According to the most recent data on countyhealthranking.org, Daviess County, KY currently has an adult obesity ranking of forty-two percent. Many serious health risks coincide with adult obesity, including high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, and sleep apnea. Two of the contributing factors to adult obesity are unhealthy eating patterns and lack of physical activity. (Center for Disease Control)

The Nutrition Education Program Assistant in Daviess County collaborated with Darnek HeadStart to educate adult staff on this topic, with the purpose of increasing their diet quality and physical activity level. Participants utilized the Healthy Choices for Every Body curriculum for a seven-session series in order to establish healthier patterns. The course engaged HeadStart employees in a hands-on approach to healthy cooking, healthy recipe tastings, take home literature, and physical activity tips.

Entry and exit data were collected and reviewed at the end of the course. Seventy-five percent of participants increased their physical activity behaviors, and fifty-eight percent made small changes in their daily routines to be active more often. This group also increased their frequency of vegetable intake by forty-two percent.