National Nutrition Month ® 2005 Event Ideas

Step Up to Nutrition & Health

The National Nutrition Month campaign reinforces the importance of nutrition as a key component of good health, along with physical activity.

Key Messages for NNM 2006:

  • The food and physical activity choices made today -- and every day -- affect your health and how you feel today and in the future. Eating right and being physically active are keys to a healthy lifestyle.

  • Make smart choices from every food group. Give your body the balanced nutrition it needs by eating a variety of nutrient-packed foods every day. Just be sure to stay within your daily calorie needs.

  • Get the most nutrition out of your calories. Choose the most nutritionally rich foods you can from each food group each day -- those packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients but lower in calories.

  • Find your balance between food and physical activity. Regular physical activity is important for your overall health and fitness, plus it helps control body weight, promotes a feeling of well-being, and reduces the risk of chronic diseases.
  • Play it safe with foods. Prepare, handle and store food properly to keep you and your family safe. 

Food & Nutrition Fair

A food and nutrition fair is always a popular event to celebrate National Nutrition Month. It can be adapted to many different settings such as a school gym, a church, community center, library meeting room or health care facility. Some suggested activities for a food and nutrition fair are described below. If you’re looking for a different type of event, page down for additional event suggestions.

Suggested activities for a food and nutrition fair:

  • Eating the Rainbow
    Use "Eating the Rainbow" as a theme and provide examples of colorful fruits and vegetables that are yellow, orange, red, green, blue and purple. Give tips on including more fruits and vegetables in meals and snacks.

  • Voting Booth
    Ask participants to vote for their favorite vegetable or fruit. Post a tally board to record votes. Use a vegetable or fruit theme for booth decorations.

  • Sizing It Up Display
    Set up a display with food models and household items to represent food portion sizes. Let participants try to match up foods with the appropriate serving size item.

  • Easy Moves for Couch Potatoes
    Recruit a trainer to demonstrate/teach easy tips for increasing physical activity using items available around the house. Or, ask a yoga instructor to provide a demonstration.

  • Guess the Protein
    Have a jar filled with dried beans and ask "How many grams of protein?" or "How many ounces of meat does it equal?" Give a NNM prize or a copy of ADA's "Complete Food and Nutrition Guide."

More National Nutrition Month Event Ideas

Workplaces, schools, bookstores, health clubs, supermarkets, bus stops -- wherever people congregate, you'll find a potential opportunity to present nutrition information. Here are some ideas that have worked for others:

  • Ask the city mayor or state governor to declare March "National Nutrition Month." A proclamation form is available on the NNM Web page. 
  • Supply radio stations with healthy breakfast baskets. This may initiate an opportunity for on-air interviews with registered dietitians. 
  • Sponsor a fashion show and luncheon, and donate the proceeds to the local food bank.
  • Conduct supermarket tours to provide label reading opportunities and information about healthy food choices.
  • Promote National Nutrition Month on billboards.
  • Set up a "nutrition station" at a shopping mall, staffed by registered dietitians who answer questions on nutrition during lunch hour.
  • Create a display of the MyPyramid -- coupled with brown bags decorated with the Pyramid -- and encourage people to take one and fill it with food for a local food bank. 
  • Sponsor a "fun run/walk," and use the donations to feed the hungry.
  • Conduct a series of healthy weight and fitness sessions at the workplace, with "Step Up to Nutrition & Health" t-shirts or other promotional items for all participants.
  • Create a "nutrition quiz corner" at school or in the workplace with a nutrition question every day for the entire month of March. Contestants complete an answer form and place it in a box, which is emptied daily. You may award a daily prize, or enter the name of every contestant who answered correctly in a weekly prize drawing. Prizes could be NNM promotional items. 
  • Conduct a "Fear Factor-type" event. Provide unusual vegetables and fruits cut into bite-size pieces. Offer an opportunity to taste and guess the food.
  • In February, ask children to begin carefully saving empty food product boxes. In March, spend some time reading labels and comparing calories, fat, sugar content, vitamins, etc. Expand this into a menu-planning opportunity, with children dividing into teams. See which group can plan the healthiest meal. 
  • Sponsor a canned food drive, and deliver the food to a homeless shelter or food depository.
  • Create a "take one" box with a nutrition brochure, NNM bookmarks, Nutrition Fact Sheets, or MyPyramid handout.
  • Organize a "healthy recipe" contest among employees. Have the judges be VIP's from your workplace. Award NNM t-shirts, mugs or other items as prizes. 
  • E-mail muhrick@eatright.org to receive a "Food Group Password" game file (free).
  • Distribute coupons for discounts on a healthy meal featured in your cafeteria.
  • Decorate the cafeteria with NNM materials. Have the cashier ask every 10th customer to tell them the NNM theme. Give those customers a discount on their meal, a NNM pencil, pen or button.
  • Contact the local library and schedule a story time, movie, nutrition program or a poster/coloring contest for kids.
  • Work with a local grocery store to promote NNM activities, such as a nutrition booth or development of a healthy food items shopping list.
  • Send out a NNM "Tip of the Day" via e-mail to staff or clients.

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