Eat Healthy

Parents and caregivers play a key role in not only making healthy choices for children and teaching children to make healthy choices for themselves. But in today’s busy world, this isn’t always easy. So Let’s Move! offers parents and caregivers the tools, support and information they need to make healthier choices while instilling healthy eating habits in children that will last a lifetime.

Nutrition Information

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, put forth by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), provide science-based advice for individuals over the age of two to promote health and reduce the risk of major chronic diseases. The current Dietary Guidelines, encourage most Americans to eat fewer calories, be more physically active, and make wiser food choices.

MyPlate

USDA's new food icon, MyPlate, serves as a quick visual reminder to all consumers to make healthy food choices when you choose your next meal, built off of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for all Americans. MyPlate can help prioritize food choices by reminding us to make half of our plate fruits and vegetables and shows us the other important food groups for a well-balanced meal: whole grains, lean proteins, and low fat dairy.

Empower Consumers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently deliberating on how to enhance the usefulness to consumers of point-of-purchase nutrition information. This includes information on the main display panel of food products, called "front-of-pack" labeling. The new labeling provides 65 million parents in America with easy access to the information they need to make healthy choices for their children.

Pediatricians as Partners

The American Academy of Pediatrics, in collaboration with the broader medical community, is educating doctors and nurses across the country about obesity to ensure that they regularly monitor children’s BMIs, provide counseling for healthy eating early on, and, for the first-time ever, write a prescription for parents laying out the simple things they can do to increase healthy eating and active play.

Eating Healthy on a Budget

Eating healthy doesn’t have to cost more. Use these tips and materials from USDA to help you make choices that are not only healthy but also economical.

• The 3 P’s ― Plan, Purchase, and Prepare Food on a Budget (pdf), these reminders help you stay within your food budget.
• Smart Shopping for Veggies and Fruits (pdf), get the fruits and vegetables you need without breaking the bank.
• Sample 7 Day Menu (pdf), this sample weekly menu meets all nutritional needs at a cost below current average food costs.

Get Active

Physical activity is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. In combination with healthy eating, it can help prevent a range of chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and stroke, which are the three leading causes of death. Physical activity helps control weight, builds lean muscle, reduces fat, promotes strong bone, muscle and joint development, and decreases the risk of obesity. Children need 60 minutes of play with moderate to vigorous activity every day to grow up to a healthy weight.

If this sounds like a lot, consider that eight to 18 year old adolescents spend an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media including TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies in a typical day, and only one-third of high school students get the recommended levels of physical activity. To increase physical activity, today’s children need safe routes to walk and bike ride to school, parks, playgrounds and community centers where they can play after school, and activities like sports, dance or fitness programs that are exciting and challenging enough to keep them engaged.

Let’s Move! aims to increase opportunities for kids to be physically active, both in and out of school and to create new opportunities for families to move together.

• Active Families: Engage in physical activity each day : a total of 60 minutes for children, 30 minutes for adults.
• Active Schools: A variety of opportunities are available for schools to add more physical activity into the school day, including additional physical education classes, before–and afterschool programs, recess, and opening school facilities for student and family recreation in the late afternoon and evening.
• Active Communities: Mayors and community leaders can promote physical fitness by working to increase safe routes for kids to walk and ride to school; by revitalizing parks, playgrounds, and community centers; and by providing fun and affordable sports and fitness programs.

Let’s Move! supports the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA+) challenge, which helps individuals commit to regular physical activity and healthy eating -- and rewards them for it. The challenge is for anyone, from students to seniors, but it’s geared toward people who want to set themselves on the road to a healthier life through positive changes to physical activity and eating behaviors. 

For kids and teens (that’s anyone between 6 and 17 years), your goals are:

• Physical activity: You need to be active 60 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, for 6 out of 8 weeks. As an alternative, you can count your daily activity steps using a pedometer (girls’ goal: 11,000; boys’ goal: 13,000).
• Healthy eating: Each week, you’ll also focus on a healthy eating goal. There are eight to choose from, and each week you will add a new goal while continuing with your previous goals. By the end of the six weeks, you’ll be giving your body more of the good stuff it needs.

For adults (that’s anyone aged 18 and older), your goals are:

• Physical activity: You need to be active 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, for 6 out of 8 weeks. As an alternative, you can count your daily activity steps using a pedometer (goal: 8,500).
• Healthy eating: Each week, you’ll also focus on a healthy eating goal. There are eight to choose from, and each week you will add a new goal while continuing with your previous goals. By the end of the six weeks, you’ll be giving your body more of the good stuff it needs.

Learn more about the Presidential Active Lifestyle AwardSign up for PALA+

Obesity by the numbers

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or obese. If we don't solve this problem, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. Many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma.

How Did We Get Here?

Thirty years ago, most people led lives that kept them at a healthy weight. Kids walked to and from school every day, ran around at recess, participated in gym class, and played for hours after school before dinner. Meals were home-cooked with reasonable portion sizes and there was always a vegetable on the plate. Eating fast food was rare and snacking between meals was an occasional treat.

Today, children experience a very different lifestyle. Walks to and from school have been replaced by car and bus rides. Gym class and after-school sports have been cut; afternoons are now spent with TV, video games, and the internet. Parents are busier than ever and families eat fewer home-cooked meals. Snacking between meals is now commonplace.

Thirty years ago, kids ate just one snack a day, whereas now they are trending toward three snacks, resulting in an additional 200 calories a day. And one in five school-age children has up to six snacks a day.

Portion sizes have also exploded- they are now two to five times bigger than they were in years past. Beverage portions have grown as well- in the mid-1970s, the average sugar-sweetened beverage was 13.6 ounces compared totoday, kids think nothing of drinking 20 ounces of sugar-sweetened beverages at a time.

In total, we are now eating 31 percent more calories than we were forty years ago–including 56 percent more fats and oils and 14 percent more sugars and sweeteners. The average American now eats fifteen more pounds of sugar a year than in 1970.

Eight to 18-year old adolescents spend an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media, including, TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies, and only one-third of high school students get the recommended levels of physical activity.

Now that’s the bad news. The good news is that by making just a few lifestyle changes, we can help our children lead healthier lives–and we already have the tools we need to do it. We just need the will.

Let’s Move!

Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched by the First Lady, dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams. Combining comprehensive strategies with common sense, Let's Move! is about putting children on the path to a healthy future during their earliest months and years. Giving parents helpful information and fostering environments that support healthy choices. Providing healthier foods in our schools. Ensuring that every family has access to healthy, affordable food. And, helping kids become more physically active.

Everyone has a role to play in reducing childhood obesity, including parents, elected officials from all levels of government, schools, health care professionals, faith-based and community-based organizations, and private sector companies. Your involvement is key to ensuring a healthy future for our children.

Looking for the Best Ideas to 

Get our Kids Moving

First Lady Michelle Obama today announced a new a national competition that will identify and reward the most creative, impactful, and scalable school-based programs and technological innovations that promote physical activity for children.

Sponsored by the Active Schools Acceleration Project (ASAP) in collaboration with the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), the contest will award a total of $500,000 in prizes, with individual awards of up to $100,000. Top winners will participate in funded pilot studies aimed at expanding the reach and impact of the projects.

“We know there’s so much good work going on all across this country to get our kids up and moving every single day,” said Mrs. Obama. “So we want to find the best school programs and technology ideas that increase physical activity for kids – and then help them reach even more children throughout America.”

The competition has two categories: “School Programs” and “Technology Innovation.” Teachers, schools, or even entire districts are encouraged to submit their in-school physical activity programs --from curriculums, environmental modifications, events, or other initiatives that promote quality school-time physical activity -- in the “School Programs” category. 

Winners in the “Technology Innovation” category will demonstrate how an existing or emerging technology can be used to inspire kids to be physically active. This can include tracking and measurement systems, software applications, innovative uses of social media, gaming, smart phones, and more.

 “TVs and computers can sometimes be an impediment to physical activity,” said the First Lady, “but we also know we can harness the power of technology to get our kids up and active.

Find out more about the competition at www.ActiveSchoolsASAP.org.

Visit your local Homeland store 

and follow the stars. 

Decoding nutrition labels can be confusing. Guiding Stars takes the guesswork out of choosing foods that are nutritious for you and your family. Guiding Stars is an objective food rating system that rates food based on nutrient density using a scientific algorithm. Rated foods are marked with easy-to-follow tags indicating 0, 1, 2, or 3 stars. The more nutritional value a food has, the more Guiding Stars it receives. If a food doesn't receive a star it means it doesnt meet our rigorous criteria. 

for more info go to...   http://guidingstars.com

* One Guiding Star indicates good nutritional value
** Two Guiding Stars indicate better nutritional value
*** Three Guiding Stars indicate the best nutritional value
Guiding Stars is not intended to tell you what to buy, but rather point you toward foods that have more vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, whole grains and less fats, cholesterol, sugar and sodium.


http://www.homelandstores.com/StoreLocator.aspx

Have you heard about the new “plate” that has replaced the old food pyramid?  

It’s called MyPlate! 

and it’s based on the most recent revision of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

And just this week, the USDA announced a cool new tool to 

help you take those guidelines and put them into practice.

The SuperTracker (click it...I dare you!)

It is a comprehensive, state-of-the-art resource available at ChooseMyPlate.gov designed to assist individuals as they make changes in their life to reduce their risk of chronic disease and maintain a healthy weight.  

More than just an online food and activity tracker, the SuperTracker has a “Food-A-Pedia” for looking up nutrition information for over 8,000 foods and specific ways to help you customize and personalize the information just for you.

I encourage you to check out this new tool and to consider the three main focus areas for the new Dietary Guidelines.  Here they are along with my own comments and tips to help you put these strategies into action for a healthier 2012!

Balancing Calories:

• Enjoy your food, but eat less – Try using smaller plates, bowls, cups – it really works!

• Avoid oversized portions – Portion sizes have exploded over the past 20 years…and so have our waistlines. By simply watching your portions, you can decrease your intake of excess calories.  Follow the MyPlate visual to balance your plate for optimal nutrition. 

Foods to Increase:

• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables – They don’t have to be organic or fresh!  Conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are just as safe and nutritious as organic, but at a much better price. Frozen, canned and dried fruits and vegetables are a cost-effective way to get the nutrition without the extra cost. An added benefit: you won’t have to worry about the fresh produce rotting in the crisper drawer and watching your money go down the garbage disposal.

• Make at least half your grains whole grains – Add a little variety to your meals by experimenting with different whole grains in place of more processed and refined starches. Try brown rice instead of white, or snack on popcorn instead of chips.

• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk – Even 2% milk contains excess fat and saturated fat that most people just don’t need. Gradually switching to lower fat milk cuts the fat and calories, but doesn’t reduce the calcium or other essential nutrients one bit.

Foods to Reduce:

• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals– and choose the foods with lower numbers.  A food that contains 140 mg of sodium or less is considered “low sodium” and if it contains 35 mg or less, it is considered “very low sodium.”

• Drink water instead of sugary drinks – Make it a point to carry a bottle of water with you during the day. Try diluting fruit juice with water to cut the sugar and calories, but still provide some flavor and fluids.

For more helpful ideas to get your plate in shape, check out the “Ten Tips” series here: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/healthy-eating-tips/ten-tips.html.