Gold Medal Schools Program in National CDC Newsletter

Utah's Gold Medal Schools program was recently highlighted in the CDC's (Center for Disease Control) Division on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Program's newsletter. You can read the success story at http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/downloads/NutritionPolicies.pdf starting on page 3. You can use the link if you are interested in reading success stories in other areas.

SelectHealth Offers Free Health Program for 4th-Grade Teachers

We know that kids who are active are more likely to have improved concentration, be more attentive, and earn higher grades. But, too many kids these days aren’t getting the exercise and nutrition they need to stay fit.
To help with this, SelectHealth partnered with local school districts to create STEP Express. This free program helps 4th-grade students create healthier habits through classroom lesson plans, physical activities, and a fitness challenge.
STEP Express follows the 4th-grade core curriculum and comes with PE equipment and prepared lesson plans. For the fitness challenge, students track their minutes of exercise using a passport and convert the minutes to miles. Grants are given to the three schools with the highest average miles per student, which allows smaller schools to compete. Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort near Salt Lake City also donates free aerial tram passes to students from each winning schools.
Nearly 80 Utah elementary schools participated in STEP Express during the 2009-2010 school year. STEP Express will continue this school year and SelectHealth is encouraging more schools to participate. For additional details and registration information, visit www.stepexpress.org.

Schools, with some prodding, are making lunches healthier

Check out this article about a school in Maplewood Missouri and what they are doing to make their lunches healthier: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700067554/Schools-with-some-prodding-are-making-lunches-healthier.html

Some New Blogs to Follow

National PTA Health Coordinator, Whitney Meagher, sent this to me:

I also wanted to share a few blogs with you that I have discovered lately. I think that they do a good job of providing real-world and real-time perspectives on child nutrition:
Obamafoodorama documents the White House through food. They have also started to report about the day-today activities of the Let’s Move campaign.
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/

Fed Up With School Lunch is written by an anonymous teacher in Illinois who is documenting a year of eating the lunch at her school. She has also started to incorporate guest bloggers, and many of these are equally valuable and interesting.
http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

Better DC School Food is, of course, very local to me. It is the blog of a newly-formed group of parents that are working to improve the nutritional quality of food that is served in the DC Public Schools. I think that you might be able to relate to some of their challenges and concerns
http://betterdcschoolfood.blogspot.com/2010/04/whats-wellness-policy-for-dc-schools.html

U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATON ENCOURAGES SCHOOLS TO SIGN UP FOR "CHEFS MOVE TO SCHOOLS" PROGRAM

Schools that Sign Up Will Be Contacted By Chefs Volunteering to Help Educate Kids About Food & Nutrition
Today (May 13), Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that schools interested in using local chefs as a resource for their cafeteria and nutrition programs may sign up for the "Chefs Move to Schools" program just announced by First Lady Michelle Obama. The First Lady launched the "Chefs Move to Schools" program, encouraging chefs across the country to get involved in their communities by volunteering their skills in local school cafeterias. The program, run through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, calls on our Nation's chefs to adopt a local school and work with teachers, parents, school nutritionists and administrators to help educate kids about food and nutrition. Administrators or principals of K-12 schools are invited to sign-up online to help the U.S. Department of Agriculture connect volunteer chefs with interested schools in their area.
As part of the Let's Move! campaign, launch by the first lady back in February to combat childhood obesity, the program uses the talent and expertise of local chefs to demonstrate how to create healthy dishes and further promote a healthy lifestyle for our Nation's youth. More than 31 million children participate in the National School Lunch Program and more than 11 million participate in the National School Breakfast Program, giving schools great influence in promoting healthy eating habits.
"School cafeterias are the frontline for fostering a healthy lifestyle for children," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "This initiative is a creative and vital opportunity for children to learn and practice healthy habits. When partnerships between schools and the broader community are created, everyone wins. I encourage any K-12 school interested in using chefs' expertise in this way to sign up to begin this collaboration."
"Many children consume as many as half of their daily calories at school and as families work to ensure that kids eat right and have active play at home, we also need to ensure our kids have access to healthy meals in their schools," said First Lady Michelle Obama. "We are going to need everyone's time and talent to solve the childhood obesity epidemic and our Nation's chefs have tremendous power as leaders on this issue because of their deep knowledge of food and nutrition and their standing in the community. I want to thank them for joining the Let's Move! Campaign."
"Chefs and nutrition experts can play a critical role in addressing the childhood obesity crisis, and they are welcome partners as we work together to improve the overall health and nutrition of America's children," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "By passing a strong reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, Congress can provide important resources to improve school cafeteria equipment and expand training opportunities for chefs, school food service personnel, and nutrition experts in our schools, because they will be on the front lines of improving school meals for our kids."
Schools interested in having a volunteer chef come to their school can visit www.letsmove.gov and fill out the school sign-up form. In coming weeks, chefs will be notified of schools in the area that they can reach out to.

Tobacco companies target kids, Utah health officials say

"They're already hooked," Neville says of longtime smokers. Instead, tobacco companies are targeting "the kid with the grape Slurpie that comes to the counter," wondering if the sweetened nicotine will complement his drink, Neville says. Or whether the chocolate-mint flavored chew — packaged to look like chewing gum — will boost his reputation with peers.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/705359581/Tobacco-companies-target-kids-Utah-health-officials-say.html

How and When to Talk to your Kids About Sex

Here's an excellent article on this important subject:
http://www.everydayhealth.com/blog/health-news-you-can-use/how-and-when-to-talk-to-your-kids-about-sex/?xid=nl_EverydayHealthChildre