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…

In November 1996, the American School Foodservice Association surveyed 600 school district food service directors to determine how meeting the new dietary guidelines for school lunch and breakfast programs would affect cost, student participation, and wasted food. Most directors felt that meal cost will rise and that including less popular foods…

Answers questions about nutrition. Presents guidelines for providing nutritious breakfasts, lunches, and snacks, and for encouraging good eating habits in young children in early childhood educational settings. (BB)

In 1994, Congress passed the Healthy Meals for Healthy Americans Act, requiring that Child Nutrition Programs comply with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and meet nutrient standards. In 1995, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued new regulations to define how the Dietary Guidelines would be applied to school meals, called the…

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…

The Child Nutrition Act of 1966 as amended provides cash and food assistance to local school systems for breakfast programs to help them improve diets of young people. These guidelines for planning the school breakfast are intended to help food service directors, supervisors and managers plan breakfast menus that will provide 1/4 to 1/3 of the…