The West Contra Costa Unified School District’s Food Services Department will host its twenty third annual Nutrition, Health and Fitness Festival at Nystrom Elementary School on Friday, April 22, 2016 from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm. 

Food Services will be celebrating Earth week which focuses on environmental responsibility. Food Services is also supporting the California Thursday movement in WCCUSD with a focus on serving healthy and freshly prepared meals with California grown fruits and vegetables. The theme for this year’s event is “Cooking it up fresh and healthy with fruits and vegetables for wellness California Style”, which aims to promote school wellness by empowering students and their families to adopt healthy lifestyles and to take the initiative to be physically active and nutritionally responsible.

Nearly 10 million children in the United States are now seriously overweight and obese. An alarming trend in pediatric obesity is a dramatic increase of type 2 diabetes and other health problems among children. There is no question that good nutrition and fitness will improve children’s learning ability to achieve their full potential. West Contra Costa Unified School District embraces the link between health and education. This year’s event will feature a healthy cooking segment for students and a gardening session where students will be shown how nutritious and versatile the tomato is and will then be able to grow their own a tomato plant. There will also be nutrition education on fruits and vegetables which will include a Farmer’s Market tour, taste testing of California grown, local fruits and vegetables and the promotion of physical activities through our Fitness for Wellness events such as Disco Dancing, Farm to Table Relay, the Wheel of Nutrition and much more.

Nystrom Elementary School is located at 230 Harbour Way South, Richmond, 94804-2428. 

For further information on the event, please contact Barbara Jellison, Director of Food Services Department, West Contra Costa Unified School District at (510) 307 - 4580.