Initiative aims to teach city youths how to fight obesity by diet, exercise
By Ilene Hollin
Sun Staff
Originally published June 30, 2004
City children jumped rope, played basketball, wore chef's hats and ate heart-healthy wrap sandwiches yesterday as they were introduced to a new summer initiative designed to educate children about healthy living.
Seeking solutions to obesity, the American Council for Fitness and Nutrition unveiled its pilot program -- Summer Fun, Food and Fitness -- to the children of the Pleasant View Gardens Boys and Girls Club on East Fayette Street. The council has joined with the Boys and Girls Club of Central Maryland and Baltimore International College School of Culinary Arts to offer an eight-week program, which began yesterday at the East Baltimore club, that will emphasize active living and nutrition.
Children in the program will participate in exercise and weekly cooking lessons, and attend classroom nutrition sessions focusing on life skills such as how to choose nutritious foods at the market.
Health experts say developing good exercise and eating habits early in life helps avoid problems later. "When the gain starts young is when we worry," said Dr. Susan Finn, chairwoman of the fitness and nutrition council. "Kids this age shouldn't have to worry about their weight."
The children in the program will go on field trips to see cooking demonstrations at the culinary school and to the Baltimore Ravens' training camp. The children also will use www.kidnetic.com, a Web site designed to engage children in educational activities disguised as computer games, to learn about health and nutrition.
Officials said that some children spend as much as nine hours daily at the Pleasant View Gardens Boys and Girls Club in the summer -- time that will be used to improve their health.
The fitness and nutrition council chose Baltimore to launch the initiative because the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has recognized obesity as a problem and because of the city's large African-American population, a demographic group with higher rates of obesity than any other segment of the population. According to the council, problems with excessive weight are attributed to poor diet and insufficient physical activity, a potentially deadly combination that leads to diseases later.
Among African-American adults, 80 percent of women and nearly 61 percent of men are overweight or obese, according to the National Institutes of Health. There is strong evidence that problems start at an early age, with 46 percent of African-American teens overweight and 27 percent obese. The council hopes to intervene by preventing unhealthy habits.
The council will track improvement by surveying children about their current nutrition and physical activity habits and compare them with a survey in six months. If the program is successful, the council will likely introduce similar efforts elsewhere.