Promoting Lifelong Healthy Eating: An Overview. CDC's Guidelines for School Health Programs.

This publication describes the importance of promoting healthy eating habits among school-age children, discussing the benefits of healthy eating (e.g., prevents child and adolescent health problems and health problems later in life) and noting the consequences of unhealthy eating (e.g., hungry childen are more likely to have behavioral, emotional, and academic problems at school, and not having breakfast can affect intellectual performance). Research shows that most young people eat too much fat, only one in five eats the recommended daily five servings of fruits and vegetables, the average calcium intake of adolescent girls is insufficient, and one in five adolescents regularly skips breakfast. Schools are ideally suited to give students the skills and support they need to adopt healthy eating behaviors for life. Seven recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for ensuring a quality school program to promote lifelong health eating include: seek input from all school community members to develop a coordinated school nutrition policy; provide nutrition education through activities that are fun, participatory, developmentally appropriate, and culturally relevant; and coordinate school food service with nutrition education and other components of school health programs to reinforce messages about healthy eating. (SM)