June 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 62

R E C R E AT I O N A L P R O G R A M S

Handouts and
activity sheets
" helped the kids to
remember a lot of the
material they were
learning. "
- Staff, Chicago, Illinois

junk foods from recreation facilities, effectively making them
" no-junk-food zones. " Relatedly,
vending machines were not accessible during program times, or at
least were available only in a limited manner. Other policies required
certain amounts of daily physical
activity. Staff repeatedly reported
having policies to back them up
helped them make healthy environmental changes and resulted in real
health improvements among participating children.
Guidance for Planning and Creating Nutritious OST Meals
As mentioned above, one of the
core components of Commit to
Health is the provision of nutritious
meals through USDA meal programs. In fact, as the graphic herein
shows, 20 million meals were provided to children in 2015 at Commit to Health recreation sites! As
staff planned and created menus,
or worked with their meal providers and vendors on these activities,
they used the HEPA meal standards
as a guide. Thus, menu planners
had nuanced information on how
to ensure the meals were created
according to very high nutritional
standards - lower in sodium and
added sugars, and richer in whole
grains, good proteins, fruits and
60 Parks & Recreation

vegetables. This guidance resulted
in real changes to meals in OST
programs that were already serving
meals, and helped those starting up
summer and afterschool meal programs plan and create menus in the
most nutritious way possible.
Children recognized the meal
changes and appreciated the variety
of foods provided - some even recognized their nutrition lessons in the
meals served to them. " Everything
seemed to fall into a MyPlate category, " one child recalled of his experiential food education in Jackson,
Tennessee.

" Learning how
to prepare the
meals helps them feel
independent and then
they can do it at home. "
- Staff, Tallahassee, Florida

| J U N E 2 0 1 6 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G

Leading Nutrition Literacy
Programming
The Commit to Health
Nutrition Literacy program
comprises
a
multifaceted set of
educational activities
and tools that engage
children and adults
in fun, experiential
health
promotion
activities. In 2015,
lessons and associated
recommended activities
were provided by NRPA
to recreation providers according to grade level (K-2
and grades 3-5) and topic. Many
nutrition literacy items provided
in 2015 were free and available for
download. The food lessons taught
were also translated into the home
as children requested that their parents buy and prepare new foods
tasted at camp. Similarly, gardening
education and planting activities
led by recreation providers instilled
confidence in many children, who
then encouraged their families to
plant gardens.
Integrating tools from the USDA
MyPlate program ramped up nutrition literacy efforts in 2015. These
were mentioned by recreation providers as a " key success " of the
educational program that helped
children recognize proteins, grains,
fruits, veggies and dairy.
Developing Physical
Activity Guidelines
The focus on physical activity that
is central to Commit to Health led
park and recreation staff members to
be more targeted in their leadership
of this component. Some recreation
sites created a focus on indoor physical activity offerings that they did
not provide in the past, which created opportunities for staying active

June 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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