Healthy Eating & Physical Activity

Children’s Nutrition Research Center
Provides an interactive healthy eating calculator, BMI and energy calculators.

Project R.E.A.D (Read, Eat, and Do Together!)
Offers an educational program that helps families develop reading & writing skills while promoting healthy eating, eating together as a family and parent/child interaction.

Quick and Healthy Meals
Easy to prepare recipes, fun activities, snack ideas and healthy tips for you and your family to stay healthy.

Iowa Department of Public Health, Bureau of Nutrition and Health Promotion
Offers a variety of nutrition related resources and available programs regarding nutrition and health.

Portion Proportion
Provides information on how to choose proper food portions or sizes and what these portions should look like.

Pick a Better Snack
Offers a variety of campaigns, events and resources regarding healthy snack options through an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption.

Nutrition and Fitness
Provides topics and answers to questions dealing with proper nutrition & adequate physical activity for children.

Food Guide Pyramid
Describes the new food guide pyramid and provides ways to understand what the words, colors and pictures within it mean.

Healthy Eating for Families
Provides five strategies to help improve and encourage smart eating habits and the importance of family meals.

Explore the World of Nutrition with Nutrition Exploration
Provides information on the five food groups, the food guide pyramid, combinations of different food groups, nutrition contests and activities, as well as a kids panel.  

Food for Fitness and Fun
Easy to prepare recipes, fun activities, snack ideas, and healthy tips to help you and your family stay fit.

We Can! Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition
Offers parents and families tips and fun activities to encourage healthy eating, increase physical activity and reduce sedentary or screen time.

Parent Nutrition Tips
Provides resources on food & nutrition, food safety, gardening with your kids, healthy meal tips, infant feeding and physical activity.

Resource Library: Infant Feeding
Provides information on infant development, nutrition for infants, breastfeeding and formula feeding, preventing tooth decay, feeding solid foods, drinking from a cup, choking prevention, sanitary food preparation and safe food handling.

Helping your Overweight Child
Healthy eating and physical activity habits are key to your child's well-being. You can take an active role in helping your child— your whole family— healthy eating and physical activity habits that can last for a lifetime.

Team Nutrition
Offers nutrition & physical activity lessons and policies & best practices for early childhood settings, healthy snacks, the dietary guidelines and other related resources.

Iowa State University Parent Food, Recipe, and Activity of the Week
Features a healthy food choice, recipe, and physical activity each week.

Iowa State University Extension Food Fitness and Fun
Provides recipes, activities, food safety information,and seasonal healthy food choices.

Iowa Public Television Health Minutes
Offers a fun way for kids to eat healthy by tracking his/her food choices and other games for kids.

Five A Day
Provides a guide to eating healthy fruits and vegetables by color. Also provides other resources like a food pyramid for kids.

Fruit and Veggies: More Matters
Provides recipe ideas, ways to get kids involved in cooking, tips on planning and preparing healthy meals and healthy resources related to the importance of fruits and vegetables.

Small Step Kids!
Designed for kids to show the benefits from eating healthy. Includes a quiz, activities, and games designed for kids.

National Action for Healthy Kids
Provides information on advocating for children's wellness. Find out the improvements being made to children's wellness in each state.

Eat Smart. Play Hard
A site by USDA that provides fun tools for kids and parents as well as other educational materials.

American Heart Association
Provides information on how to keep your heart healthy. Resources are for parents and kids.

Fruit and Veggie Fun
Order a CD of fruit and veggie songs to encourage others to eat healthy.

Publications
Food and Nutrition Choices for Health: Raising Healthy Kids
Designed to help parents, communities and childcare providers address questions about nutrition and physical activity issues during childhood.

Iowa State University Extension Nutrition for Kids
Provides publications you can order or download from your computer (Adobe PDF) on topics such as feeding your baby, breastfeeding, food & fitness, making baby food and understanding the food guide pyramid.

Physical Activity for Everyone
Provides information on how to get children engaged in physical activity so they can meet the recommended daily amount and the positive effects physical activity has on a child.