According to the stateofchildhoodobesity.org, Kentucky ranks 50 for the highest obesity rate for youth ages 10-17 with a staggering 24%. Christian County in Kentucky has a higher percentage of 33.6% of obesity according to the Kentucky Environmental Public Health Tracking. With the numbers being so high, Christian County Extension Agents want to help lower these numbers and what better way than to have a program that encourages youth to try a new healthy food that they would not try on their own. This year, we brought the Food for Thought Program to Crofton Elementary School where over 300 youth were able to experience a fun food book and then a healthy snack that went along with the book once a week for a month. The samples were snap peas, honey raisin muffins, avocado, and turnips. Once they tried the sample they received a sticker as another incentive to taste a new food.

               After the program, 68% of youth reported that the honey raisin muffins were their favorite sample with snap peas coming in next at 11.4%. During the program 86.4% reported that they tried a new food that they had not had before. It is vital to continue offering a variety of healthy food to youth in an exciting way so that it may entice them to continue trying them. This is something that can be continued at schools, but hopefully is focused on more at home. We hoped to show youth that eating healthy can be fun and is not always not a bad experience.