National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign sponsored annually by the American Dietetic Association. The campaign is designed to focus attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. NNM also promotes ADA and its members to the public and the media as the most valuable and credible source of timely, scientifically based food and nutrition information. Governor Jim Doyle proclaimed National Nutrition Month® in Wisconsin. Click here!

TELL US WHAT YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR NNM 2007: We will post your upcoming events on our website, please submit via e-mail to wda@centurytel.net.

National Nutrition Month 2007:  100% Fad Free

The National Nutrition Month campaign reinforces the importance of nutrition as a key component of good health, along with physical activity.

Key Messages:

• Develop an eating plan for lifelong health. Too often people adopt the latest food fad rather than focusing on overall health.
• Get back to basics and use the Dietary Guidelines 2005 and MyPyramid as your guide to healthy eating.
• Choose foods sensibly by looking at the big picture. A single food or meal doesn’t make or break a healthful diet. When consumed in moderation in the appropriate portion size, all foods can fit into a healthful diet.
• Learn how to spot a food fad. Unreasonable or exaggerated claims that eating (or not eating) specific foods, nutrient supplements or combinations of foods may cure disease or offer quick weight loss are key features of fad diets.
• Find your balance between food and physical activity. Regular physical activity is important for your overall health and fitness plus it helps control body weight, promotes a feeling of well-being and reduces the risk of chronic diseases.

Food and nutrition misinformation can have harmful effects on your health and well-being, as well as your wallet. Registered dietitians are uniquely qualified to communicate current and emerging science-based nutrition information and are an instrumental part of developing a diet plan that is unique to your particular needs.

Event Ideas:

Food and Nutrition Fair
A food and nutrition fair is always a popular event to celebrate National Nutrition Month. It can be adapted to many different settings such as a school gym, a church, community center, library meeting room or health care facility. Some suggested activities are described below. If you’re looking for a different type of event, page down for additional event suggestions.
Suggested activities for a food and nutrition fair:

• Eating the Rainbow
  Use "Eating the Rainbow" as a theme and provide examples of colorful fruits and vegetables that are yellow, orange, red, green, blue and purple. Give tips on including more fruits and vegetables in meals and snacks.
• Voting Booth
  Ask participants to vote for their favorite vegetable or fruit. Post a tally board to record votes. Use a vegetable or fruit theme for booth decorations.
• Sizing It Up Display
  Set up a display with food models and household items to represent food portion sizes. Let participants try to match up foods with the appropriate serving size item.
• Easy Moves for Couch Potatoes
  Recruit a trainer to demonstrate/teach easy tips for increasing physical activity using items available around the house. Or, ask a yoga instructor to provide a demonstration.
• Guess the Protein
  Have a jar filled with dried beans and ask "How many grams of protein?" or "How many ounces of meat does it equal?"  Give a NNM prize or a copy of ADA’s "Complete Food and Nutrition Guide."

More National Nutrition Month Event Ideas

Workplaces, schools, bookstores, health clubs, supermarkets, bus stops – wherever people congregate, you’ll find a potential opportunity to present nutrition information.  Here are some ideas that have worked for others:

• Ask the city mayor or state governor to declare March "National Nutrition Month." A proclamation form will be available on the NNM Web page in January.
• Supply radio stations with healthy breakfast baskets. This may initiate an opportunity for on-air interviews with registered dietitians.
• Sponsor a fashion show and luncheon, and donate the proceeds to the local food bank.
• Conduct supermarket tours to provide label reading opportunities and information about healthy food choices.
• Promote National Nutrition Month on billboards.
• Set up a "nutrition station" at a shopping mall, staffed by registered dietitians and dietetic technicians, registered,  who answer questions on nutrition during lunch hour.
• Create a display of the MyPyramid — coupled with brown bags decorated with the Pyramid — and encourage people to take one and fill it with food for a local food bank.
• Sponsor a "fun run/walk," and use the donations to feed the hungry.
• Conduct a series of healthy weight and fitness sessions at the workplace, with “100% Fad Free!” t-shirts or other promotional items for all participants.
• Create a "nutrition quiz corner" at school or in the workplace with a nutrition question every day for the entire month of March. Contestants complete an answer form and place it in a box, which is emptied daily.  You may award a daily prize, or enter the name of every contestant who answered correctly in a weekly prize drawing. Prizes could be NNM promotional items.
• Conduct a "Fear Factor"-type event. Provide unusual vegetables and fruits cut into bite-size pieces. Offer an opportunity to taste and guess the food.
• In February, ask children to begin carefully saving empty food product boxes. In March, spend some time reading labels and comparing calories, fat, sugar content, vitamins, etc.  Expand this into a menu-planning opportunity, with children dividing into teams. See which group can plan the healthiest meal.
• Sponsor a canned food drive, and deliver the food to a homeless shelter or food depository.
• Create a "take one" box with a nutrition brochure, NNM bookmarks, Nutrition Fact Sheets, or MyPyramid handout.
• Organize a "healthy recipe" contest among employees. Have the judges be VIP’s from your workplace. Award NNM T-shirts, mugs or other items as prizes.
• Distribute coupons for discounts on a healthy meal featured in your cafeteria.
• Decorate the cafeteria with NNM materials.
• Have the cashier ask every 10th customer to tell them the NNM theme. Give those customers a discount on their meal, a NNM pencil, pen or button.
• Contact the local library and schedule a story time, movie, nutrition program or a poster/coloring contest for kids.
• Work with a local grocery store to promote NNM activities, such as a nutrition booth or development of a healthy food items shopping list.
• Send out an NNM "Tip of the Day" via e-mail to staff or clients.
• Check the link below for ideas: teamnutrition.usda.gov/Resources/popularevents.html

Resources:  Healthy recipes and key messages are available here:

http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/nutrition_4920_ENU_HTML.htm

For more information, go to www.eatright.org and click on National Nutrition Month.

CELEBRATING >32 YEARS OF NNM-Themes from those years

1973 Invest in Yourself - Buy Nutrition.
1974 Nutrition $aves.
1975 Food Fads Fool.
1976 Improving Nutrition for the Nation.
1977 Nutrition … Foodway to Fun and Fitness.
1978 Nutribird Says: Eat a Balanced Diet Every Day.
1979 Nutribird Says: Set the Pace! Take the Food Way for Good Nutrition.
1980 To Hit Your Stride … Eat Smart
1981 Pep Up Your Prime Time – Exercise … Eat Right … Enjoy.
1982 Invest Now … Nutrition is Up.
1983 Say Yes to Less (Less Fat, Less Salt, Less Sugar). Juggle the Foods You Eat.
1984 Everybody Wins With Good Nutrition.
1985 Food – It Even Sounds Nutritious.
1986 Good Nutrition – Feel the Difference.
1987 Good Nutrition – A Personal Choice.
1988 Choose Good Nutrition – For Today & Tomorrow
1989 A Lifetime Decision – Choose Good Nutrition.
1990 Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right.
1991 Bite Into a Healthy Life Style.
1992 Eat Right America! (Low-fat).
1993 Eat Right America! (Food guide Pyramid)
1994 Nutrition Fuels Fitness. (Eat Right America!)
1995 Discover Nutrition Anytime, Anywhere. (Eat Right America!)
1996 Enjoy the Variety of Food Choices. (Eat Right America!)
1997 All Foods Can Fit.
1998 Make Nutrition Come Alive. (It’s All About You.)
1999 Take A Fresh Look at Nutrition.
2000 Food & Fitness: Health for a Lifetime.
2001 Food & Fitness: Build a Healthy Lifestyle.
2002 Start Today for a Healthy Tomorrow
2003 Healthy Eating, Healthy You
2004 Eat Smart Stay Healthy
2005 Get a Taste for Nutrition
2006 Step Up to Nutrition and Health
2007 100% Fad Free