|
|
 |
|
Sign
up for the NDC Update for the latest dairy nutrition news, fast facts,
free tools for patients, expert nutrition advice and information on updated
dairy nutrition resources.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Educate your patients on the importance of 3-A-Day of Dairy: Here's
a great
tool (PDF: 618k) to show families how to get their 3-A-Day of Dairy
every day for stronger bones.
Developed in conjunction with The American Academy of Family
Physicians, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Dietetic
Association, and The National Medical Association.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Dairy Council Digest Archives
Taking Action to Improve Children's Nutrition & Fitness: The Role of Schools
Introduction
Background. Concern about the growing children's health crisis led National Dairy Council to approach the nation's leading education and health organizations to discuss the possible role schools might play in finding solutions to this crisis. At the same time, The Surgeon General's office released the "Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity" (2). The report is clear: children's health is at risk. The Surgeon General reports that unhealthy dietary habits and sedentary behavior together account for 300,000 deaths and $100 billion in healthcare costs annually (2).
More than 35 health organizations recognized the growing importance of this issue, formed the planning committee for the Healthy Schools Summit , and became the backbone for the Action for Healthy Kids State Teams. Representatives of these partnering organizations worked together to develop the "Commitment to Change," which articulates the guiding principles of the Summit and the Action for Healthy Kids State Teams.
In addition to planning the Summit , collaborators worked to bring forward resources that address some of the challenges faced in creating healthpromoting schools. Collaborators helped to locate and profile some of the country's best nutrition and physical activity programs ("What's Working"); conducted national polls of students and student leaders; identified existing resources and tools to help create change at the state and local level; and initiated the Healthy School Heroes recognition program.
The Healthy Schools Summit was an outcome of a groundbreaking collaboration of more than 35 national education, health, physical activity, and nutrition organizations working to take action toward better health for our nation's children.
Summit Overview. The goal of the two-day Healthy Schools Summit was to educate, motivate, and mobilize state leaders to create health-promoting schools that support sound nutrition and physical activity. This effort continues to bridge the health and education communities, as a key learning from the Summit is that nutrition and physical activity are inextricably linked to achievement.
First Lady Laura Bush served as honorary chairperson and the former Surgeon General, David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., served as chairperson of the Summit . More than 50 influential speakers and panelists representing various areas of expertise discussed the link between good nutrition, physical activity, and educational achievement; the importance of private-public partnerships to implement changes; the need for adopting policies and practices; how schools and children's nutrition and physical activity can be improved; and ideas for school meal programs to better optimize children's nutrition.
Challenges facing schools in helping to meet children's nutritional and physical activity needs and providing nutrition education were identified. For example, obstacles to physical education in schools include the lack of a national policy for daily physical education; curriculum priorities; few trained physical education teachers; lack of time for daily recess; and limited intramural physical activities and physical activity clubs. Barriers to providing optimal nutrition in schools include the availability of competitive foods and beverages in vending machines, a la carte lines, school stores, snack bars, and in fundraising; lack of regulations on what can be sold outside the school cafeteria; inadequate time to eat lunch; unreasonable scheduling of lunch (e.g., too early or too late); and bus schedules that limit students' ability to participate in the school breakfast programs. Limited funding, competition for classroom time, and lack of national standards for nutrition education are some of the constraints to providing sufficient quality nutrition education in schools.
The Summit presenters also highlighted successful programs and initiatives already in practice that support children's nutrition and physical activity. Several presenters acknowledged the important role of key influencers and public-private partnerships among the various parties who influence the school environment and curriculum, as well as the adoption of policies and practices supportive of healthier lifestyles. Effective marketing campaigns to promote healthy lifestyles can also help implement changes in schools. Transcripts and presentation materials from most of the Summit's speakers, as well as examples of programs that are already working to support children's nutrition and physical activity, can be found on the Action for Healthy Kids website (32).
Action for Healthy Kids State Teams. Importantly, the Summit , with help from partner organizations, launched Action for Healthy Kids State Teams. Partners helped to recruit local leaders to serve on the state teams, placed feature articles in their respective national publications, created State and National Profiles on the status of nutrition and physical activity in schools and among students, and developed a planning framework in the State Team Action Planning Guide (32).
Action for Healthy Kids State Teams have identified priorities in their specific states and developed state-level action plans to implement changes to improve children's nutrition and physical activity in schools.
Today, there are 51 Action for Healthy Kids State Teams (50 states plus the District of Columbia) that are composed of representatives from education and health organizations and include government and community leaders, school administrators, teachers, and nutrition professionals. After assessing their state's needs, each team has developed their State Action plan, selecting two to three actions to create health-promoting schools from the "Commitment to Change" document – at least one related to nutrition and another to physical activity. To learn more about state teams and how to become involved, visit the Action for Healthy Kids website (32).
Commitment to Change Document. To take action to create a healthier school environment and provide guidance for Summit collaborators, a "Commitment to Change" working document was adapted from the former Surgeon General's 2001 report, "The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity" (2). The "Commitment to Change" document outlines 12 specific actions needed to create health promoting schools that support sound nutrition and physical activity (32). Three representative actions are as follows:
- Adopt policies ensuring that all foods and beverages available on school campuses and at school events contribute toward eating patterns that are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (34).
- Provide age-appropriate and culturally sensitive instruction in health education and physical education that help students develop the knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors needed to adopt, maintain and enjoy healthy eating habits and a physically active lifestyle.
- Provide all children, from prekindergarten through grade 12, with quality daily physical education that helps develop the knowledge, attitudes, skills, behaviors, and confidence needed to be physically active for life.
Table of Contents:
|