This handbook has been prepared as a guide for the nutritionist providing services to Head Start and other preschool day care programs. Introductory sections describe Project Head Start; the program's major components and aspects of the program; center-based, home-based, child and family development, and Child Development Associate (CDA) programs; and career development and training. Subsequent sections discuss program operations at the local, regional, and national level; goals and objectives of the nutritional component of Project Head Start; and facts about nutrition and the family (including nutrition in home-based programs and for the handicapped child). Nutrition education, food service and delivery systems, and funds for meals and snacks are also discussed. Qualifications, competencies, and typical functions of the nutritionist; grantees' expectations of the nutritionist, and the nutritionist's mode of operation are described. Concluding remarks focus briefly on the development of linkages between Head Start programs and community resources. Included in the handbook is an annotated bibliography providing citations concerning the nutrition component of Head Start and nutrition education. (RH)