Healthy Parents = Healthy Children

In today’s busy world parents of young children face many obstacles when trying to make healthy choices for themselves and their families.  Kentucky Health Facts, in conjunction with the CDC reports that adults in Lee County, Kentucky have a 46% obesity rate and 69% of adults are overweight, while only 2% are eating the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables, and 47% of Lee County adults had no physical exercise per day.  

To combat these issues the Lee County Cooperative Extension SNAP-Ed Assistant partnered with the Lee County Head Start to offer Healthy Choices for Every Body lessons to their Parent Group monthly.  This program teaches parents of preschool aged children ways to make better food and physical activity choices in their daily lives.  

At the end of 7 lessons, graduated participants showed 100% improvement in one or more diet quality indicators, including eating more fruits and vegetables as well as 75% showing improved food safety habits and added physical activity each day.  

After each lesson participants were eager to discuss the lesson and share struggles and ideas for improvement.  One mother stated, “I never realized how much salt and sugar I was eating.  Now I am drinking more water and have almost quit drinking pop.”  Another parent said she had increased her physical activity by going on walks and playing with her child more often.  She said, “I feel so much better now that I am not sitting around watching him play and feeling tired, now I have more energy to do things with him.”