Ready to stay stronger, live longer and boost your family’s

fitness? These tips will jumpstart your healthiest habits yet.

Easy Hints for a Healthier Home

Eat!

Play!

Live!

MyPlate• MyPlate illustrates the five food groups

that are the building blocks for a healthy diet using a familiar image—a place setting for a meal. Before you eat, think about what goes on your plate or in your cup or bowl. The tips on this page, can help you choose a diet that includes healthy foods from each of the food groups.

Promote Produce• Post the MyPlate diagram at home. It’s a

great reminder to fill half your plate with colorful fruits and veggies.

• Fruits and veggies come in all sizes, shapes and taste – find them frozen, canned, dried, diced, pureed, and best of all, fresh.

• Buy in-season produce—it often costs less, tastes better, and boasts the best nutrition.

Focus on fruits• Choose whole or cut-up

fruits over fruit juice.• Keep fresh fruit handy for

snacks, salads or desserts.• Blend ‘em in a smoothie, toss

some in your salad, freeze juice into pops, stack them in a kabob, or layer in a parfait. Be inventive!

Vary your veggies• Raw cut-up veggies make

handy snacks.• Red, orange and dark green

veggies pack the most nutrition.• Try them stir-fried, grilled, tossed in pasta,

topping a salad, stacked on a sandwich or folded in a wrap.

Greater Grains• Make the switch to whole-

grain bread, bagels, rice, pasta and crackers

• The best whole grains contain 20% or more of your recommended daily value of fiber

Delight in Dairy• Dairy foods help build strong, healthy

teeth and bones.• Switch to skim or 1% milk, yogurt and cheese for the same great nutrition but less calories and fat.

• Limit your flavored milks, fruit yogurts, frozen yogurts and puddings – there may be added sugar in dairy desserts.

Keep your Protein Lean

• Protein comes in many forms, from meat, poultry, beans and peas to seafood, eggs, nuts and seeds.

• Forego the fry pan and added fats – learn to grill, broil, poach, bake and roast instead.

Think Before You Drink• Sugar lurks in sodas, sports drinks, energy

drinks and juice drinks.• Whenever possible, opt for water – it’s

thrifty, convenient, calorie-free and best for your body.

Pack a Snack• Save money and empty calories – sidestep

the snack machines. • Prepare grab-and-go snacks for the family –

make travel-size bags of raisins, whole-grain cereal, dried cranberries, nuts and seeds.

Just Move It! • Healthy eating and physical fitness go hand in hand. Whether you dance, run, walk, hop, skip, bike or jump, it’s lots more fun!• Get physically active as often as pos-sible – every bit adds up to a healthier you. Adults need 30 minutes of physi-cal activity most every day, and kids need at least 60 minutes.• Make your home an electronics-free zone, starting with one day each week. Plan lively times together with chil-

dren, to build strong bodies and fond family memories.

Be Label-Able• Beware of the tiny print!

Does that drink contain 100% juice? Is that fiber whole-grain? Watch out for salt (sodium) in processed meats, canned foods, and “brined” fresh meats. For the healthiest heart, avoid trans fats and saturated fats.

“Educating young individuals, and their parents, about leading healthy lifestyles at an

early age is the first step in the fight to reduce childhood obesity,” explains Thad Simons, President and CEO of Novus International, Inc. “As children grow mentally and physically, it is important they have access to knowledge and resources that will help them develop healthy eating and lifestyle habits at an early age. From improving access to healthy food choices to getting children more physically active, we each have a responsibility to combat this growing epidemic.”

Novus International, Inc., creates Health through Nutrition products for livestock, pets and people. Novus has employees working in more than 90 countries, serving more than 3,000 customers worldwide. Based in St. Charles, Mo., Novus has facilities including corporate offices, research and development laboratories and manufacturing operations in more than 35 countries, as well as smaller offices with field staff in an additional 60 countries.

“Instilling healthy eating habits at a very early age is key to lifelong health,” says Michael Wilson, CEO

and president of Agrium Inc. “Surprisingly, more and more of our rural youth are overfed, yet undernourished in addition to engaging in less physical activity. We support the Rural School Lunch Program challenge grant to empower the children and their parents to make healthy eating choices one meal at a time. Strong and healthy children build strong and healthy communities.”

Agrium Inc. is a major Retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North America, South America and Australia and a leading global Wholesale producer and marketer of all three major agricultural nutrients and the premier supplier of specialty fertilizers in North America through our Advanced Technologies business unit. Agrium’s strategy is to grow across the value chain through acquisition, incremental expansion of its existing operations and through the development, commercialization and marketing of new products and international opportunities. Our strategy places particular emphasis on growth opportunities that both increase and stabilize our earnings profile in the continuing transformation of Agrium. For more information on Agrium Inc., please visit www.agrium.com

“Childhood obesity continues to pose a significant health risk to rural America, and we are pleased to be helping the Progressive Agriculture Foundation deliver health and nutrition education through its farm safety and health educational program,” says Christina Bowen, director of Farm Credit’s National Contributions program.

For 95 years, Farm Credit has been a national provider of credit and related services to rural America through a cooperative network of customer-owned lending institutions and specialized serv-ice organizations. Created in 1916, Farm Credit provides more than $175 billion in loans and leases to farmers, ranchers, rural home-owners, aquatic producers, timber harvesters, agribusinesses, and agricultural and rural utility cooperatives.

For more information about the Farm Credit System, please visit www.farmcredit.com.

Eat!Play!Live!

Ready set grow!

Write down three goals you’d like to work on, to improve your family’s eating habits and promote a healthier lifestyle. Post these goals where everyone can see:

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

PROgRESSIvE AgRICuLTuRE FOuNdATIONP.O. Box 530425 • Birmingham, AL 35253(work) 888-257-3529 • (fax) 205-871-2137

www.progressiveag.org

Progressive Agriculture Safety days® are one-day events, run by local communities, that teach children farm, home and ranch safety and health lessons. Each year, the Progressive Agriculture Foundation provides training, resources and support for more than 400 communities throughout the u.S., Canada, the u.S. virgin Islands and American Samoa. These Safety days reach more than 100,000 children and adults each year. For more information on how you can become involved, go to www.progressiveag.org.