Healthy Eating
Creating Healthy Communities strives to increase access to healthy and affordable foods for high need Ohioans. Click on the tabs below to learn more about CHC's healthy eating initiatives.
Food Service Guidelines
Food Service Guidelines are a set of nutrition criteria for beverages, snacks, entrees, and meals that can be implemented at worksites and community settings to increase access to healthy options and create food environments that make nutritious options easier to choose. The goal of Food Service Guidelines is to prevent and reduce diet-related chronic diseases and disparities among Ohioans. Click the link below to view a model that helps to visualize components of the Ohio Department of Health’s Food Service Guidelines work.
Food Service Guidelines Visualization
The toolkit linked below is designed for worksites and community organizations that are looking to make changes to create a healthier food environment. Included is guidance on customer buy-in, nutrition standards adopted from the American Heart Association, sustainability considerations, assessment/evaluation tools and marketing/promotion suggestions.
Following these guidelines will help contribute to a culture of health, which is an environment where health is valued, supported and promoted through policies, programs, and benefits and environmental supports. Click the links below to view each toolkit as well as corresponding promotional materials.
Ohio Food and Beverage Guidelines Toolkit
Cafes, Cafeterias, Snack Carts, and Micro-Markets
Healthy Food Retail
Healthy food retail is a statewide initiative led by the Creating Healthy Communities program to help make healthy foods affordable and accessible at corner and convenience stores in areas that do not have access to full service grocery stores. Good Food Here stores stock fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods, such as whole grains, low-fat dairy, lean meats, and low-calorie or low-sodium snacks.
Local health departments across Ohio are working with small retail stores to implement Good Food Here in nearly a dozen cities and counties. Check out the video below to see Good Food Here being implemented in Summit County!
The Good Food Here Coordinator Guide provides step by step instructions for how to identify small food retailers to work with and provide technical assistance on selling healthier food items. The Good Food Here Store Owner Guide provides information on how small retail store owners can purchase, price and promote healthy food offerings. Click the links below to view these guides.
Good Food Here Coordinator Guide
Good Food Here Store Owner Guide
Other Initiatives/Resources
Ohio Food Policy Network (OFPN) is a grassroots network that represents interested people and organizations in Ohio who share values and a common vision for the food system in Ohio. The network allows its members to share and develop the skills and expertise needed to grow and develop a food system that supports and serves all Ohioans.
Produce Perks is Ohio’s nutrition incentive program, which matches the value of SNAP/EBT with additional dollars to spend on fruits and vegetables when SNAP consumers shop at participating farmers markets and grocery stores. Produce Perks doubles the purchasing power of SNAP consumers and unlocks affordable access to fruits and vegetables.
The Ohio Nutrition Incentive Network is a multi-sector coalition that collaborates and convenes to improve healthy food access across Ohio. The Network’s approach seeks to increase affordable access to healthy food, while strengthening local farms and economies. The Network supports the statewide Produce Perks program.
Ohio State University's SNAP-Ed campaign, 'Celebrate Your Plate' provides tips for budget planning, shopping and cooking to create healthy, tasty meals.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines provides four overarching Guidelines that encourage healthy eating patterns at each stage of life and recognize that individuals will need to make shifts in their food and beverage choices to achieve a healthy pattern. The Guidelines also explicitly emphasize that a healthy dietary pattern is not a rigid prescription. Rather, the Guidelines are a customizable framework of core elements within which individuals make tailored and affordable choices that meet their personal, cultural, and traditional preferences. Several examples of healthy dietary patterns that translate and integrate the recommendations in overall healthy ways to eat are provided. The Guidelines are supported by Key Recommendations that provide further guidance on healthy eating across the lifespan.