Parents and caregivers know that feeding toddlers can be a daunting job. In fact, somewhere between 20% and 50% of children in the United States are described by their parents as being “picky” eaters (Wright et al. 2007). Many toddlers are reluctant to try certain foods or tend to avoid any new food that is put in front of them; there’s even a name for this condition: neophobia (Dovey et al. 2007).

Children across America now have their own kid-friendly version of the government’s online MyPyramid Food Guidance System. Appropriately titled MyPyramid for Kids, the new website (www.mypyramid.gov/kids/index.html) offers these features: a nifty graphic symbol designed to appeal to kids aged 6–11 lesson p...

Kids learn by example, right? Most are not getting food education in school, and with the family home-cooked meal becoming an anachronism in our fast-paced lives, where will they learn food rules for life—or at least get a framework for healthy eating habits?Carole Carson, author of From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction (Hound 2007), has gathered these free interactive kids’ nutrition resources to help teach kids the basics about nutrition. Pass them along to your clients as a handout, or post them on your facility walls.

Scope of practice for fitness professionals, particularly on diet and nutrition issues, can be a sticky wicket. You may know a lot about diet and nutrition, but where do you draw the line on what you can and cannot share with clients? When should you refer? Two dietitians (Jenna A.

Scope of practice for fitness professionals, particularly on diet and nutrition issues, can be a sticky wicket. You may know a lot about diet and nutrition, but where do you draw the line on what you can and cannot share with clients? When should you refer? Two dietitians (Jenna A. Bell, PhD, RD, LD, and Scott Josephson, MS, RD) and two fitness professionals (Nicki Anderson and Brett Klika) met in a panel discussion on this topic at the 2010 IDEA World Fitness Convention™ in August and did their best to clarify the fine line we must walk to stay in scope.

Clients often ask fitness professionals questions about nutrition, since the topic is closely related to exercise. While it may be appropriate to educate clients about foods and diets, sometimes it is best to defer to a dietitian (Muth 2009). But when a nutrition expert is not on-hand or clients cannot afford one, they may turn to the Web for answers.

Did you know that heart disease is the leading killer of females in America? Not only does heart disease kill more women than men each year, but females who survive a cardiac event fare much worse than their male counterparts. Yet many women fail to recognize the toll that cardiovascular disease (CVD) can take on their bodies, and thus fail to do what is necessary to reduce the risk of getting ...

Eating well used to be as easy as counting from 1 to 3: Until recently, most families followed the traditional pattern of eating three square meals a day. But now, more and more harried adults and children are opting for a much more irregular pattern of meal and snack con­sumption. Some of that irregularity can certainly be attributed to our hectic lifestyles. ...