·         Have you gotten your FLU SHOT yet? PCHD is now offering flu shots for $10. Come down today and give yourself a healthy present this year!

World Breastfeeding Week 2011

August 1-7 is designated each year as World Breastfeeding Week by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and the entire month of August is designated Missouri Breastfeeding Month. The theme for this year is “Talk to Me, Support Me!” The objective of this year’s theme is to draw attention to how communication is an essential part in protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed for about the first 6 months of life. This means your baby needs no additional foods (except Vitamin D) or fluids unless medically indicated. Babies should continue to breastfeed for a year and for as long as is mutually desired by the mother and baby. Breastfeeding should be supported by your physician for as long as it is the right choice for you and your baby.

June is Dairy Month

The Dairy Group includes milk, yogurt, cheese, and fortified soymilk

Provides calcium, vitamin D, potassium, protein, and other nutrients needed for good health throughout life
Choices should be low-fat or fat-free - to cut calories and saturated fat

How much is needed?
Older children, teens, and adults need 3 cups a day
Children 4 to 8 years old need 2 1/2 cups
Children 2 to 3 years old need 2 cups

What counts as a cup in the Dairy Group?
1 cup of milk or yogurt
1 1/2 ounces of natural cheese, or 2 ounces of processed cheese

Try these Recipes:

Easy to Please Breakfast Yogurt Parfait
Ingredients:
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup crunchy low-fat cereal or granola divided
1/2 cup fresh fruit, sliced (i.e. strawberries, blueberries, bananas)
Preparation:
Spoon half of the yogurt in the bottom of a bowl or tall glass
Add 2T. cereal and 1/2 cup fruit
Spoon rest of yogurt and top with remaining 2T. of cereal
Substitution Idea:
Use any favorite flavor of yogurt as a base. Can also substitute canned fruit (drained) for fresh fruit

Peanut Butter and Banana Breakfast Shake
Ingredients:
1 cup of fat-free or 1% low-fat chocolate milk
1/2 cup banana slices
1T. peanut butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a blender; blend until smooth and creamy.
Serve in a tall glass or on-the-go drink container

From MyPyramid to MyPlate

June 2, 2001 - First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled the federal government's new food icon, MyPlate, to serve as a reminder to help consumers make healthier food choices. MyPlate is a new generation icon with the intent to prompt consumers to think about building a healthy plate at meal times and to seek information to help do that by going to http://www.choosemyplate.gov/  The new MyPlate icon emphasizes the fruit, vegetable, grains, protein and dairy food groups.

2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans -

Guidelines Messages Include:

Balance Calories

Enjoy your food, but eat less
Avoid oversized portions

Foods to Increase
Make half your plate fruits and vegetables
Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk

Make at least healf your grains whole grains

Foods to Reduce

Compare sodium (salt) in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals, and choose foods with lower numbers

Drink water instead of sugary drinks

Recipes and nutrition information for National Nutrition Month!

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National Nutrition Month Recipe and update

Tropical Green Smoothie


1c. green seedless grapes
1c. baby spinach leaves
1 (6oz) container low fat vanilla yogurt
1 frozen banana sliced into chunks
1/2c. crushed pineapple

Directions: Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Serves 2 people.

Calories 232
carbohydrates 49 grams
vitamin A 76% daily value
vitamin C 52% daily value
fiber 4 grams or 16% daily value
This recipe is courtesy of University of Missouri Extension
Enjoy!!


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March is National Nutrition Month. The 2011 theme is Eat Right With Color. Each week we will be sending a message that will highlight the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables of a specific color and offer a healthy recipe. In honor of National Nutrition Month, our WIC staff challenges everyone to try and make just one positive dietary change this month.

The PCHD WIC Staff


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February is Dental Health Month

Your Child's Smile

Nothing is sweeter than your child's smile. This smile starts with healthy teeth.

• Help your child brush and floss teeth until 6 or 7 years old.
• Brush teeth twice a day, in the morning and before bedtime.
• Offer water between snacks and meals.
• Don't let your child go to bed with a bottle or sippy cup.
• Don't let your toddler walk around the house with a sippy cup.
• Wean your toddler from the bottle by 1 year of age.
• Have 2 to 3 planned snacks during the day. Snacking all day long is not good for your child's teeth and can cause cavities.

February is American Heart Month

Have you taken care of your heart today? Cardiovascular diseases are the biggest killer in the United States and February is American Heart Month. February is declared to be American Heart Month in order to draw more attention to cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke.


Part of taking care of your heart includes eating healthy foods and watching your weight.

Ten Foods for a Healthy Heart:
Dietary advice for reducing heart disease risk includes eating a balanced diet with less saturated fat from red meats, more fresh fruits and vegetables, more fish, less sugar, more fiber and for many people, fewer total calories. Then you can make your heart and the rest of your cardiovascular system even healthier by adding more of these foods:

Salmon                                Red Wine (In moderation 4-8oz/day)
Olive Oil                              Whole Grains
Oats                                    Green Leafy Vegetables
Apples                                 Tomatoes
Almonds                              Soy

Surgeon General Issues Support for Community Breastfeeding Initiatives

Breastfeeding Will Gain National Support as WIC Strategic Plan is Released to Improve State and Local WIC Clinic Breastfeeding Services
WASHINGTON, DC, 21 January 2011 — Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin released “The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding” on January 20, which defined evidence-based strategies for communities to promote breastfeeding and reduce barriers that new mothers face. The issuance aligns with the release of the National WIC Association’s (NWA) Breastfeeding Strategic Plan to encourage all WIC programs to improve breastfeeding initiation and duration rates. State and local WIC clinics will aim to increase breastfeeding rates through NWA’s “Six Steps to Achieve Breastfeeding Goals for WIC Clinics,” which promote breastfeeding as the infant feeding norm, provide breastfeeding-friendly environments, ensure access to well-trained breastfeeding clinic staff, develop procedures to accommodate breastfeeding mothers and babies, train all clinic staff members to become breastfeeding counselors and advocates, and support exclusive breastfeeding through assessment, evaluation, and assistance.

“The National WIC Association is proud of WIC’s role in promoting breastfeeding to the nation, indeed WIC breastfeeding rates have been on the rise since 1990 and NWA’s Breastfeeding Strategic Plan and Six Steps to Achieve Breastfeeding Goals for WIC Clinics will help to assure WIC’s role as the nation’s go to source for breastfeeding promotion and support,” said the Rev. Douglas A. Greenaway, NWA’s President & CEO. “Moreover, exclusive breastfeeding plays a key role in reducing childhood overweight and obesity, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), respiratory ailments, allergies, ear infections, along with many other illnesses, and has been linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and certain breast and ovarian cancers for breastfeeding mothers.”

WIC serves children to age five, including roughly 50% of all infants born in the United States. And 61% of WIC participants reside in families with incomes below the poverty level. WIC helps to ensure infants’ and children’s normal growth, reduces levels of anemia, increases immunization rates, improves access to regular health care and social services and improves diets.

NWA endorses breastfeeding as the optimal nutrition choice through the first year of a child’s life and promotes the associated health benefits for the mother and infant. NWA is the education arm and the advocacy voice of the 9 million mothers and young children who participate in WIC and the nation’s 12,200 WIC service provider agencies. NWA is in full support of “The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding” to reduce barriers in communities for women who want to breastfeed.

National WIC Association Washington Update

President Issues Breastfeeding Workplace Accommodations Memo for Federal Government


Washington, DC, 21 December 2010 – President Barrack Obama issued a Memorandum yesterday to the Director of the Office of Personnel Management requesting that the Office develop new guidelines for "appropriate workplace accommodations" for federal employees who are nursing mothers.

The Order, required by the Affordable Care Act mandating new breastfeeding rights primarily for hourly workers in the private and public sectors, requests that the federal government take a further step by establishing new guidelines for all federal employees, no matter their status.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, established special nursing rooms in 2007 for House staffers. Senate offices and committees must make similar breastfeeding accommodations for staffers.

Much of the original Breastfeeding Promotion Act sponsored by NWA Leadership Award Recipient Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-OR, that ensured that women cannot be discriminated against or fired for breastfeeding or pumping breast milk during breaks or lunch and provided tax breaks to employers who establish special rooms for breastfeeding mothers or that rent lactation-related equipment was incorporated into the Affordable Care Act.