Health & Safety
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NUTRITION MANAGEMENT

Between 1971 and 2000 the number of overweight and obese children has roughly doubled in the United States. Nearly 33 percent of our children are at risk for being overweight. As a result, more and more children are developing health conditions and diseases, which once only primarily affected adults. Medical conditions like high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and Type II Diabetes. (Robert Woods Foundation)

Even though statistics show that children of overweight adults are at a higher risk of being overweight, these same children are often being cared for in child care settings where they can be educated on healthy life skill alternatives.

EXERCISE AND NUTRITION BASICS

Update 01/21/09: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed a new food pyramid for preschoolers and has added and updated the resources on its Web site, MyPyramid for Preschoolers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, MyPyramid for Prschoolers [PDF, 1,913K] slogan is “Eat right. Exercise. Have Fun.” Promoting the following key message:

Be physically active every day - The child climbing the steps reminds children that physical activity should be included in every day.
Choose healthier foods from each group – Every food group has foods that should be eaten more often than others.
Eat more of some food groups than others – The different size stripes suggest how much food to choose from each group.
Eat foods from every food group every day – The different colors of the pyramid represents the five different food groups plus oil.
Make the right choices for you – MyPyramid.gov gives everyone in the family personal ideas on how to eat better and exercise more.
Take it one step at a time – Start with one new, good thing a day, and continue to add another new one every day.

MyPyramid for Kids

ADDITIONAL TOOLS AND REOURCES

Nutrition

Breast Feeding

Exercise