“Eat ’Em Like Junk Food” is a new advertising campaign focused on getting consumers excited about eating baby carrots. They will be available for purchase in colorful potato chip–like bags, playing to holiday and advertising themes. While the goal is to increase sales of baby carrots, and to differentiate carrots from the rest of the vegetable choices, this campaign could not be timelier. Nearly one American child in three is overweight or obese.
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The resulting increase in diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and depression comes at the steep cost of $150 billion per year.
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To help mitigate this trend, there are a number of organizations and resources available that are committed to reversing this complex nationwide epidemic.
Action for Healthy Kids®
Action for Healthy Kids is the nation's leading nonprofit and largest volunteer network fighting childhood obesity and undernourishment.
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Grounded in the belief that schools play a vital role in creating and modeling healthy lifestyle behaviors, this organization focuses on ways to assist schools in making wellness a priority.
www.actionforhealthykids.org
Students Taking Charge
A prominent member of the Action for Healthy Kids family is Students Taking Charge (STC). The goal of this organization is to create an environment that encourages students to develop opportunities to incorporate, and then take ownership of incorporating, healthy food choices and positive lifestyle behaviors into their daily routines at school. STC taps into the passion student advocates have for healthy living and channels this energy into revitalizing and inspiring the student population. To begin the dialogue around changes that must take place, students identify a mentor, usually a faculty member or principal, to help guide them in assessing what is currently taking place. This is accomplished through assemblies, focus groups, hallway chats, interviews, and surveys. The student-identified issues gathered during these conversations are the foundation on which the change process begins. The STC website provides detailed steps on how to bring this program into a school. There is information on developing faculty and administrative mentors, overcoming barriers, facilitating brainstorming sessions, and succeeding with limited (or no) resources. Students will find fact sheets; action plans; communication, nutrition, and physical activity templates; blogs; photographs; downloads; and examples of current projects. An interactive map identifies STC schools and activities that promote their mission. Examples of what can be found include organic gardening, participating in nutrition fairs, introducing noncompetitive activities such as yoga and dance, using pedometers to achieve 10,000 steps a day, increasing healthy food selections at lunch, extending physical education classes, and having high school students mentor elementary school students. There is even a “Steal These Ideas” section that encourages the sharing of strategies, ideas, and successes. STC is a well-developed, well-thought-out nationwide program that capitalizes on the energy, creativity, and ingenuity of a student audience.
www.studentstakingcharge.org
Fruit & Veggies—More MattersTM
Fruit & Veggies—More Matters is a health initiative supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH), and other health organizations. This website contains a wide variety of information about fruits and vegetables, with emphasis on educating the public about the value of produce, and the integral role it plays in achieving and maintaining overall good health. There are pages and links that feature seasonal produce, discuss strategies for meal planning and shopping, assist the consumer in understanding food labels, encourage experimentation with recipes, showcase accurate portion sizes, and highlight fruits and vegetables of the month. Particularly helpful are the fruit and vegetable databases and video center. The databases show users how to select, cook, and store produce. In addition, there are recipes and nutritional information provided for each item. The video center hosts a number of short videos that feature unusual food pairings, unique preparation methods, and ways to creatively incorporate fruits and vegetables into daily menu planning. This site also hosts a newsletter, an “Ask the Expert” section, the blog “Stem & Stalk … Let's Talk,” and downloadable resources.
Housed within the Fruit & Veggies—More Matters website are interactive tools that assess the nutritional content of meals, and transform favorite recipes from unhealthy to healthy by reducing fat, sodium, and calories.
www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org
www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov
Analyze My Plate
Analyze My Plate is a fun, interactive tool that helps families examine what they eat. Easy to access and understand, families begin by selecting a meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) and clicking on any of the tabs to choose a food category (main dish, fruits, vegetables, sides, extras, and drink). After making selections from each category, and dragging the food items onto the plate, an immediate nutritional analysis is done. The meal is broken down into the total amounts of fruits, vegetables, proteins, calories, sodium, and fat. By clicking on the “More Detail” button, families receive suggestions on how to make the current meal healthier and tips to guide food choices. This tool is an excellent way to begin discussions about responsible eating and healthy lifestyle behaviors.
www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/activities/analyze_my_plate.html
Recipe Remix
Recipe Remix helps make favorite recipes healthier. This is accomplished by following a step-by-step process to identify main ingredients of a recipe, which are then broken down further by category, type, kind, and cooking method. During each phase of this process, there are recommended ingredient substitutions, detailed nutritional information, and suggested preparation techniques. By using Recipe Remix as a resource, not only are families reducing calories, sodium, and fat intake, but also there is the added benefit of exploring new tastes.
www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/activities/recipe_remix.html
Kidnetic.com
Kidnetic.com is a healthy eating and active-living website for kids ages 9–12 and their families.
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What makes this site unique is that it taps into the creativity and ingenuity of kids, who developed the fitness activities found in the “Move” section. Using language, graphics, and movements that appeal to this age group, these games can be played individually or in a group, inside or outside, and while online. The Wet Head Games have kids work up a “wet” (sweaty) head away from the computer; Move Mixer has kids trying some new dance moves; Scavenger Hunt helps kids tap into their own energy, and race against time in a scavenger hunt through the house; and Inner G shows kids what makes them tick and how their body works.
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Other areas of the website include family-friendly recipes, health-related articles, motivational challenges, additional activities, and Q&A.
www.kidnetic.com
We Can!®
We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition) is a national movement designed to assist parents, caregivers, and entire communities in finding ways to help children 8–13 years old stay at a healthy weight.
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Capitalizing on the rich resource streams from four institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), We Can! recognizes that education is crucial in teaching children to make healthier lifestyle choices. Their outreach is focused in those areas and on those activities that directly influence the youth audience. On the website, users will find teaching materials, fact sheets, sample eating plans, nutritious recipes, correct portion sizes, strategies for reducing screen time, interactive resources, activity guidelines, and family games that are appropriate for diverse communities. Playing to a technology-savvy demographic, this program embraces social media, sends electronic newsletters, and has founded a community of practice. While the materials are scientifically based, NIH does an outstanding job of explaining to users, in a manner that is easy to understand and comprehend, the reasoning behind the recommendations presented on the site. More than 600 community sites, national partners, and supporting organizations are promoting the We Can! messages and materials in community centers, schools, work sites, clinics, hospitals, and other settings.
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www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/index.htm
Other Educational and Active-Living Web Resources
Other educational and active-living websites for children include the following:
Spot the Block: www.cartoonnetwork.com/promos/201004_fda/index.html
BAM! Body and Mind: www.bam.gov
empower ME: www.empowerme2b.org
Make Your Calories Count: www.fda.gov/food/labelingnutrition/consumerinformation/ucm114022.htm
Healthy Schools Campaign: www.healthyschoolscampaign.org
These websites are a small sampling of the online resources dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors. Each website mentioned has additional links and reference materials to help children and families with the challenge of staying active and making wise food choices.
