Success StoryFueling Forward with Nutritious Foods



Fueling Forward with Nutritious Foods

Author: Charles Comer

Planning Unit: Montgomery County CES

Major Program: Health 4-H Core Curriculum

Plan of Work: Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices

Outcome: Initial Outcome

Each 4-H club meeting begins with the 4-H Pledge…I pledge my Head to clearer thinking…my Health to better living for my club, my community, my country and my world.” The 4th “H” is the pledge regarding one’s health. Yet in Kentucky, according to the Trust for America’s Health Survey and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kentucky’s obesity rate for children ages 10-17 is 19.3%. A little over 36% of adolescents drink at least one sugary drink a day in an average week and children between the ages of 6 and 11 consume 21 to 23 teaspoons of added sugar daily.Obesity and the food/drink choices leading to obesity rule the diet. Given the obesity crisis, the Fuel Forward Activity, an activity excerpted from the curriculum 4th “H” for Health Challenge was chosen for 4-H classroom clubs in March.  It teaches youth the difference between foods that provide both energy and nutrition for the body referred to as Fuel Foods, and foods that just provide energy and no other benefit referred to as Treat Foods.  Each member received a Fuel Forward Activity Card that listed a food and nutrients the food provided our bodies. It also listed activities (running in place, jumping jacks, squats, etc.) to correspond with the nutrients that the youth were to act out as a group.  As a result of the club program, over 380 youth ages 9-12 learned the difference between foods that “fuel” you with both energy and nutrition which help you to grow and develop versus foods that only provide energy with no other benefit to our health.






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