Nutrition Tools and Resources
These tools and resources will help families and communities better understand nutrition and how it relates to maintaining a healthy weight. These resources are divided in the following sub-categories:
- Nutrition Basics
- Portions and Servings
- Budgets and Grocery Shopping
- Cooking and Recipes
- Milk and Milk Products
- Diabetes Resources
- Nutrition Related Curricula
Note: Documents in PDF format require the Adobe Acrobat Reader®. If you experience problems with PDF documents, please download the latest version of the Reader®.
Nutrition Basics
Families Finding the Balance: A Parent Handbook
Offers practical tips from We Can!® to help parents help their families find the right balance of eating well and being physically active to maintain a healthy weight. The Parent Handbook received the 2005 NIH Plain Language Award for an Outstanding Plain Language Product.
- Families Finding the Balance: A Parent Handbook (1.5 MB)
- Available in Spanish: ¡Nosotros Podemos! Familias Encontrando el Balance: Manual para Padres (1.9 MB) or you can order the Spanish-language version online.
- You can also order the handbook online.
Portion Size Matters
Learn why portion size matters and how you can eat smaller portions.
- Portion Size Matters (111 KB)
Get Started! Eating Healthy and Moving More
Try these tips from We Can! to eat well and move more and see how easy taking small steps toward a healthier life can be.
Help Your Kids Eat Healthy and Move More
Find tips for teaching your children to eat healthy and to be more active.
Eat Healthy, Move More Chart
Use this chart to track what your family is doing to eat healthy and move more each week.
- Eat Healthy, Move More Chart (122 KB)
Making Healthier Food Choices
Find tips to help you make healthier food choices for your family when eating in or dining out.
- Making Healthier Food Choices (1.3 MB)
Secrets to Making Healthy and Fun School Lunches
Use this We Can! tip sheet to learn how to create healthy and unique school lunches that your kids will look forward to eating.
We Can! Fats and Oils To Choose Tip Sheet
Help your family eat better and balanced meals by choosing fats and oils that are low in saturated fats. Use this tip sheet to learn what products are low in saturated fats‚ trans fats‚ and cholesterol.
We Can! How Much Sugar and Calories Are in Your Favorite Drink?
Many people don't realize just how much sugar and calories beverages contain. Use this tip sheet to help your family make smart beverage choices by substituting no- or low-calorie drinks for sugar-sweetened beverages.
We Can! Parent Tips: Using the Nutrition Facts Label
Most packaged foods have a Nutrition Facts label. Use this resource to help make smart food choices quickly and easily.
We Can! Parent Tips: Picky Eaters
Turn the picky eater in your family into a healthy eater using these tips.
- We Can! Parent Tips: Picky Eaters (1.8 MB)
We Can! GO, SLOW, and WHOA Tip Sheet
This tip sheet explains the difference between "Go Foods," "Slow Foods," and "Whoa Foods." You can eat Go Foods almost anytime. Eat Slow Foods less often, and eat Whoa Foods only once in a while or on special occasions.
- We Can! GO, SLOW, and WHOA Tip Sheet (136 KB)
- Available in Spanish: We Can! Alimentos para consumir siempre, de vez en cuando y raramente (176 KB)
U R What U Eat
This kid-friendly, easy-to-read chart from We Can! has vibrant colors and graphic images that will help children understand which types of foods are nutritious and can be consumed freely (Go), which ones they need to eat less often (Slow), and which ones they need to eat least often (Whoa).
- U R What U Eat (2.3 MB)
Do You Know Your GO, SLOW, and WHOA Foods: Short "Community News Feature"
This short "matte article" from We Can! explains the difference between "Go Foods," "Slow Foods," and "Whoa Foods." It is a prewritten news story with a graphic or photos included that can be distributed to print media. It is also great for newsletters and hand-outs.
We Can! Weekly Meal Planner
Use this tool to help plan healthier meals for your family. It also includes ideas for healthier breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.
- We Can! Weekly Meal Planner (124 KB)
Take Charge of Your Health: A Guide For Teenagers
A booklet from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases that is designed to help teenagers take small and simple steps to keep a healthy weight. It provides basic facts about nutrition and physical activity, and offers practical tools to use in everyday life, from reading food labels and selecting how much and what foods to eat, to replacing TV time with physical activities.
- Take Charge of Your Health: A Guide For Teenagers (HTML)
- PDF (2 MB)
Portions and Servings
Healthy Snacks—100 Calories or Less
Find ideas for tasty and healthy snacks that will help you and your family stay at a healthy weight.
Portion Distortion Quiz
This interactive two-part quiz from the NHLBI tests your knowledge about how today's portions compare to the portions available 20 years ago. It also tests your understanding of the amount of physical activity required to burn off the extra calories provided by today's portions.
Portion Distortion Slide Sets
NHLBI offers these slide sets for public use. The slides can be downloaded for use in computer slide shows, conventional slide presentations, or for online viewing via the Web site.
- Slide Set 1 | PowerPoint (708KB)| PDF (519 KB)
- Slide Set 2 | PowerPoint (1 MB)| PDF (561 KB)
Larger Portion Sizes Contribute to U.S. Obesity Problem: Short “Matte” Article
This short article from We Can! explains that larger portion sizes have contributed to the U.S. obesity problem. A matte article is a prewritten story with a graphic or photo. You can give it to newspapers or other print media. You can also distribute it to share information about nutrition.
Budgets and Grocery Shopping
Save Money By Cooking Smarter
This resource offers tips for cooking healthy meals for your family on a tight budget and healthy cooking and baking substitutions.
- Save Money By Cooking Smarter (125 KB)
Compare and Save: Eat Healthy, Spend Less
Find examples of how healthy meals and snacks can save you calories and money.
At the Store - Save Money and Shop Healthy
Find examples of how healthy meals and snacks can save you calories and money.
Eat Healthy, Save Money: Short “Matte” Article
This short article from We Can! explains how eating healthy can save your family money. It is a prewritten news story with a graphic or photos included that can be distributed to print media. It is also great for newsletters and hand-outs.
- Eat Healthy, Save Money: Short “Matte” Article (HTML)
- PDF (266 KB)
Cooking and Recipes
Keep the Beat™ Deliciously Healthy Eating
This new Web page from the NHLBI features recipes from the Keep the Beat™ Deliciously Healthy Dinners recipe book, as well as instructional video clips, a food preparation glossary, food safety tips, and more.
Secrets to Making Healthy and Fun School Lunches
Learn tips (and secrets) on how to keep lunchtime healthy and fun for kids. This tip sheet provides creative ideas and information on how to pack school lunches that kids will look forward to eating.
We Can! Parent Tips: Cooking With Children
Learn how to cook with your children because it is a good way to help them develop healthy eating habits. Most children enjoy helping in the kitchen. This resource was adapted from the “With Every Heartbeat Is Life: A Community Health Worker’s Manual for African Americans,” produced by the NHLBI.
Keep the Beat Cookbook
As the recipes in this special NHLBI collection show, you do not have to lose flavor to gain heart health and "keep the beat." Enjoy "Crispy Oven-Fried Chicken," "Red Hot Fusilli," "Crunchy Pumpkin Pie," and a "Summer Breezes Smoothie." Contains more than 100 pages of tempting heart healthy, taste-tested recipes sure to please you and your family. Turn your meals from "ho-hum" to "yum-yum" experiences.
- Keep the Beat Cookbook (HTML)
- PDF (1.9 MB)
A Taste of Five a Day Cookbook
This cookbook contains a collection of recipes from church members who participated in the Black Churches United for Better Health Project. This was a campaign that encouraged Americans to eat more fruit and vegetable servings a day to help prevent cancer and other chronic diseases. Recipes that meet all of the guidelines to increase fruits and vegetables, while being low in fat and sodium are included.
- A Taste of Five a Day Cookbook (2.1 MB)
Heart Healthy Home Cooking African American Style
Prepare your favorite African American dishes in ways that protect you and your family from heart disease and stroke. This NHLBI cookbook provides recipes for 26 tested and tasty favorite African American dishes. Recipes give nutrient analyses that include carbohydrates and protein. Also covers heart healthy food substitutions and food safety.
Milk and Milk Products
Milk Matters! For Strong Bones… For Lifelong Health…
This 16-page booklet is part of the Milk Matters campaign developed by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). It explains that young people ages 11 to 18 need calcium and physical activity to build strong bones that last a lifetime. The booklet also lists foods that contain calcium and describes ways to include more calcium in the diet each day.
- Milk Matters! For Strong Bones… For Lifelong Health… (420 KB)
- Available in Spanish: Salud con Leche! Para Huesos Fuertes… Para Una Vida Saludable… (1 MB)
Milk Matters with Buddy Brush Coloring Book
This 14-page coloring book is part of the NICHD Milk Matters campaign, designed to teach parents, children, and health care providers about the importance of calcium for children and teens. The booklet, for children ages four to eight, follows Buddy Brush as he explains why calcium is critical not only to good health, but also to healthy teeth, and outlines how to take good care of teeth.
- Milk Matters with Buddy Brush Coloring Book (1.1 MB)
- Available in Spanish: Salud con leche! y el Amiguito Cepillito (3.5 MB)
Diabetes-Related Resources
Tips for Teens with Diabetes: Make Healthy Food Choices
This tip sheets provide useful information about diabetes and encourage teens to make healthy food choices in order to better manage their disease for a long and healthy life.
Nutrition-Related Curricula
We Can! offers three curricula that address nutrition.
- Media-Smart Youth: Eat, Think, and Be Active!® is a 10-lesson curriculum that focuses on helping young people ages 11 to 13 understand the connections between media and health.
- CATCH Kids Club is an NHLBI-funded study, created a school health education curriculum designed to motivate heart-healthy behavior in children in grades K-5 in after-school and summer camp settings.
- We Can! Energize Our Families: Parent Program includes a session dedicated to helping parents reduce the screen time and increase the physical activity levels of their families. During the Parent Program, parents are introduced to youth screen time statistics and learn how to use tools like the We Can! Reduce Children’s Screen Time Log.