean to our children’s lives, health care system and economy if we don’t figure out how to stop this trend.

But under this new leadership, I am hopeful. I am excited and energized!  We can make a difference if we all make this a priority.

I wanted to share with you a recipe contest that is open to all  7 and 8th graders.

Our partner, Healthy Kids Challenge, is hosting a Stirring Up Health™ National Middle School Recipe Contest.

March 13, 2010         Entry deadline
April 9, 2010             Contest winners notified
May, 2010                Chef for a Day visit or prizes
June, 2010               Contest results posted on HKC Web site

To read more about the entry rules, click here.

Good luck and Happy Cooking!

The Children’s Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009 was introduced to Capitol Hill on December 16th.  This bill essentially would require all elementary schools to offer a salad bar as part of their lunch program.

Research has shown that having a variety of fruits and vegetables in the cafeteria significantly increases the amount of fruits and vegetables kids eat.

We also have learned that kids will be more apt to try new items when a variety of fruits and vegetables are offered.

This makes sense.  Kids, just like us, need variety and have personal likes and dislikes.  A salad bar would give them a nice array of choices to meet most kids preferences.  Getting kids to eat more fruits and vegetables is so important for a balanced and healthy diet.  Unfortunately, most kids don’t get the required amount of these foods which means their body is not getting the nutrition it needs to be healthy, fight diseases and build a strong immune system.

We know that schools across America are trying to find ways to offer better, healthier foods but are strapped by their current budget.  We need to step up and support them.  Kids are the future of our country.

The Child Reauthorization is happening in early 2010 and important decisions about funding, food quality and requirements will be decided.  You can make a difference by contacting your local congressperson.

Tell congress you want healthy school lunches for kids

More resources and information about this campaign.

Other resources for creating a healthy lunch for your child

Get the kids involved in easy and fun “back to school healthy lunch food” ideas

Put a smile on your child’s face at lunchtime with fun printable healthy lunch cards

Tips on handling the picky eater’s school lunch- healthy school lunch foods for kids

Simple solution to get kids eating their school lunch.

Back to school – help kids make healthy food choices in the school cafeteria

Are we surprised by the latest report indicating that the food and beverage industry has failed to live up their commitment to change their marketing practices to children? I have to say, I am not.

The US Council of Better Business Bureaus initiated a voluntary, self regulatory program three years ago. The goal of the initiative was to really improve the nutrition of foods and drinks that were advertised to children. This was initiated after numerous studies showed how much money and how many marketing ads were being shown to young children that promoted unhealthy, high sugar and/or high fat foods. Combine that heavy messaging with the time kids spent on TV and it’s no wonder that kids know popular fast foods and junk foods before they can even talk!

The initiative called “Better-for-You” was implemented to try to fight childhood obesity. We know that childhood obesity will not be solved by one initiative but changing the junk food and fast food marketing tactics to kids is certainly one important step. Kids are influenced by their clever marketing and they put a lot of money behind it to make it fun and engaging to children!

The fact that the participation was voluntary and they were agreeing to “watch” themselves says a lot about how strongly we were willing to take a stand against unhealthy food advertisements to kids. This may surprise you, but many other countries already have strict regulations in place that ban unhealthy food advertising to kids – it’s the law!

Here is what the report found:

• nearly three out of four (72.5%) of the foods advertised on television to children are for products in the poorest nutritional category
• Commercials for healthy foods like fruits and vegetables accounted for only 1% of all food advertising to children
• Nearly half of all food ads that used popular children’s characters (49%) promoted foods of the poorest nutritional quality

The honor system doesn’t seem to work well for corporations when it conflicts with their pocketbook. We have to really question the viability of this current initiative and if self regulation is really the answer to addressing this part of the problem.

One thing we can do at home is make nutrition and healthy foods fun. Let kids learn about nutrition in a way that is engaging and meaningful to them. We have to fight the junk food FUN with our NUTRITION FUN! We can’t wait for congress to pass a law, our kids are growing now and learning their eating habits and food associations now.

We, here at Nourish Interactive, will continue to find new creative ways to help you bring nutrition into your home in a fun way. We have games, colorful nutrition tools and free print material that are all designed to help parents and teachers make nutrition fun. We have to be our own marketing campaign “Eating healthy is fun.”

Resources for teaching kids about healthy nutrition from our website:

Fun nutrition story page – nutrition stories for kids

Kids’ healthy nutrition games – fun educational games teaching kids about healthy habits and the food pyramid

Fun nutrition tools – interactive learning tools for children

Parents nutrition tools and tips – healthy tips calendar, meal planners, bmi calculator, recipes and more!

Nutrition tools for teachers – free nutrition games for classrooms, food pyramid printables, worksheets, and nutrition lesson plans.

It is surprising to read that 24.4% of children ages 2 – 5 years old are either overweight or obese.  That means that 1 out of every 4 preschooler is overweight/obese.   I know that I am always talking about the family setting and what can be done to help kids be more active and eat healthier.  But when I read that near.y 74% of children 3-6 are in some form of childcare setting away from home, that got me thinking.

These childcare settings also have a great influence on the eating and activity habits of these children.  Just think how many children are eating one or two of their main meals away from home.  I found that each state has regulations that help child care facilities and preschools promote kids’ health and prevent childhood obesity.

The Robert Woods Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating childhood obesity, has just released a report about how well each these child care facilities are doing at meeting these regulations.  Read the whole report:  Preventing Obesity In The Child Care Setting, Evaluating State Regulations.

According the report, here are the grades that each state received based on how well they met state regulations on healthy eating and physical activity.

Read the report about your particular state.

In my last blog, I shared with you some interesting information about the current school meal programs that are serving millions of kids across America.

Here is an opportunity to take a few minutes and write your congressman about the Child Nutrition Act which affects the nutrition requirements for kids’ school meal.

Nourish Interactive has become partners with Slow Food USA and their movement to get congress to make a difference in the quality and nutrition of our children’s school meals. Congress will be acting on this bill early next year so there is still time to write.

Slow Food USA has a School Lunch Fact Sheet you can read.

There are simple ways to get involved that only take a few minutes of your time:

You can sign this petition online (simple and quick)

You can write a letter to your congressman (writing resources to make it easy for you to write – with a short sample letter)

In fact, they have resources to help kids write letters too!

Congress needs to hear from each one of us that we want healthy foods for our kids! Each letter can make a difference. Don’t forget, congress will be voting on this early next year!

More resources and information about this campaign.

Other resources for creating a healthy lunch for your child

Get the kids involved in easy and fun “back to school healthy lunch food” ideas

Put a smile on your child’s face at lunchtime with fun printable healthy lunch cards

Tips on handling the picky eater’s school lunch- healthy school lunch foods for kids

Simple solution to get kids eating their school lunch.

Back to school – help kids make healthy food choices in the school cafeteria

Get the kids involved in easy and fun “back to school healthy lunch food” ideas

Put a smile on your child’s face at lunchtime with fun printable healthy lunch cards

Tips on handling the picky eater’s school lunch- healthy school lunch foods for kids

Simple solution to get kids eating their school lunch.

Back to school – help kids make healthy food choices in the school cafeteria

The National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program affect the nutrition of millions of children across America by providing low cost or free lunches during school time. You might be surprised to know that in 2007, these national programs provided lunch to more than 30.5 million children and breakfast to 10.1 million children.

There has been a lot of discussion, debate and controversy over the nutrition of those meals. The school meals currently are required to meet the guidelines set in 1995. That is almost 15 years old!

The Institute of Medicine convened a committee to provide recommendations to revise standards and requirements so that school meals are more healthful.

In its 2009 report School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children, the committee made the following recommendations to the USDA which included:

• Increasing the amount and variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
• Setting a minimum and maximum level of calories
• Focusing more on reducing saturated fat and sodium

Here is a comparison of the current requirements and the recommendations:

This is so important because you can see how many kids rely on these meals as one or two of the main meals for the day.

Click here to read the full school nutrition report.

What do you think about school nutrition and the new study? Share your opinion by leaving a comment about school nutrition policy and your ideas for healthier school food for kids!

If you make your own lunches at home, here are some resources from our website to help you pack a healthy lunch for school:

Healthy lunch ideas pdf

Helping your child to choose healthier cafeteria foods

Healthy lunch box notes for kids! Fun printable eating healthy reminders!

I wanted to share with you a chance to have some fun, promote healthy snacks for kids AND support the World Wildlife Fund this Halloween.

Hershey’s and Organic Valley want to spread the word about milk in single serve, shelf stable cartons, and encourage moms to hand these out as Halloween treats.  To help spread the work they have created a special campaign on  Facebook and Twitter .  On the Facebook and Twitter, you can choose whether your friends deserve to receive a treat or a trick – each and every one you send is a 10 cents donation to World Wildlife Fund. And on the Web, you can upload head shots of yourself and your friends, only to have them appear atop the dancing bodies of monsters, ready to trick or treat at your friends’ doors.

You can also get free coupons for chocolate milk (packed with calcium that kids need for bones and teeth)!

The World Wildlife Fund is a nonprofit organization that protects our wildlife.   Their mission is the conservation of nature.

For more than 45 years, WWF has been protecting the future of nature. The world’s leading conservation organization, WWF works in 100 countries and is supported by 1.2 million members in the United States and close to 5 million globally. WWF’s unique way of working combines global reach with a foundation in science, involves action at every level from local to global, and ensures the delivery of innovative solutions that meet the needs of both people and nature.