Whole Grains - The Whole Truth!

The Whole Grain Guide, from Nutrition Action HealthLetter
(Check out "Whole Grains: The Inside Story", too!)

The Whole Truth on Whole Grains, from the Yale-New Haven Nutrition Advisor

Whole Grains: Hearty Options for a Healthy Diet, from MayoClinic.com

Carbohydrates: Good Carbs Guide the Way, from the Harvard School of Public Health's The Nutrition Source: Knowledge for Healthy Eating

Healthful Whole Grains!, by Mary Meck Higgins, Kansas State University

Carbohydrates: From Starches to Fiber; From Simple to Complex - a BrainPOP Movie
(Please note: Ask an IMC staff member for the User Name and Password you'll need to log in to BrainPOP.)

Healthy Choices: Selected Resources

Looking for ways to encourage your student to make diet and exercise choices that will foster his/her good health both now and in the future? Visit the links below:

Fun Fitness: Fitness Info. for Teens
This site, created by Children's Hospital Boston's Center for Young Women's Health and available in English and Spanish, offers health, nutrition and fitness information to teens and their parents, and to health professionals.

Healthy People, from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Visit this site for information, publications, and links to other helpful sites about a wide variety of health-related topics.

Healthy Me!: a Healthy Approach to Fitness, Family and Fun
This comprehensive site, created by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, offers a wealth of health and fitness information. Among its many terrific features are "Cool Tools", including: interactive Body Mass Index, Calorie Need, and Daily Nutrition calculators; the "Fitness Finder", with ideas on exercise activities that are compatible with every lifestyle; and animated guides, including "Atlas of the Human Body", "Fast Food Fact Finder", "Personal Trainer", "Test Your Serving-Size Smarts", and many more. This site is also available in both English and Spanish.

International Food Information Council Foundation
Among this site's many features are a terrific Questions & Answers section, a glossary of food-related terms, educational booklets and brochures, and selected full-text articles from Food Insight, IFIC's bimonthly newsletter.

Kidnetic.com
This IFIC site, designed for use by kids, includes "Wet Head Games" (games that'll make 'em work up a sweat), "Betchacant", and other fitness challenges, and "Recipe Round Up", featuring tasty, tempting, and healthy meal and snack recipes, with clear preparation and cooking instructions. (Favorites here include "Gross Out Delights" - "Blood & Guts Soup", "Insect-Infested Logs", "Sawed-Off Thumbs", and many more!)

KidsHealth
This incredibly comprehensive site, created and maintained by the Nemours Foundation, invites a user to choose from three detailed websites:
KidsHealth
Categories here include Dealing With Feelings, Staying Healthy, Recipes, Everyday Illnesses & Injuries, My Body, Growing Up, Kids Talk, Watch Out, Game Closet, Word! A Glossary of Medical Terms, and Health Problems for Grown-Ups. "What's Hot", "the Daily Brain Buzz", "In the Spotlight", and "Big Question" will be popular among students who use this site.
TeensHealth
This section includes such categories as Your Body (featuring subcategories such as "Body Beautiful" - Acne, Body Piercing, Weight/Dieting, Tattoos and more; and "Taking Care of Your Body" - Backpack Basics, Fitness, "Liz's Story", How Much Sleep do I Need?, Why Exercise is Wise, and more), Your Mind, Food & Fitness, Recipes, Questions & Answers, Diseases & Conditions, Staying Safe, and others. "Hot Topics" and the "Featured Article" will be of interest to teens who visit this site.
Parents
Categories available here include General Health, Emotions & Behavior, Growth & Development, Nutrition & Fitness, Positive Parenting, In the News, and more.

MyPyramid.gov
This comprehensive resource, created by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, offers an excellent overview of each of the food groups (grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, and meat & beans) in the revised pyramid, including examples and suggested daily amounts. "My Pyramid Plan" allows a user to enter his/her age, sex and level of physical activity, to learn how much to eat each day from each of the food groups.
Let "My Pyramid Tracker", an online tool designed to assess a user's diet and level of physical activity, offer feedback on the quality of your diet and activity level, and provide links to useful information about nutrients, physical activity, and more. This site is available in both English and Spanish.
Another interesting link:
A New Shape for the Old Pyramid? (from KidsHealth)

Nutrition Explorations: the Fun and Easy Way to Teach and Learn Nutrition
Recipe ideas, the Nutrition Tracker, and information about the Got Breakfast? essay contest are available at this site.

Shape Up America!: Healthy Weight for Life
How much daily exercise is enough? 10,000 steps! Learn about the benefits of walking, and check out the
Tips for Family Fitness Fun, Breakfast Benefits, and other useful resources available at this site.

Physical Activity and Health: Adolescents and Young Adults, a Report of the Surgeon General, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
This report features information and facts about physical activity among young Americans.

"A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned." -- Learning About Personal Finance

"A penny saved is a penny earned." -- Benjamin Franklin (from the Independence Hall Association - ushistory.org)

Learn more about managing your money today and planning for your future by visiting the links blow. It's never too early to start!

JumpStart! Financial Smarts for Students
Learn how much it really costs to live - paying rent, making those car payments, budgeting for food and clothes, and supporting your hobbies and interests - on your own. Take a brief online test, and find out how much you'd need to make each week in order to support your lifestyle!

Feeling Good About You: Building Self-Esteem

Self-esteem affects our lives in every way, including the grades we earn in school, our relationships with family and friends, and our overall quality of life. To learn more, visit the links below:

Building Self-Esteem (from Discovery School)
This lesson plan for students in grades 6-8 includes a personal inventory, designed to help students better understand themselves, and discussion questions.

How Can I Improve My Self-Esteem?
This site features an informative article for adults, and another, "Body Image and Self-Esteem", for students.

National Association for Self-Esteem
Among the many resources available at this site are the article "The True Meaning Of Self-Esteem", by Robert Reasoner, FAQs, and "Rate Your Self-Esteem", a self-guided tour.

Self-Esteem (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
This article includes a discussion about the effects of self-esteem on personal relationships, and about the relationship between self-esteem and bullying and violence. It also features links to other resources.

The Self-Esteem Institute
This site offers a discussion of the symptoms of low self-esteem, and the signs of confidence and healthy self-esteem.