It’s not just adults who are making efforts to be healthy in the new year. Schools and kids all across the country are also eating and moving their way to a healthier 2011.
The Fuel Up to Play 60 is a nationwide program that has been encouraging kids and classrooms to healthy up their lives through an interactive challenge and contest for the past two years. Now, Fuel Up to Play 60 just announced that it’s accepting applications for 2011.
For those of you who don’t know what the program is all about, Fuel Up to Play 60 is an in-school nutrition and physical activity program. Launched by National Dairy Council and the National Football League in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the program encourages youth to consume nutrient-rich foods and achieve at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Multiple health and nutrition organizations and several major corporations are also supporting the program.
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Kids prefer flavored milk. It’s pretty obvious, right? When given the choice, not many kids choose regular milk over chocolate. This, no doubt, raises the concern of increased sugar in the diet of school-age kids. The National Dairy Council has recently published news that negates this concern. Studies show that kids who aren’t offered flavored milk at school simply choose not to drink milk at all.
The impact of this study is larger than it seems at first glance. Reportedly, 58 schools were included and each one exhibited dramatic drops in milk consumption when flavored milk was taken off the breakfast and lunch menus. Some schools boasted a 50 percent drop, although the average was 35 percent. It occurred to me that perhaps the kids just needed to get used to their new options. Strangely, the study didn’t see any rise in the percentage of milk-drinkers even after a year or more of partaking in the study.
If kids refuse to drink regular milk, we could always supplement their diets with other food that contains the same nutrients, right? Although this is a decent and well-thought out solution, it doesn’t really work. In trying to do this, their diet would incorporate more fat and calories, which actually increases the risk of obesity. Furthermore, it could cost up to $4,600 more a year to feed every 100 students.
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What do you get when you combine the forces of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Dairy Council (NDC) and the National Football League (NFL)? A powerhouse team of knowledge, muscles and nutrition.
On September 17, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA will partner with the NDC and the NFL on their new youth-led health and wellness program, Fuel Up to Play 60. The program, launching to more than 60,000 schools nationwide this fall, will empower youth to take charge of their own health by being more active and eating healthier foods as well as improve the overall health of their school environment and community.
The program is open to all children and participation is quite simple:
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The week of August 10 is Healthy Back to School Week at DietsInReview.com.
Tab Forgac serves as vice president of Child Nutrition and Fitness for the National Dairy Council. Forgac is a Registered Dietitian, a Licensed Dietitian, and a School Nutrition Specialist. She has served in numerous leadership positions within the American Dietetic Association and its affiliates and helped lead the development and evolution of the School Nutrition Association Foundation.
While news of the childhood obesity crisis is not new, it continues to trouble me as a nutritionist and mother of two daughters that we have not been able to curb this epidemic that now affects more than one in three children in the United States. However, I do believe we can turn the tide on childhood obesity, and that the nation’s schools play an important role in doing so.
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