Fighting Obesity in Eastern KY

The Center for Disease Control, CDC, reports that only 22.5% of adolescents in Kentucky are being physically active for at least 60 minutes per day each week.  Of these adolescents, 18% are obese.  This leads to a total of 35.1% of Kentucky adults being overweight, while 31.6 Kentucky adults are obese.  In October of 2018, a six lesson program was completed that focused on children aged 4-10 years old by Lee County Extension Service’s SNAP-Ed Assistant.   The program was held during the summer break at Tiddle Town Daycare.  The program focused on healthy eating, keeping our bodies and organs healthy and what the organ functions are in our bodies as well as the importance of physical activities and limiting the spread of germs.  The Organ Wise Guys lessons taught the children the different organs in the body and what the functions of each organ is and why it is so important to keep our bodies healthy to help the organs function properly.  At the end of the 6 lesson program 14 children graduated and 55% of children in Kindergarten through 2^nd grade showed improved diet quality, while 100% of 3^rd-5^th grade students showed a positive behavior change in one or more areas.  One child commented, “I love when you teach your lessons about the OrganWise guys!  Now I tell my granny to buy pears and apples when she goes to the store for good snacks that I never ate before.”  Another parent commented that every evening after work her child talked about the organs and what they did in our bodies and asked for healthier food options at home.