State and Local Strategies

Improving nutrition throughout the lifespan helps reduce the risk of chronic disease. Two priority actions that state and local communities can take to improve nutrition are to make healthy food choices easier everywhere and to make breastfeeding easier to start and continue.

Additional priority strategies with nutrition components are strengthening obesity prevention standards in early care and education settings and increasing access to family healthy weight programs.

Make Healthy Food Choices Easier Everywhere

Two priority strategies are to promote food service and nutrition guidelines where food is sold, served, or distributed and expand fruit and vegetable voucher incentive and produce prescription programs. See these links for background, potential activities, resources, and examples of what others are doing:

• Food service and nutrition guidelines
• Fruit and vegetable vouchers and produce prescriptions

Also see:

• Food Service Guidelines for Federal Facilities
• Food Service Guidelines Implementation Toolkit
• Guidelines and recommendations
• Additional resources

Make Breastfeeding Easier To Start And Continue

Support breastfeeding in environments where families birth, live, work, play and raise children to make it easier to initiate and continue breastfeeding. This work can help eliminate disparities in breastfeeding rates.

The priority strategy for breastfeeding is to implement policies and activities that achieve continuity of care. For background information, potential activities, resources, and examples of what others are doing, see:

• Breastfeeding continuity of care

Also see:

• State and local strategies
• Guidelines and recommendations
• Additional resources

Strengthen Obesity Prevention Standards for ECE Settings

Promote children’s healthy growth and development in early care and education (ECE) by increasing access to healthy food and nutrition, breastfeeding support, Farm to ECE, and physical activity. States and communities can support children’s healthy growth and development in ECE at three levels: state systems, programs, and providers. ECE strategies may include Farm to ECE programs that increase access to nutritious foods with a hands-on approach to food, health and agriculture education.

For background information, potential activities, resources, and examples of what others are doing, see:

• Early care and education policies and activities

Also see:

• Advancing Farm to ECE
• Spectrum of Opportunities
• High-impact obesity prevention standards
• Additional resources

Increase Access to Family Healthy Weight Programs

Help children with obesity and their families access programs that help them incorporate healthy eating, stress reduction, optimal sleep, and increased physical activity into their daily behaviors. Making it easier to access these programs will help support healthy growth and help reduce the risk of chronic disease.

For background information, potential activities, resources, and examples of what others are doing, see:

• Implement, spread, and sustain Family Healthy Weight Programs

Also see:

• Family Healthy Weight Programs
• Clinical growth charts
• Best practice tools
• Community resources