There is lots of talk this month about the accuracy of BMI calculations and kids.

A new study published in Pediatrics is suggesting that measuring a child’s neck circumference could be a better tool for quickly assessing children’s potential weight status.   After evaluating 1102 children, this study indicated that neck circumference correlated with age, BMI and waist circumference.

• Optimal Neck Circumference cutoff indicative of high BMI in boys ranged from 28.5 to 39.0 cm.
• Corresponding values in girls ranged from 27.0 to 34.6 cm.

We will have to keep our eye on this potential tool.

BMI has always had the limitation of not being able to differentiate between fat and muscle.  Because children are growing and height can be different for the same age children, that has to be accounted for when determining BMI significance.  This is why, kids have their BMI calculated and placed on a growth chart so it determines how their BMI score compares with other children of their age and provides a percentile.  Kids with a BMI percentile of greater than 85% (meaning their weight on the growth chart is higher than 85% of the kids their age in America) are considered overweight.

But once again, this is a tool, a guide but not definitive.  I think it is good that researchers are still evaluating other possible tools that may be easier and more accurate in helping determining children at risk.

I think what is most important is

how healthy is your child’s diet

• are they getting enough fruits and vegetables and fiber to help them develop properly and build strong immune systems
• are they limiting or avoiding processed foods that can be loaded with chemicals that may affect their brain and personality
• are they active every day

Being healthy is not only dependent upon weight.

Read more information on BMI

Use our BMI percentile tool and calculate your child’s score

I’m Maggie LaBarbera, RN founder of Nourish Interactive- The Fun Way to Learn About Nutrition. I am excited to announce that four of my games are finalists in Apps for Healthy Kids Contest, sponsored by the “Let’s Move” Campaign.The Let’s Move Campaign is lead by our First Lady, Michelle Obama with a mission to fight childhood obesity.

The public is encouraged to vote for their favorite games which will determine the winner of the Popular Award. Popular Choice is where you come in! You can support our free healthy nutrition games by voting for the 4 games

Update- Vote soon the contest ends August 14th! Chef Solus’ Food Pyramid Adventure Game has the best chance, of the four games we have in the finals, of winning- you can help by going directly to this link:

Chef Solus’ on Apps for Healthy Kids to vote for this one game!
It take about 3 minutes.

We are so proud to be part of this contest and join other game developers in finding fun and creative solutions for kids. This recognition would really go a long way in helping us to reach more children and produce more free games and tools in English and Spanish! And that is what we want to do but need your help.

Large international gaming companies, hospitals, and universities have games in finals, they have access to a huge network of employees and associates to get support from for votes. We are a small California start-up made up of moms who are RNs and RDs and we can’t win without your support!

About Apps for Healthy Kids Challenge
Michelle Obama is looking for innovative ways to reach out to children and help them learn the importance of healthy eating and being active.  She launched this contest to challenge the nation to come up with creative tools and games that are fun and would engage children all the while promoting healthy choices.  Once again, the Obamas are seeing the value of technology and the importance of FUN when reaching out to children.

Well, FUN and healthy choices and games!  Yes, that is exactly what Nourish Interactive is all about.  Helping kids be healthier through early and FUN online games and tools.  So we were very excited about this challenge and more excited that our games have been been accepted into the contest!

We hope you choose to vote for us, you can vote for 1 game or all 4 games that we have in the contest.

Register HERE- Let’s Move Apps for Healthy Kids

Each link below will bring you to the contest page where you can try the game and vote!

Chef Solus and the Food Pyramid Adventure The food pyramid comes to life as kids travel through each slice and learn about the food groups in this fun adventure game

Healthy Harvest Maze kids learn about fruits and vegetables as they travel through a farm maze and harvest fruits and vegetables

Ride the Food Label kids learn how to read a food label and take a little virtual quiz

Kevin’s Build a Meal kids create a customize meal based on the USDA guidelines as they enter a virtual kitchen, school cafeteria and grocery store

Please check out our games and vote- we really appreciate your vote!

You can help spread the word and show support for our games by placing this banner on your webpage, blog, facebook, myspace, twitter! Please help us spread the word and to show your support copy and paste code:

<a href=”http://nourishinteractive.com/healthy-kids-games-contest” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://nourishinteractive.com/images/nutrition-games/Badge-childhood-obesity-apps-forhealthykids-contest.gif” /></a>

Thank you so much for your continued support!

About our Website and Games

Maggie LaBarbera, RN

We are a based company that is dedicated to supporting parents by providing them with useful information to help them improve their families health and nutrition and are devoted to educating children about the importance of nutrition and exercise.  We have over 37,000 members and 4000+ organizations that use our FREE website and educational games to help teach children and families about the importance of healthy eating and daily exercise!

We believe in the power of prevention and that starts by investing in our children’s health today. We acknowledge and support the key roles of both the parents and the health educators. All games are available in English or Spanish and the kids’ pages and games are completely ad- free. Read more about the Nourish Interactive and it’s mission.

Sincerely,

Maggie LaBarbera and The Nourish Interactive Team

( Moms, RNs and Registered Dietitians who believe all children should have access to quality early nutrition education. We hope you visit our website it’s fun and free!)

Related Resources:

See all of our free nutrition games and read about the nutrition concepts they teach- We have over 20 interactive nutrition education games for kids!

Nutrition Tools for Teaching-  online tools, lesson plans and printable healthy tips for schools,  youth centers, community websites

For Parents Healthy family tips sheets, mini wellness articles with kid-friendly tips, and more!

You may be interested in our visitor and member comments

See our showcase of organizations, schools, cities, websites and bloggers who share our free games with their communities

Sign up for free membership

Contest Information

Read more about our submission

Read the rules for contest

Contest Prizes and Judging

The “Let’s Move” campaign, lead by Michelle Obama, has incorporated the Healthier US School challenge into her campaign.   As part of her goal to raise a healthier generation of kids, there are monetary incentive awards for schools that are focusing on healthier alternatives as part of their lunch program.

Currently 732 schools from 32 states have recognition and an award for their work.  Her goal is to have 1250 schools receive an award by June 2011.

Learn more how your school can participate and be recognized for helping kids be healthier

Awards include

• Bronze – $500
• Silver- $1000
• Gold- $1500
• Gold Award of Distinction- $2000

We are very proud to announce that the American Library Association (ALA) has just notified Nourish Interactive that we have received the Seal “Greatest Websites for Kids”.   Our website will be added to the Association for Library Service to Children website directory of “Greatest Websites for Kids”.

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the ALA,  is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children.  Their selection critieria for determining a great site for kids includes:

• Authorship/Sponsorship: Who Put up the Site?
• Purpose: Every Site Has a Reason for Being There.
• Design and Stability: A Great Site Has Personality and Strength of Character.
• Content: A Great Site Shares Meaningful and Useful Content that Educates, Informs, or Entertains.

Look for the the formal announcement by the ALA in June.  We will update this blog with a link to the press release.

Nourish Interactive’s Website offers a free membership to play it’s featured game ” Chef Solus and The Food Pyramid Adventure” a 7 level interactive flash game for elementary school children, with printable certificates of achievement for each level completed and progress reports for parents and teachers.

The website is offered in English or Spanish and has areas designed for parents, educators & kids:
Parents - Nutrition articles, healthy family tips sheets, interactive wellness tools       

Teachers -Free health and nutrition lesson plans, online educational games, worksheets and a variety of learning tools for teachers, health care providers and communities

Kids -Fun games and stories that teach kids about nutrition and promote healthy eating habits. Interactive games help children learn about the USDA Food Pyramid, The Food Groups, Balanced Meals and more

The Fun Way to Learn About Nutrition!

Michelle Obama is taking a front seat in the fight against childhood obesity.  She reminds us that today, one-third of all American children are overweight or obese. The rate is even higher among African Americans, and one-half of all minority children born in 2000 or later can expect to develop early-onset diabetes.

A new website Let’s Move.gov was launched to reach out to individuals, teachers, parents, leaders and anyone that wants to join the fight against childhood obesity.

We are proud to say that Nourish Interactive has joined Michelle Obama and the Let’s Move Organization to help kids eat healthier and be more active.  It is going to take “a village”!

Let’s Move will:

• give parents the support they need
• provide healthier food in schools
• help our kids to be more physically active
• make healthy, affordable food available in every part of our country

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 attended the Network for a Healthy California earlier this week in Sacramento, CA.  This meeting was attended by predominantly schools from around California who are providing innovative ways to promote nutrition to children.  I think what really impressed me is their commitment to making nutrition education part of their curriculum.  With all the budget deficits, cuts to program funds and to teachers, they continue to work together and share ideas and resources so children can learn the importance of healthy living.

Their studies are showing that teaching children about fruits and vegetables and healthy choices is making a difference.  It was exciting to see such a positive impact and very motivating to keep doing the work we do here at NourishInteractive.com to support them.

I was happy to be able to attend and share with them our free nutrition tools and games.  Schools are actively looking for resources to help them bring nutrition and exercise into the schools despite limited funding.  So please, take the time to pass on our website to your child’s school.  We are here to help them and rely on word of mouth to spread our resources.

You can print out this flyer and drop off to your child’s teacher or principal.

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.

The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) has developed a one day course to train nurses in the assessment for childhood obesity and to provide them with tools for school nurses to use to assist students, families and the school community to address obesity.

The name of this program is S.C.O.P.E. which stands for “School Nurse Childhood Obesity Prevention Education.”

As a nurse, I know that School Nurses have been spread too thin to be able to do the type of community and outreach programs that are necessary to help families. I am glad to hear that the NASN is taking an active role in helping School Nurses take a leadership role in addressing this issue through the school system.

Check with your child’s school to find it if their School Nurse is participating in this very important program.
Share your thoughts and ideas for effective childhood obesity prevention strategies.

Resources from Nourish Interactive:

Find out your child’s BMI score- online bmi calculator

Learn more about children’s BMI score

Nutrition education tools and resources for schools

Why pledge to go meatless one day a week.

Our friends at Meatless Monday reminds us that it is more than just our own personal health. It also saves our environment. You may not realize this but the livestock that provides meat for us to eat is responsible for an estimated 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions. (Read the UN Livestock report)

You might be shocked by what would change if we all went meatless just one day a week. Take 5 minutes and see for yourself how doing one simple act can have a huge impact on your health, your child’s health and our planet’s health. Just one day!