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Thursday. 28 March 2024
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Nutrition education efforts fare better when schools choose proven programs


The childhood obesity epidemic is prompting action by school systems and legislatures across the United States, and school-based nutrition programs have become a vital tool to help combat the problem. Below is a selection of resources from Human Kinetics to help schools effectively implement programs that incorporate both physical activity and nutrition education to fight childhood obesity.




This skill-building approach to motivating upper-elementary students to eat better and stay active began as a joint research project between the Harvard School of Public Health and Baltimore Public Schools. Today the program is used in all 50 states and more than 20 countries, and it won the Dannon Institute Award for Excellence in Community Nutrition in 2000. Eat Well & Keep Moving, Second Edition, is a comprehensive, multifaceted program that encompasses the classroom, the cafeteria, and the gymnasium and includes tools to involve the family and the community. This program differs from most in that it addresses nutrition and physical activity simultaneously. And it’s proven to be effective at combating a major factor related to childhood obesity: too much time in front of the TV screen. In extensive field tests among students and teachers using the program, children ate more fruits and vegetables, reduced their intake of saturated and total fat, watched less TV, and improved their knowledge of nutrition and physical activity. The program is also well liked by teachers and students. For more information on this program, visit www.EatWellandKeepMoving.org.





The second edition of Planet Health: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Teaching Middle School Nutrition and Physical Activity offers an innovative approach to teaching health education. You can use this proven, evidence-based curriculum to teach students about nutrition and physical activity while helping them build skills and competencies in language arts, math, science, social studies, and physical education. The curriculum is designed for use by teachers in core academic areas as well as in physical education and health. This new edition includes revised nutrition and physical activity information, ensuring that you’re equipped with the most up-to-date science. The book also includes an all-new CD-ROM with plenty of reproducible worksheets, parent information and newsletters, school health resources, and other teacher resource materials. This new edition of Planet Health is the perfect antidote to kids’ inactivity, poor food choices, and high levels of screen-viewing time. Acquiring good habits regarding nutrition and physical activity in adolescence often carries over into adulthood. Help your students develop good habits now with Planet Health, Second Edition, and they’ll have a better chance of growing into healthy adults.For more information on this program visit www.Planet-Health.org.


This book and CD-ROM package will help you promote fitness and nutrition among students and staff, and its nutrition services tools will help you garner support from parents and community members to enhance student success. The lessons are easy to understand and ready to go. In integrating fitness and nutrition concepts as part of a healthy lifestyle, the lessons will help students improve in all components of health-related fitness now while establishing healthy behaviors for the rest of their lives. The lessons are adaptable to involve children with disabilities and include challenges for higher-level and higher-skilled students. All the lesson plans are tied to the WOW! Health Education Series and can be used within that series or on their own. Physical Activity and Nutrition for Health will help you plan and implement physical education and nutrition education programs that significantly improve health and reinforce standards in health, physical education, mathematics, and science. The fitness elements, nutrition services, and parent involvement tools all address major components of the CDC’s coordinated school health model.


Website Page URL (Link) Reference:

http://www.humankinetics.com/all-health-education-articles/all-health-education-articles/resources-for-a-school-based-nutrition-program?

© 2013 Human Kinetics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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