One day in April, Durango students sat down to a lunch that included Tuscan blend vegetables, a choice of fresh fruit and a salad bar. For parents who remember school veggies as limp green or orange wads floating in watery brine and smelling of tin cans and steam trays, Durango's fancy local produce and grass-fed beef might seem nothing short of revolutionary. The day might be coming, though, when that menu is the norm.

The days of students fretting over being the last one picked during volleyball or the first one tagged in dodge ball are fading in many D.C. area schools as physical education classes… focus more on individual fitness, personal growth and development. "The trend is to move away from competitiveness," [teacher Donald] Hawkins says.

Unlimited Possibilities, Inc. launched a program to fight childhood obesity with a back-to-school celebration outside of their Palmetto Street headquarters Saturday. In the past, the non-profit learning center has focused on computer literacy and interpersonal skills, but after seeing South Carolina's recent obesity statistics, UPI director Margaret Smith added one more objective to the center's goal of enriching the community.

Milk choices in Mississippi schools this year will be fat-free or 1 percent low-fat. The State Board of Education adopted the new standards in March, Shane McNeill, director of the Office of Healthy Schools for the state Department of Education, said in a news release.

Jefferson County's efforts to reduce obesity and snuff out tobacco use will be the focus next week during the third annual "Health Action Summit" in Hoover.

On Thursdays, fresh fruit is now only steps away from the home of Dominique Wilder, 38, a mother of four in the Norris Square community of North Philadelphia. A tiny farmers market opened at Susquehanna Avenue and North Howard Street on Thursday, offering fresh produce - from apples to zucchini - to a community that does not have much access to healthy groceries.

Women who gain a lot of weight during pregnancy are more likely to have high-birth-weight babies, which may increase the children's risk of becoming obese later in life, a new study suggests.

Pizzas and hamburgers in the school lunch line would be healthier under child nutrition legislation passed by the Senate Thursday, a key part of first lady Michelle Obama's campaign to end childhood obesity. The $4.5 billion legislation passed by voice vote would create new standards for all foods in schools, including vending machine items, to give students healthier meal options. It would also expand the number of low-income children eligible for free or reduced cost meals.

Given our economic climate and tradition of bipartisan support for child nutrition, we should pass this meritorious bill now. It would be a success that both parties can claim.

Fewer than half of city residents between 18 and 24 drink a soda, sweet tea or other sugar-filled beverage each day - down 10 points in two years, to 48%. That's part of a broad decline in the number of people who told a city Health Department survey they have a nondiet drink every day.

Americans are continuing to get fatter and fatter, with obesity rates reaching 30 percent or more in nine states last year, as opposed to only three states in 2007, health officials reported on Tuesday.

[The] hit-or-miss placement of fresh food and SNAP-approved outlets is a frustration for many farmers, fresh-food advocates and SNAP recipients.

Right now, our country has a major opportunity to make our schools and our children healthier. It's an opportunity we haven't seen in years, and one that is too important to let pass by. The Child Nutrition Bill working its way through Congress has support from both Democrats and Republicans. This groundbreaking legislation will bring fundamental change to schools and improve the food options available to our children

Columbus Public Health leaders have mapped what they call the city's "food deserts" in hopes of understanding where the problem is most severe. They did that by comparing the distance to fast-food restaurants and larger grocery stores from each census block and arriving at a "food balance score."

Today, the Food Bank of South Jersey will launch its Hope Mobile program at a community center in Camden, the pilot run for the rolling emergency food assistance station that will visit under-served areas in Gloucester, Camden, Salem and Burlington counties.

Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill yesterday that will change the way Massachusetts public school students eat, by banning the use of fryolators and requiring the sale of fresh fruits and non-fried vegetables wherever food is sold.

Come September, Sarah Fishstrom will take her culinary skills to an East Flatbush high school to teach today's snackfood-gorged teens how to eat better… The 24-year-old and her fellow recent college grads will head off to high schools around the U.S. to instruct teens how to make better food choices.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said this week that Democrats are hoping to pass a child nutrition bill before lawmakers leave town for the August recess. The $4.5 billion proposal, sponsored by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), would expand eligibility for school meal programs; establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools; and provide a 6-cent increase for each school lunch to help cafeterias serve healthier meals.

The health effects of being overweight or obese are well documented. Extra pounds add extra risk for diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers, even among children. But new research also documents significant social and economic consequences of being overweight since high school.

Four billion dollars. That’s how much Americans spend in food stamp dollars each year to buy sugar-sweetened, carbonated soft drinks. In Maine, it translates to about $20 million a year. Imagine, says Maine pediatric dentist and public health advocate Jonathan Shenkin, how much healthful food could be purchased with those dollars.