According to the Centers for Disease Control, the prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 has more than doubled in the past 20 years, from 6.5% in 1980 to 17.0% in 2006. The rate among adolescents aged 12 to 19 more than tripled, increasing from 5% to 17.6%. Helping children understand the importance of diet and exercise now can reduce their risk for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, cancer, and osteoarthritis as adults.

Some fun ways for teachers to help reinforce good eating habits include:

• Introduce the Food Guide Pyramid, explaining the number of servings suggested for each food group.
• Ask students to record what they eat and drink for a specified amount of time, preferably a week or more.
• After each day, have students place foods they’ve consumed into the proper food groups.
• Have students check their food records for balance. Are their diets out of balance?
• Have students write about what they would do to change their diets to come up with a better balance.

Team Nutrition, at the USDA has a variety of information about the food guide pyramid, including sample lesson plans, available online at MyPyramid.gov.