Center for Civic Partnerships

Healthy Eating

Top Tips for Individuals

Eating healthy foods every day can improve your physical and mental well-being, and reduce the risk of many chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease,
and stroke.

Healthier eating means:

Consuming each day a variety of nutrient-dense foods and beverages within and among the basic food groups, including:
- 2 cups of fruit and 2-1/2 cups of vegetables per day (based on a 2,000 calorie diet), particularly those that are dark green and orange
- 3 or more ounce-equivalents of whole grain products
- 3 cups of fat-free or low-fat milk or equivalent milk products
Managing your weight
Limiting your intake of fats
Choosing carbohydrates wisely
Reducing sodium and increasing potassium
Balancing calories from foods and beverages with calories expended in physical activity

Because "one size doesn't fit all," the U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed an individualized food pyramid plan that can help individuals choose the foods
and amounts that are right for their age, gender, and activity level. To view the site, go to www.mypyramid.gov. There is a special pyramid for children aged 6 to 11 at www.mypyramid.gov/kids

Top Tips for Cities and Communities

Cities and Communities - including workplaces, schools, retial outlets and public facilities - play a key role in encouraging and supporting life-long healthy eating patterns because the food choices that people make very day are often determined by the physical and social environment of their community.

For example, does your community’s grocery store offer a wide selection of culturally appropriate fresh fruits and vegetables? Is there a Farmer’s Market nearby?
What low-fat food choices do residents have at the cafeteria where they work or go to school?

Cities and communities can improve healthy eating by:

Supporting or implementing programs such as community gardens, cooking demonstrations, and Farmer’s Markets.
Developing new grocery stores and improving existing smaller stores to offer a variety of fresh fruits and vegetabes.
Educating the community about the importance of good nutrition for child development and educational achievements, and obesity prevention through activities such as worksite nutritioncounseling and school nutrition curriculum.

Useful resources for healthier eating are listed below. See also a Tips and Tools fact sheet for information and resources on Food Security at: www.civicpartnerships.org/default.asp?id=38

Online Resources and Tools

Youth and Family

California Department of Education – Healthy Eating
www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/he/
Includes resources, policies and tools for improving nutrition for California schoolchildren.

California Department of Health Services, Cancer Prevention and Nutrition Sectionwww.dhs.ca.gov/cpns
Visit this site to link to the California Nutrition Network for Healthy, Active Families and Five a Day campaign. Go to the Press Room section to download a press kit,m tip sheets and the campaign's newsletter Fresh Facts.

California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness (CANFit) Program
www.canfit.org
CANFit is a non-profit organization that engages communities and builds their capacity to improve the nutrition and physical activity status of California’s low-income African American, American Indian, Latino, and Asian/ Pacific Islander youth 10-14 years old. Visit their site for information on their grants, scholarships and technical assistance opportunities, encouraging nutrition and physical activity; newsletters; and the PHAT (Promoting Healthy Activities Together) campaign for youth.

California Nutrition Network for Healthy Active Families
www.dhs.ca.gov/ps/cdic/cpns/network/
The Network offers programs, information and resources on increasing physical activity and improving nutrition.

Center for Ecoliteracy
www.ecoliteracy.org/programs/rsl.html
Th Rethinking School Lunch Program creates a planning framework for improved school lunch programs and academic performance. It includes a Model Wellness Policy Guide, a farm-to-school program, and a model school district food policy.

Center for Weight and Health, UC Berkeley
http://nature.berkeley.edu/cwh/index.html
This site provides information and resources on childhood obesity.

Kidsnutrition.org
www.bcm.edu/cnrc/
This site features tools, research studies and resources focusing on improving childhood nutrition.

kNow Hunger
www.knowhunger.org
kNow Hunger is a free, downloadable high school curriculum that combines social studies education about hunger with community service activities.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Fit Source
www2.nccic.org/fitsource/index.cfm
This site links child care and after school providers with a variety of physical activity and nutrition resources that can be incorporated into programs.

Community

California Project Lean
www.californiaprojectlean.org
This site includes a variety of materials for community wide educational campaigns for diverse adult and adolescent audiences. Radio and television commercials, lesson plans, recipes and tips for healthy eating, brochures and fact sheets are available for download (some in Spanish). The site also includes an interactive geographic information system (GIS) that allows users to view and query mapped nutrition data including: nutrition and school health programs, WIC grocery stores and other local nutrition resources, demographics (ethnicity and language), Department of Health Services regions and California Senate and Assembly districts.

Center for Civic Partnerships
www.civicpartnerships.org
The Center has numerous publications and resources on healthy eating and physical activity, including “Policy Ideas for Community Nutrition and Physical Activity” and “Fresh Ideas for Community Nutrition and Physical Activity.” The Fall 2004 special issue of Connections features descriptions of three city programs that focus on healthy eating, as well as listing events and resources that support good nutrition and physical activity.

Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
www.cals.cornell.edu
Visit the Department of Horticulture’s gardening page for gardening fact sheets and information on New York State’s Integrated Pest Management program at www.gardening.cornell.edu. From there you can link to “How to Start a Garden As a Community Project." The site includes sample letters, suggestions for school newsletter articles and sample schedules.

Nutritional Cancer Institute's Five a Day Program
www.5aday.gov
Visit this site for tips on meal preparation and budgeting, recipes, publications and multimedia materials.

Nutrition.gov
www.nutrition.gov/home/index.php3
This site includes a comprehensive assortment of resources and information on food safety, nutrition, life cycle issues, health management, food assistance programs and research.

Prevention Institute
www.preventioninstitute.org/sa/enact.html
An October 2001 publication, Strategies for Action: Integrating Nutrition and Physical Activity Promotion to Reach Low-Income Californians.

Stoneyfield Farms
www.stonyfield.com/MenuForChange/
The company has developed the country’s first vending machine that offers a selection of health foods including low-fat yogurt, string cheese, organic milk, carrots and dip, dried fruit, raisins, and pita chips as part of their “Menu for Change” program. First launched at a Rhode Island school in 2003, the vending machines will be piloted in schools this year in California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York.

U.S. Department of Agriculture
www.usda.gov
This site includes information on national food and nutrition programs and services.
www.usda.gov/cnpp
USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion; includes information, statistics and guidelines to support imrpoved nutritional practices.
www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines
Information about the new - 2005 - Dietary guidelines for Americans.
www.mypyramid.gov
An interactive food pyramid that offers individualized nutrition and physical activity.
www.mypyramid.gov/kids/index.html
Interactive food pyramid activities for children aged 6 to 11.

Seniors

American Medical Association
http://jama.ama-assn.org/
The September 2004 issue (v. 292 no. 12) of the Journal of the American Medical Association features four articles on the benefits of physical activity and nutrition to senior wellness.

Senior Citizens League
www.tscl.org/HealthyEating.asp
This site includes information on healthy eating, safe food handling, food preparation, disease prevention, and supportive nutrition programs.

Worksite and Business

California Task Force on Youth and Workplace Wellness
http://wellnesstaskforce.org/fitbus.html
The Task Force launched the Fit Business Challenge in 2003 – a coordinated effort with the California Dept. of Health Services’ 5 a Day – Be Active Worksite Program. More than 50 companies applied for the Challenge, and seven received the first California Fit Business Award in 2004.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2004/oct/04_0034.htm
Demonstration of an e-mailed worksite nutrition intervention program. Block G, Block T, Wakimoto P, Block CH. (October 2004)

Contra Costa County Community Wellness & Prevention Program
www.cchealth.org/prevention
Includes programs, information and resources that promote physical activity and improved nutrition at worksites and within the community.

University of California, Irvine – Health Promotion Center
www.healthpromotioncenter.uci.edu/
Features wellness programming guides for the worksite as well as health promotion research and resources.

Wellness Council of America – Worksite Wellness Award
http://welcoa.org/wellworkplace/index.php?cat=1&page=2
Information on promoting worksite wellness and profiles of annual award winners for WELCOA’s Well City USA Award and Well Workplace Award.

Funding

General Mills
http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/commitments/champions.aspx
In partnership with the American Dietetic Association Foundation and the President's Challenge, each year the General Mills Foundation awards 50 grants of $10,000 each to community-based groups that develop creative ways to help youth adopt a balanced diet and physically active lifestyle.

National Gardening Association
http://www.kidsgardening.com/grants.asp
Together with The Home Depot, the National Gardening Association sponsors Youth Garden Grants to schools and community organizations with child-centered outdoor garden programs.

Research and Business

Food and Drug Administration
http://www.fda.gov
New regulations, food safety, food labeling and nutrition resources.

University of California, Davis – Center for Advanced Studies in Nutrition and Social Marketing
http://socialmarketing-nutrition.ucdavis.edu/
As part of UCD’s School of Medicine, the Center for Advanced Studies in Nutrition and Social Marketing was established to enhance social marketing strategies to improve nutrition and physical activity behaviors related to the prevention of cancer and other chronic diseases. The site includes information about the Center’s lecture series and research opportunities; publications on social marketing, nutrition and physical activity; a video lending library; a searchable database of over five hundred articles and presentations on social marketing, health promotion and epidemiology related to nutrition and physical activity; and literature reviews on nutrition and physical activity social marketing campaigns.

University of California, Davis – Nutrition Department
http://nutrition.ucdavis.edu/
This site features research studies and current projects, including www.eatfit.net, a web-based application to aid middle school students in personal dietary analysis and "guided goal setting."

U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services – Office of Disease Prevention and Promotion – Healthy People 2010
www.healthypeople.gov/
Includes national objectives for Nutrition and Overweight (Objective 19) and Physical Activity and Fitness (Objective 22).

U.S. National Agricultural Library – Food and Nutrition Information Center
www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/etext/000060.html
Articles and resources on obesity and nutrition.