We have another wonderful guest blogger for you this week. Utah State University student, Stacy Bevan,  shares the great National Nutrition Month (NNM) activity planned by the USU Student Dietetic Association using their NNM grant!  

USU dietetic student association leadership (eight members) and their advisors (two registered dietitian faculty members) developed a “Get Your Plate in Shape” challenge, which was offered to all USU students. USU students formed groups of four with a team leader. Nine teams joined the challenge for a total of 36 students involved.

Some of the competitors fired up about nutrition!

The remaining 4 teams ready to get their plates in shape!

Each week during the month of March, a weekly challenge was given to the teams. The challenges included fill half your plate with fruit and vegetables, get quality sleep week (Spring Break), and eat breakfast within two hours of waking up including one fruit or vegetable. The teams earned points based on how many days they completed the challenge during the week. At the end of the week the team leader would post the team’s points on a Facebook group page. The team with the most points at the end of the week won the prize. The Facebook page was also a useful tool to post helpful tips and encouragement to continue with the challenge. Teams were able to post pictures of them completing the challenge and recipes they enjoyed.

A few delicious submissions from week 1 of the challenge!

At the end of the month of March, the team with the most cumulative points won the grand prize. The majority of prizes were purchased from the National Nutrition Month catalog using the grant money we received from UAND and included water bottles, mugs, and reusable grocery bags. Other prizes included dietetic student association t-shirts, and fresh produce. The National Nutrition Month culminated with a party for the participating teams where the grand prizes were awarded, food was shared, and a powerpoint presentation of pictures obtained throughout the month was viewed.

Congratulations on a great NNM activity to the USU Student Dietetic Association!  What a wonderful way to get students excited about healthy choices.  We especially love how you utilized social media to communicate with your challenge participants and share pictures and recipes!  Job well done!  

Now we want to hear from our readers.  Does your employer or school ever host friendly competitions or challenges to get coworkers or students excited about improving their health?  If so we’d love to hear about it in the comments section below!