Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Healthy Children Needed to Build a Better Future

Good health begins at home. Giving your baby the best start in life, creating a safe home environment and helping your teenager deal with the pressures of adolescence are just of few of the health issues families face every day. Eating healthy is not a choice at all when struggling families has to make a choice. As a result,more than half of children living below the poverty line in rural America are overweight or obese. Every child deserves a chance at a healthy start.

Our Healthy Choices program exposes children to healthier ways of living through activity, nutrition lessons and balanced food choices so they can be healthy and active in both learning and life.

Eating well and being physically active at an early age helps children focus, improve attendance, boost academic performance and grow up to be healthy adults.

Health programs conducted in USA:Recently 

It has been more than 25 years that the CATCH Programs have guided kids on how to be healthy for a lifetime and it is now the #1 health promotion and childhood obesity prevention program available .

The CATCH Programs Provide:
  • Training
  • Equipment
  • Support
  • Consultation
  • Online Curriculum
  • Evidence-based programs
The Eat Smart school nutrition program , K-5 Classroom curriculum,a Physical Education program, and a Family program. The Coordination of health messages between these four component areas is critical to positively impact children's knowledge and behavior these are four critical components of CATCH program.

The components of CATCH
  • CATCH PE- Physical Activity
  •  Go for Healt- Classroom Curriculum
  •  Eat Smart- School Nutrition
  •  Home Team- Family Activities
  •  Middle school program
  •  CATCH Kids Club- after-school and summer programs


Learn the Signs. Act Early: program aims to improve early identification of children with autism and other developmental disabilities so children and families can get the services and support they need. The Act Early Initiative promotes collaboration among early childhood programs in states and territories so children with autism or other developmental disabilities can be identified early and get the services and support they and their families need.

Information for parents

What we know about kids and food:Parents are usually more receptive to activities that can be done at home than to those that require their attendance at the school (223,224). To involve parents and other family members in nutrition education, schools can
  • Children have to try the same food 10 - 15 times before they will develop a like or dislike for it.
  • Positive peer pressure works. Children are more willing to try something another child likes.
  • Kids will ask their parents to buy healthy foods that they have tried at school.
  • Send nutrition education materials and cafeteria menus home with students,
  • Ask parents to send healthy snacks to school,
  • Invite parents and other family members to periodically eat with their children in the cafeteria,
  • Invite families to attend exhibitions of student nutrition projects or health fairs.
  • Offer nutrition education workshops and screening services, and
  • Assign nutrition education homework that students can do with their families (e.g., reading and interpreting food labels, reading nutrition-related newsletters, and preparing healthy recipe
What schools must do in order to keep kids healthy 
  • Schools providing appealing, low-fat, low-sodium foods in vending machines and at school meetings and events;
  • School counselors and nurses providing guidance on health and, if necessary, referrals for nutritional problems;
  • Community organizations providing counseling or nutrition education campaigns;
  • Physical education instructors helping students understand the relationship between nutrition and physical activity;
  • School food service personnel serving healthy, well-balanced meals in the cafeteria; and
  • School personnel acting as role models for healthy eating (153). The USDA is promoting health-enhancing changes in the food service component of the school health program by requiring schools to serve meals that comply with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (154) and by providing technical support to schools through Team Nutrition (151).
For more information regarding this, read the full article here - http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00042446.htm

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