Personal health and wellness is a journey in which everyone progresses at their own pace. The opportunity to make healthy eating choices is based on knowing what those choices are, strategies to promote those healthy choices and setting goals to make healthier choices. Traditionally, ECE professionals focus on the health and wellness of the children in their care with little attention to their personal wellness. This module provides information and strategies to make and model healthy choices, create a healthy food environment, and navigate the food environment in a healthier way. (4 hours)
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Course objectives
- Impact on children: Relate the importance of personal health and wellness for the ECE professional to how it impacts the promotion of healthy choices for children.
- Influence of food culture, marketing, and industry: Identify how food marketing, food culture, and the food industry impact the ability to make healthy food choices.
- Strategies for healthier food choices: List strategies to raise self-awareness about personal healthier food choices that can then be used to educate children and families to also recognize healthier food choices.
- Food guidance: Examine how nutrition recommendations are established.
- Relationship of food to health: Describe the importance of healthy food choices on overall well-being, chronic disease prevention, and long-term health.
- Mindful eating: List one action step to adopt a more mindful approach to healthy eating.
- Food culture and environment reform: Review existing evidence-informed methods to improve the food culture and environment within the ECE setting.
- Healthy food environment action plan: Plan one activity to address environmental change within the ECE program including family engagement.
- Personal health: Assess personal health practices that influence the well-being of the ECE professional.
- Healthy eating action plan: Select one or two personal health goals with strategies for implementation.
