These tools and resources are organized to help Eat Smart, Get Moving! teams and team members meet the nutrition and physical activity goals of each phase.
Overall Nutrition Resources
MyPyramid
- One size doesn't fit all
Learn how to find your balance between physical activity and food that just right for you Tips on each food group, eating out, physical activity, and more. Find out what foods belong in each group, determine appropriate serving sizes, and how many calories you need.
CDC Nutrition For Everyone
- While you already know it is important to eat a healthy diet, you may find it more difficult to sort through all of the information about nutrition and food choices. The CDC has compiled a variety of resources to help you start healthier eating habits.
What Does a Portion Look Like?
- Guide to Good Eating (PDF)
A guide to the Five Food Groups and recommended serving sizes.
- CDC Portion Pitfalls
A guide to key strategies to address a variety of eating opportunities, including eating at restaurants, eating while watching TV, and more.
The New American Plate
- How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label
This website by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition includes step-by-step instructions for reading and understanding food labels. Using food labels is an important component of making effective food and beverage choices to manage weight.
Reading Food Labels
- The American Institute for Cancer Research’s program, “The New American Plate” is a fresh way of looking at how you eat every single day by focusing on proportions of differnty types of foods and portion sizes in a typical meal.
Healthy Meetings Resources
- Personal Wellness
Just as dairy is important for adults to maintain personal wellness, consuming milk and other dairy products is also important for children. These resources from NutritionExplorations.org may help increase school meals participation and dairy consumption among your students. These resources may also be used to support your program in Healthy Meetings with local school wellness policy stakeholders.
Healthy Weight with Dairy
- Healthy Weight
Learn more about dairy's role in weight management. This site has everything from the "science" to practical tips and recipes.
- CDC Healthy Weight Resources
Get additional tips and find additional resources for maintaining a healthy weight from the CDC.
Food Groups to Encourage
- Lowfat and fat free dairy foods, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables have been termed "food groups to encourage" by the new 2005 Dietary Guidelines, which recommend eating more of them. Eat Smart, Get Moving nutrition goals are based on these recommendations.
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005:
Brochure
3-A-Day of Dairy
- Dairy Information
Because dairy products naturally contain calcium, protein and other essential nutrients, getting 3-A-Day of Dairy improves the overall nutritional quality of the diet, whether you are dieting or not.
- 3 Steps Toward a Slimmer Summer
- Research indicates that enjoying 3-A-Day of Dairy — 3 servings of milk, cheese or yogurt each day — as part of a reduced-calorie weight loss plan may help adults achieve better results, when it comes to trimming the waistline than just cutting calories and consuming little or no dairy. 33 Trim & Tasty Snack Ideas to energize you and help keep hunger in check.
- Tips for the kitchen and for kids:
Tips and Tools
Lactose Intolerance
- If you have symptoms of lactose intolerance, try these tips for adding dairy. Choose the ones that work best for your individual needs.
-
Drink milk with meals or a snack, instead of on an empty stomach.
Aged cheeses like Cheddar and Swiss are naturally low in lactose.
Introduce dairy to your diet slowly. Start with small portions and gradually work up to three servings a day.
Raise your glass to lactose-reduced or lactose-free milk.
Yogurt is good. Cultured dairy foods like yogurt contain friendly bacteria that help digest lactose.
- Lowdown on Lactose
Lactose Intolerance doesn't mean dairy avoidance. Learn how you can get all the health benefits that delicious milk, cheese and yogurt provide.
Whole Grains
- Whole Grains Council
The Whole Grains Council is a consortium of industry, scientists, chefs and Oldways Preservation Trust committed to increasing consumption of Whole Grains for better health. This website contains information for consumers, including recipes and tips on incorporating whole grains into your day.
- Wheat Foods Council
The Wheat Foods Council is a national nonprofit organization formed to help increase awareness of dietary grains as an essential component to a healthy diet. This website includes recipes, tips sheets, and frequently asked questions about eating foods with whole grains.
- Kansas State University Research and Extension
Kansas State University has compiled a list of useful links for more information on increasing intake of whole grains.
Fruits and Vegetables
- Fruits & Veggies — More Matters™
The Fruits & Veggies—More Matters™ campaign was launched in 2007 by the Produce for Better Health Foundation and CDC as well as several other partners. This campaign reinforces the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations for fruits and vegetables and incorporates the messages previously in the 5-A-Day for Better Health campaign. This site contains a wealth of resources for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption.
- How to Use Fruits and Vegetables to Manage Weight
This site developed by the CDC contains tips and strategies for using fruits and vegetables to manage weight.
Physical Activity Resources