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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2003
Contact:
Jeannette Warnert
Sr. Public Information Representative
UC Ag and Natural Resources
(559) 241-7514
cell (559) 240-9850
jwarnert@uckac.edu
UC aims to turn the adolescent obsession
with diet and weight into a passion for health and fitness
Fresno -- 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.”
The idea is making physical activity a part of every day life.
“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.”
http://news.ucanr.org.
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