Healthy students perform better. Poor nutrition and inadequate physical activity can affect not only academic achievement, but also other factors such as absenteeism, classroom behavior, ability to concentrate, self-esteem, cognitive performance, and test scores. This toolkit provides information to help make schools the model for healthier…

Schools play a critical role in improving the dietary and physical activity behaviors of students. Schools can create an environment supportive of students' efforts to eat healthily and be active by implementing policies and practices that support healthy eating and regular physical activity and by providing opportunities for students to learn…

Recommendations are made on how school lunch programs can provide better nutrition and promote healthier eating habits. Recommendations consist of goals with both short-term and mid-term objectives. The short-term objectives should be implemented over the next 2 to 4 years; the mid-term objectives should be implemented by the year 2000 or sooner…

These guidelines offer recommended topic areas and content for training local-level food service personnel. The recommended topic areas for training school food service directors/supervisors and food service managers are nutrition requirements, menu planning for school meals, procurement, financial management, marketing, food production, program…

Provides an overview of the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH) Eat Smart School Nutrition Program, an elementary school health promotion program. The article examines components of the CATCH kitchen visits and intervention materials, including the School Meal Program Guide, Fat and Sodium Criteria, Recipe File Box, Vendor…

This nutrition education packet provides information to schools setting up healthy school meal programs and nutrition education programs. Team Nutrition schools will involve students, teachers, families, food service personnel, and community organizations in nutrition education activities. The packet contains fact sheets that focus on: the Great…

This booklet is a calendar companion which is designed to help schools plan and conduct monthly activities. It includes lesson planning and activities, information about supporter organizations' events and contests that promote nutrition and health, recipes, food service tips and resources, reproducibles for parents, and a list of Team Nutrition's…

Studies show that childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Today, more than 23 million American children--or nearly one in every three--are overweight or obese. If childhood obesity is left unaddressed, a generation of individuals could face health, social, and economic challenges that promise to stress government…

This book presents a collection of papers that define comprehensive school health programs and their components and provide action steps for their implementation at the local, state, and national levels: (1) "Linking Health and Learning: An Overview of Coordinated School Health Programs" (Floretta Dukes McKenzie and Julius B. Richmond); (2)…