Nourishing Minds and Bodies

The recommendations in the Centers for Disease Control report,"Guidelines for School Health Programs to Promote Healthy Eating, will help personnel and policy makers at the school, district, state and national level meet the national health objectives and education goals by implementing school-based nutrition education policies and programs.

School-based nutrition education is one of the most powerful means of early health promotion and disease prevention. Because dietary factors contribute substantially to the burden of preventable illness and premature death in the United States, the national health promotion and disease prevention objectives call on schools to provide nutrition education from preschool through 12th grade. It is the goal of the Nutrition Education and Training Program (NET) for nutrition education to be a major educational component of all child nutrition programs and offered in all schools, child care facilities, and summer sites by the year 2000. Team Nutrition and NET share a mutual goal of improving the nutrition knowledge and dietary practices of the nation's 50 million school-age children. We are all aware of the fact that diet influences the potential for learning as well as health. An objective of the first national education goal is that children receive the nutrition and health care needed to arrive at school with healthy minds and bodies.

Schools need to promote healthy eating through a comprehensive school health program. A comprehensive school health program empowers students with not only the knowledge, attitudes and skills required to make positive health decisions, but also the environment, motivation, services and support necessary to develop and maintain healthy behaviors. The first recommendation for school health programs interested in promoting healthy eating is to adopt a coordinated nutrition policy that promotes healthy eating through classroom lessons and a supportive school environment.

A coordinated school nutrition policy, particularly as part of an overall school health policy, provides the framework for implementing the recommendations outlined by the Centers for Disease Control to promote healthy eating. This first recommendation ensures that students receive nutrition education messages that are reinforced throughout the school. The school nutrition policy should be a brief document that incorporates input from all relevant constituents of the school community: students, teachers, coaches, staff, administrators, food service personnel, nurses, counselors, public health professionals and parents. When writing a school nutrition policy, keep in mind the following:

· A nutrition policy should meet local needs and be adapted to the health concerns, food preferences, and dietary practices of different ethnic and socioeconomic groups.

· The written policy should describe the importance of the nutrition component within the comprehensive school health program.

· An optimal policy on nutrition should publicly commit the school to providing adequate time for curriculum on nutrition, serving healthy and appealing foods at school, developing food use guidelines for teachers, supporting healthy school meals, and establishing links with nutrition service providers.

· A school nutrition policy requires a sequential, comprehensive school health education program to be effective, allocating adequate time for nutrition education throughout the preschool, primary, and secondary school years.

Once your school district establishes a nutrition policy and selects a sequential, comprehensive school health education curriculum that provides nutrition education through developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant, fun, participatory activities that involve social learning strategies, you are on your way to establishing an environment that will promote healthy eating. Other recommendations that will promote healthy eating include:

· Coordination with school food service to reinforce messages on healthy eating,

· Training for school staff involved in nutrition education that will focus on teaching strategies for behavioral changes,

· Involvement of the family and community in supporting and reinforcing nutrition education,

· Evaluation of the school health program to determine the effectiveness in promoting healthy eating.

How does a school district get started? Contact the Illinois NET program for technical assistance in assessing nutrition education needs and activities. Copies of the document "Guidelines for School Health Programs to Promote Healthy Eating" can be downloaded at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR4509.pdf

Note: CDC is in the process of updating this important report and the new version is expected in 2008.