Teaching Kids Healthy Habits for Life

Childhood Obesity

At a time when vending machines and even fast food kiosks are available in school cafeterias, and children's affinity for electronic entertainment keeps them glued to a chair for hours, it's no wonder childhood obesity is on the rise. And of the growing number of obese children " approaching 9 million nationwide " 80 percent will become obese or overweight adults.

A partnership between the University of Michigan Health System and local middle schools hopes to change that trend. The Project Healthy Schools program incorporates fun activities with education to help kids learn the how-tos of proper exercise and nutrition. Today, the program operates within three local middle schools, with more than 700 student participants since fall 2005.

"The issue of overweight children is a serious problem in the United States," says Susan Aaronson, wellness coordinator for Project Healthy Schools. "In fact, in the last three decades, the incidence of overweight and obesity in childhood has tripled, especially among adolescents."

And with more overweight and obese children come a host of negative health effects, including hip and other bone problems, early puberty, sleep apnea and adult-onset problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

By targeting middle school students, Project Healthy Schools encourages healthy adult behaviors during a time when preteens and teenagers begin to experience other changes in their lives and establish lifelong habits.

"I think schools can be a vehicle for change to create better habits among students," Aaronson says. "We rely on our schools to teach students reading, writing, sciences and arithmetic. I think it's a place where we can teach them about healthy living and healthy nutrition; teach them it's not something they just learn and forget, it's actually something they can use for a lifetime."

Educating for change

The 12-week program begins with a health screening and survey where students' health, physical activity and eating habits are evaluated.

"We do a step test that measures resting heart rate and recovery heart rates in students to measure their cardiovascular health," says Aaronson. "The screening also includes measuring blood pressure, calculating students' body mass index (an indicator used to determine obesity) and most importantly, a cholesterol screening."

Based on the five goals of Project Health Schools, students receive a comprehensive educational program to attain them:

• Eat more fruits and vegetables

• Make better beverage choices

• Get 150 minutes of physical activity each week

• Eat less fast and fatty foods

• Spend less time in front of the TV and computer

Within their classes, students learn a new aspect of healthy habits each week, beginning with understanding the different types of exercise. All students get pedometers to track their steps for a week to increase their awareness of the amount of activity they have in a day. They learn strength and flexibility training and how to use exercise bands and loops.

Additional lessons include learning the MyPyramid, the newly updated USDA-approved food pyramid, and learning how and why eating a "rainbow of color" of fruits and vegetables is the best way to get all the nutrients one needs. They also learn portion control, how junk foods fit into a healthy diet, how to interpret food's nutrition facts panel and why limiting fat in the diet is important.

"We've seen movies, and like, if you are unhealthy then some stuff can get screwed up, like your veins and your lungs - if you smoke," says Seiji Osawa, 11, a student at Slauson Middle School in Ann Arbor, Mich. Osawa also admits to eating too many potato chips and drinking too much pop. "I wanna work on it. So when I'm about to eat a chip, just lay off and don't eat it, and go and get something else like water instead of pop."

Students learn about resting heart rates and the link between aerobic exercise and heart health. They also learn how to calculate their target heart rate (an estimate of exercise intensity measured in heartbeats per minute) and the different activities they can do to achieve it. They calculate the average time they spend in front of the TV or computer each day and identify other activities they could do instead as well.

To help motivate students, a friendly competition between classes is in place. Monthly winners are determined by an online "HealthyBlog" that students use to record their fruit, vegetable and beverage consumption at lunch, and minutes of physical exercise.

And the benefits of learning healthy habits now don't stop with decreasing obesity. Research has shown a definite connection between performance in school and children who have better nutrition and healthier habits, according to Aaronson.

"Children who eat a healthy breakfast are more alert and more able to learn," Aaronson says. "Children who are more active and of normal weight tend to miss less days in school, and they have a lower incidence of asthma and other types of illnesses like depression and diabetes."

"The Slauson staff does see a connection between healthy eating and students being able to learn better," says Patricia Rose, Slauson Middle School principal. "We feel that when students get a balanced diet they can attend better " they come to school more ready to learn."

Reinforcing habits at home

In order to help reinforce these habits at home, Project Healthy Schools, in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health's Ways to Enhance Children's Activities and Nutrition (We Can!), also offers an after-school program for students to teach them how to be media savvy when making diet and exercise choices.

And new in February, Project Healthy Schools offers a program to help parents of children ages 8 to 13 learn and adopt healthy eating and exercise habits. Parents interested in participating can register through the Ann Arbor Rec. & Ed. program at www.aaps.k12.mi.us/reced.home.