Southeast Elementary Celebrates National Nutrition Month

is taking part in National Nutrition Month (NNM), an educational campaign created by the American Dietetic Association (ADA) held each year throughout the month of March.

March 2011's theme is "Eat Right with Color."

Beth T. Gankofskie, Director of Food Services in Mansfield, says Southeast is doing "Produce of the Week," sponsored by the Southeast PTO with vegetables and fruit coming from , which is in collaboration with the School Lunch Program. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week throughout March the Food Service Dept. prepares a vegetable or a fruit snack for the whole school.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for all students to try new produce items in non-threatening environments and, often, students learn they like new foods when they try them during NNM," says Gankofskie.

Southeast Elementary PTO President Julie Brown says that the PTO provides the roughly $800 it costs to prepare three snacks per week for the whole school throughout March. 

The ADA states that the NNM campaign, which started out in 1973 as National Nutrition Week, serves the purpose of promoting healthy lifetyles that incorporate "informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits."

The ADA's website, EatRight.org, also addresses the issue of childhood obesity stating, "A key to reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity is good nutrition. Parents and care-givers play a vital role in children's nutrition: they teach children about healthy foods, practice what they teach and make sure physical activity is incorporated into each day."

Statistics released by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) for 2009 classified 20.6 percent of Connecticut's adults as being obese (a BMI of 30 or more), just over Washington, D.C. at 19.7 percent and Colorado at 18.6 percent. These statistics, which were provided from data gathered by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, show that Conn. was still in the 10 to 14 percent range a decade earlier in 1999.

There are a variety of factors that contribute to obesity; however, the CDC states that the greatest opportunity for prevention and treatment of obesity lies in behavior and environment.

Southeast Elementary PTO member Jessica Higham says, "I think that anytime you can replace one snack that's higher in fat or higher in sugar with a healthy alternative, you're doing something about childhood obesity."

Southeast Elementary's participation in NNM provides students with not only healthy snacks for lunch every week, but also an environment where kids can follow and develop patterns of healthy eating and healthy living.

The following is the fruit and vegetable snack calendar for the remainder of March: