By Brenna Keller
NKyTribune associate editor
Produce Man is back in action, encouraging kids to eat healthy and get moving.
The Northern Kentucky Health Department is holding the annual Produce Man’s Healthy Challenge. The Healthy Challenge takes place in March, which the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has designated National Nutrition Month®.
Local elementary schools have been invited to take Produce Man’s Healthy Challenge. The Healthy Challenge is a school-wide event for Pre-K through 8th grade students and school staff. Sixteen schools are participating in this year’s Healthy Challenge.
Each participating school chooses a week during the month of March to take the challenge. Students and staff have the goal of eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables and getting at least 30 minutes of exercise daily. Students also strive to reduce screen time during the challenge.
The challenge follows the 5210 Healthy Numbers for Kentucky Families campaign formula:
- Five: Eat 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
- Two: Limit screen time to no more than two hours a day.
- One: Be physically active at least one hour each day.
- Zero: Don’t drink sweetened beverages.
The challenge is a competition; students, staff, and classes can win prizes, and a grand prize of funding will also be awarded to schools. Each school will receive a bag of prizes for one winning classroom, one winning student, and one winning staff member.
Five schools will receive up to $800. Winning schools have the best student and staff successful participation in the categories of small school, middle-sized school, large school, most improved, and randomly chosen. One of last year’s winning schools used the funds to buy greenhouses to grow tomatoes.
As part of the challenge, schools can provide students the opportunity to taste fruits and vegetables in classrooms or the cafeteria. They get extra points in the challenge for taste tests and other fruit and vegetable promotion. The Northern Kentucky Health Department provides nutrition education resources. And many schools receive a visit from Produce Man himself.
Visits from Produce Man are extra special this year; it is the first time he has visited a school since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a costume covered in fruits and vegetables and with a superhero’s cape, Produce Man plays music and dances with students. He has his own special superpower vegetable song, written by a dietician. While kids try fruits and vegetables, Produce Man gives them high fives and hands out stickers.
Produce Man has many alter egos; various Health Department staff members don the costume. One of them is Monica Smith, the dietician who oversees the Healthy Challenge. According to Smith, the Health Department brought Produce Man back to schools to “increase [students’] fruit and vegetable intake and get them more excited about trying new fruits and vegetables.”
The response to Produce Man’s visits has been enthusiastic. Students have been enjoying the party-like atmosphere and telling Produce Man their favorite fruits and vegetables.
But it’s not just students; teachers have also been excited to see Produce Man on his visits. The costume is over 20 years old, and some teachers remember him visiting them as children.