Posted by Aisha Hasan, Program Analyst, Office of Adolescent Health, US Department of Health and Human Services on November 4, 2013
As a participant of Let’s Move! Cities, Towns, and Counties (LMCTC), Cambridge, Massachusetts became part of a national movement to address childhood obesity by building healthy communities for a healthy future. City Manager Richard C. Rossi is leading this effort with city, public health, school, and community partners to improve the health and well-being of the city’s children; together, they are introducing healthier and tastier school lunches, fitness activities, and model nutrition policies.
Posted by Kelly Miterko, Deputy Associate Director, Let's Move! on October 31, 2013
Yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama joined Elmo, Rosita and students from DC, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland to harvest fruits and vegetables from the White House Kitchen Garden, which they later used to prepare a delicious lunch. Check out these veggie-filled recipes below!
Posted by Elyse Cohen, Deputy Director, Let’s Move! on October 30, 2013
First Lady Michelle Obama was joined by Sesame Street’s Elmo and Rosita to announce that Sesame Workshop and the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) joined the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) in a two-year agreement to help promote fresh fruit and vegetable consumption to kids, making those healthy choices a little easier for busy parents and families to make. The agreement allows PMA’s community of growers, suppliers and retailers to utilize the strength and influence of the Sesame Street brand without a licensing fee, using characters like Big Bird, Elmo, Rosita and Abby Cadabby to help deliver messages about fresh fruits and vegetables. Sesame Street characters may be on produce in stores as early as mid-2014.
Posted by Allyson Felix, PCFSN Council member and Olympic Track and Field Sprinter on October 29, 2013
If you’re like me, you might feel like you’re running a thousand miles an hour through your life and it can be a challenge to remember to eat the most important meal of the day – breakfast. Kids need a nutritious breakfast, too, to keep them energized and focused throughout the school day. One of the most important parts of my training is making sure I eat a healthy breakfast, which helps me perform my best both on the track and off.
Posted by Deborah Kane, National Director, USDA Farm to School Program on October 28, 2013
Ed. Note: This blog was originally posted on www.usda.gov. To view the full post, click here.
I don’t know how many times I’ve told my children, “Go on, give it a try,” or, “Try it, you might like it.” Tired as those two phrases might be, they’re true. How do you know if you like something if you’ve never tried it? And when it comes to leafy green vegetables and third graders, the truth is, many have never tried things like kale, chard or collard greens.
Posted by Tatiana Tucker, Office of Child Care, Administration for Children and Families on October 25, 2013
Through the Let’s Move! Child Care initiative, providers are encouraged to limit the amount of time children spend watching television, videos, and DVDs and playing video games or using a computer. Child care providers play a key role in children’s lives, and they know that more time spent in front of a screen is less time engaging in active play. In fact, too much screen time has been linked to childhood obesity.
That’s why the Washington State Active Bodies, Active Minds (WAABAM) program is dedicated to provided online resources and materials to help child care providers learn more about encouraging physical activity and limiting screen time.
Posted by Posted by AJ Pearlman, Associate Director for Policy, Let’s Move! on October 24, 2013
We know that active kids do better – in school and in life. Children across the nation are getting active at school thanks to First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Active Schools initiative. Since its launch in February, more than 5,000 schools have joined Let’s Move! Active Schools, and the effort continues to expand.
Posted by Maggie Gosselin, USDA Farm to School Program on October 22, 2013
Ed. Note: This blog was originally posted on www.usda.gov. To view the full post, click here.
Cheney Public Schools (CPS) is a 7-school district in rural eastern Washington State. Of the 4,135 students who attend CPS, more than 2,000 are eligible for free and reduced price school lunch, and more than 30 percent are obese. Several years ago, realizing the need to improve child nutrition, the district began to take some modest steps to that end, including initiating a scratch cooking program and participating in a regional childhood obesity prevention initiative.
Posted by Deborah Kane, National Director, USDA Farm to School Program on October 22, 2013
Ed. Note: This blog was originally posted on www.usda.gov. To view the full post, click here.
When students have experiences such as tending a school garden or visiting a farm they’ll be more likely to make healthy choices in the cafeteria. And when schools invest their food dollars in their local communities, all of agriculture benefits, including local farmers, ranchers, fishermen, food processors and manufacturers.
Good news: these healthy habits are taking root all across the country.
Posted by Wendy Moraskie-Henry, Public Affairs Specialist, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service on October 21, 2013
Even though Jennifer Nerison-Montague, the School Food Service Director in Kalispell, Montana, doesn’t mention her Master’s degree in nutrition, you can tell she’s well-versed in the subject by the way she talks about the relationship between the school cafeteria and the curriculum.
Posted by Kelly Miterko, Deputy Associate Director, Let’s Move! on October 18, 2013
Today, Executive Director of Let’s Move!, Sam Kass, and CEO of Bolthouse Farms, Jeff Dunn, addressed an audience about the importance of strong marketing in promoting healthier foods and lifestyles as part of a three-day convention and expo hosted by the Produce Marketing Association (PMA). PMA’s Fresh Summit is hosting almost 20,000 leaders from across the produce industry. PMA is a global, non-profit trade association that represents companies marketing fresh fruits, vegetables, and related products.
Posted by Diane Harris, PhD, MPH, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on September 30, 2013
The Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools program has delivered nearly 2,700 salad bars to schools across the nation since its launch in 2010. School districts are embracing salad bars as an important tool to showcase locally grown, farm-fresh produce as part of Farm to School programs. The popularity of Farm to School programs has increased tremendously over the last few years.
Posted by Katie McMahon, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on September 27, 2013
Besides being recently named one of “America’s Most Livable Cities,” Columbia, South Carolina has something else to celebrate – the city is doing great work as part of Let’s Move! Cities, Towns, and Counties!
Posted by Elyse Cohen, Deputy Director, Let's Move! on September 26, 2013
On the heels of the First Lady’s call to action to companies to market healthier options to families, today, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, the Clinton Global Initiative and McDonald’s announced a commitment McDonald’s has made to increase families’ access to affordable fruits, vegetables and low-fat/fat-free dairy, to adjust the marketing and packaging of the Happy Meal to showcase healthy options, and to include fun nutritional messages in advertising directed to children.
Posted by Sally Nicholson, Director of Student Nutrition Services, School District of Pickens County in Easley, South Carolina on September 26, 2013
Hagood Elementary School in Pickens, South Carolina, is a progressive school encouraging students to live a healthy lifestyle through nutritious meals and exercise. Our goal is to encourage a healthy lifestyle while trying to promote healthy decisions.
