According to new information from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kentucky's youth obesity rate is 19.3 percent. The information was collected from 2016 and 2017 by the National Survey of Children's Health, along with analysis conducted by the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau, a news release states.  How can this be corrected?  One way is by encouraging healthy life choices from an early age.  In Bourbon County the Nutrition Education Program Assistant worked with seven kindergarten classrooms across the county in order to make those early introductions.  During the LEAP (Literacy, Eating and Activity for Primary) lesson the kindergarteners were introduced to MyPlate and the different food groups, they were also introduced to many ways of physical activity along with other healthy habits like hand washing and dental care.  During each lesson the students were also given a “new” food to try.  Apples, broccoli, spinach, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, cucumbers, cauliflower and many others were tasted during the year.

There were 155 students that completed this program.  After completing nutrition education lessons, 95% of the youth improved their diet quality, while 71% increased their ability to identify physical activity and 69% were able to identify when to wash their hands before eating.  One teacher commented that “several of their students who normally would not eat snack or lunch were willing to try new foods.”  Another commented that “it is so nice seeing kids eating fruits and vegetables, some of them never eat any fresh foods.”  By introducing a healthy lifestyle early on,  hopefully we can lower the obesity rate of children in the community.