UC aims to turn the adolescent obsession with diet and weight into a passion for health and fitness While the advertising, movie and music industries tell adolescents to be thinner or stronger, and the news media are obsessing over an obesity epidemic, University of California is helping 11- to 14-year-olds learn to make sensible fitness decisions for themselves. UC Cooperative Extension nutrition specialists and advisors have created “Eatfit,” a teen-oriented magazine and Web site that can be used alone or in schools with a comprehensive teacher curriculum packet. The magazine incorporates the elements you might find in Seventeen or Teen People: “fab features,” quizzes, lively colors, beauty tips, skateboards, food, and irreverent facial expressions. But the message is one of dietary moderation and fitness common sense. The magazine says, “Anyone can incorporate more activities into their life,” “Building strength is important for both boys and girls,” and “Being fit has many benefits, including feeling happier, having more energy, (and) getting sick less often . . . .” Before developing the materials, UC researchers conducted interviews with middle-school-aged children and middle school teachers. “We found out from them that we needed to be hip,” said Marilyn Townsend, UC nutrition specialist based at UC Davis and leader of the workgroup that created Eatfit. “That’s why we went with the magazine format for kids. They also told us they definitely wanted a computer component.” The computer component that resulted is on the Web at http://www.eatfit.net. Recipes, games and success stories provide fun ways to gather information and get motivated. An online eating analysis helps teens evaluate the way they are currently eating and determine healthy goals they wish to achieve. As part of the eating analysis, users type in the foods they ate in a 24-hour period. The site helps narrow down specifics on types of food and serving sizes. After clicking “done entering food,” the program gives a brief analysis and offers two goals for making the diet healthier. The teen selects one, and then is given a selection of small habit changes to help achieve that goal. The process is called “guided goal setting,” an approach developed by the nutrition researchers. “We developed goals and then we gave choices within those goals,” said Marcel Horowitz, a researcher on the project. “We know that eating too much refined sugar is an issue with kids. We know that girls aren’t getting enough calcium. We present those as goal options. They may not choose it, but once they learn the process and experience success, they might be willing to look at another area in their diets that would be beneficial to change.” The researchers used goal options in the Web site that students themselves suggested. “We asked kids, ‘If you were going to increase calcium, how would you go about it?’” Townsend said. Their suggestions are now the goal options on the Web site. In order to increase calcium, for example, users may choose to drink the milk leftover in their cereal bowls three times per week as one goal option. “Instead of simply saying ‘drink more milk,’ we made each minor goal specific, challenging and something they can do right away,” Townsend said. “If we let the kids set their own goals, the goals tend to be too general, too easy or too difficult.” An analysis is also done for physical activities in the Eatfit magazine. Four areas of physical activity are analyzed: aerobic, stretching, strength and lifestyle. Each has major and minor goal options for students to select, depending on their interests. “It’s probably in the lifestyle area where we’re going to have the greatest hope of impacting obesity,” Horowitz said. “It’s something people can do consistently but doesn’t require the motivation necessary to participate in organized fitness sessions.” “We teach them they don’t need to find a parking place close to the door,” Horowitz said. “Instead of riding the elevator, they can take the stairs. Just sitting in the garden pulling weeds uses more calories than watching television.” The teacher curriculum packet and copies of the magazine are available free to middle schools where a minimum of six hours will be dedicated to nutrition education and where 50 percent or more of students are eligible for free or reduced-cost meals. Other schools may purchase the materials from UC’s on-line publications catalog at http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu. The curriculum, complete with nine lessons, lesson enhancements, recipes, references, standards and answer sheets is $18 each. The magazine is $10 for each set of 10 copies. The curriculum is also available at county UC Cooperative Extension offices, where nutrition educators are available to train teachers in using the curriculum and offer other support. To find a local UC Cooperative Extension office, go to http://ucanr.org/ce.cfm, or look in the county government section of the telephone book for “UC Cooperative Extension.” (November 2003) |
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Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California. All contents November 07, 2009 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. |
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