How Northwest Michigan preschoolers learn to like fruits, vegetables, mindfulness

Food-Body-Mind is coming back to Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency, or NMCAA, Head Start preschool classrooms to help students learn how to care for their bodies and minds. And if they’re like their older siblings, they may even like it.

Led and created by Michigan State University College of Nursing researcher and MSU Research Foundation Professor Jiying Ling, Food-Body-Mind helps increase behavioral well-being in preschool-age children. This program is supported by a $5.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Active in 35 Head Start preschool classrooms throughout Michigan, the program will support 13 classrooms in NMCAA during the 2025-26 academic year.

“What I love about Food-Body-Mind is that it benefits children and families by giving our classrooms an established nutrition and mindfulness curriculum,” said Shannon Phelps, NMCAA child and family development director. “It’s a really nice fit with Head Start because it is a multigeneration program, extending time in the classroom into what happens at home. We’ve worked with Dr. Ling in the past and we’re so happy her program is returning and expanding here at NMCAA.”

NMCAA serves 10 counties in northwest Michigan with a team of 350 employees. Head Start preschool programs serve children who are three to four years old. Children who have participated in Head Start programs are often found to outperform their peers in cognitive ability and social-emotional competence.

About Food-Body-Mind

Food-Body-Mind focuses on three components:

• school-based mindfulness to equip preschoolers with knowledge and skills in mindful eating and movement (e.g., yoga, deep breathing exercises);
• home-based mindfulness to increase caregivers’ skills in practicing mindful eating, movement and parenting behaviors at home to foster a more positive, mindful and healthy home environment;
• school learning and home practice connection initiative to improve caregiver-preschooler relationships.

Previous studies of Food-Mind-Body participants in Michigan show that both students and families have increased their fruit and vegetable intake by more than 60%, decreased their body mass index by roughly 50%, and households have increased their food security by more than 15%.

“The long-term goal of this program is to achieve optimal whole-child health in early childhood to build healthier generations of Americans,” said Ling. “Benefits would include fewer behavioral problems, better social skills and improved physical health. The way Food-Body-Mind is structured, it could grow to include rural and urban childcare programs across the country and offer long-term benefits to children and their families. When people have good health, they tend to be happier and feel more socially connected and purposeful.”