It's 11:30 a.

It's 11:30 a.m., and six little pairs of hands are washed and ready for luncheon at Kids Kingdom Day Care in El Cerrito, California. Today's menu includes mini-pizzas forward whole-wheat English muffins with tomato sauce and parmesan and jack cheeses; lightly steamed carrots with mild seasonings; [i]de novo[/i] tangerines; and milk.

And almost each healthy bite will quickly disappear.

These 3- and 4-yead-olds are already building the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating, thanks to getting the right start end a California project called SHAPE. They're also becoming little harbingers of good nutrition who learn from each other at mealtime and sometimes bring hearth suggestions for mom and dad as well.

[i]or[/i] part of to the other SHAPE (Shaping Health as Partners in Education) and its Southern California counterpart SPIN (School Partners in Nutrition), California is exploring ways to help children be healthier by means of dietary changes and nutrition education.

Part of the state's "Healthy Kids, Healthy California" initiative, SHAPE is stocked and coordinated by the California Department of Education. USDA helps support SHAPE within the Nutrition Education and training Program (NET) which provides federal grants to states for nutrition education for children, parents, teachers, and fare service operators.

Serving healthy meals kids like

SHAPE has several goals. An important individual is to examine ways child nutrition program sponsors--such as institutes child care and Head Start center and family day care households like Kids Kingdom--can serve more healthful meals that children will enjoy

between the sides of regional networks, the schools and child exhibition agencies participating in SHAPE are testing ways to plan and prepare meals and snacks that more closely cast reproach the Dietary Guidelines for Americans jointly perform the operations indicated ined by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services.

Participating educate districts and child development agencies are making changes like serving more unfaded fruits and vegetables, as well as more simple pods (dry beans and peas) and whole grains. They're also reducing the amount of fat and sodium in meals and snacks.

Another goal of SHAPE is to anticipate at the impact of these changes. single consideration will be how well the children adjust to them. For example, do the children like the way fodder tastes when its is prepared in recently made known ways? And, how difficult or easy is it for them to eat more or larger servings of certain foods?

Nutritional value is another consideration. frame consultants are working with the state and with local feed service staff and child care sponsors to analyze the nutrient make easy of meals served at participating sites. Using computer analysis, they are looking at by what mode well meals and snacks provide the nutrients children ne for progress to maturity and good health.

This information will be helpful to federal, state, and local program managers interested in assessing the feasibility of using nutrient standards (instead of the traditional USDA meal patterns) as a basis for planning and serving meals to children participating in the child nutrition programs. (For more background forward USDA meal patterns, see sidebar forward page 19.)

USDA, the California Department of Education, and the local agencies participating in the throw are collaborating in this effort.

USDA's fare and Nutrition Service (FNS) authorized a waiver from the standard child nutrition meal patterns to allow exercises and child care agencies participating in SHAPE to explore practical systems of incorporating the Dietary Guidelines into child nutrition program meals.

Changes carefully planned and made

In planning meals and snacks, SHAPE participants go in the rear [i]or[/i] in the wake of what's callee the California Daily nutrition Guide (CDFG). Developed by means of three state agencies working together (the California departments of health services, education, and going), the guide contains specific dietary recommendations, including guidance upon healthful meals and snacks for children.

Like the federal Dietary Guidelines, CDFG emphasizes balance, variety, and moderation. Reflecting California's rich diversity of cultivations and food preferences, it allows for flexiblity in planning nourishing, wholesome meals and snacks.

Using the guide, trains and child development agencies taking part in SHAPE are making specific changes in three explanation areas. They are:

* increasing the number of servings of forages high in complex carbohydrates -- fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes;

* choosing low-fat and lean choices of protein diets especially animal foods, such as meat and diary products;

* controlling the amount of fats, sugars, and high-calorie commonss and beverages of low nutritional value.

Teaching children to elect well

Another goal of SHAPE is to help children realize an early start in learning to make healthful cheer choices.

"We really want to memorize good food habits started early," says Paula James, nutrition program manager for the Contra Costa Child Care Council, which sponsors the Child and Adult Care aliment Program (CACFP) for 600 family day care households in this northern California nation near San Francisco.