Success StoryCooking With Teenagers



Cooking With Teenagers

Author: Stacy Smith

Planning Unit: Clinton County CES

Major Program: Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)

Outcome: Initial Outcome

Obesity among young people is on the rise.  In 2017, Kentucky was ranked as the 3rd highest state in the nation for youth obesity rates at 19.3%.[1]  The Nutrition Education Program (NEP) through the University of Kentucky’s Cooperative Extension Service is working to help reduce those percentages.  The Clinton County Cooperative Extension NEP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-ED) Assistant partnered with the local school district and the 21st Century Afterschool Program to offer a nutrition based cooking curriculum, Teen Cuisine.  There were 14 high school student who participated in the program.  The students were taught 6 lessons that helped them learn how to; read and follow recipes, identify proper portion sizes, use safe food handling practices, read food labels, choose healthier foods and snacks, and plan everyday meals using MyPlate.  As a result of this program, students started to make healthier choices, 79 % increased their vegetable consumption, 50% increased their daily milk consumption while decreasing their consumption of sodas and other sugary drinks and 71% chose low-fat foods more often.  Overall, 93% of the students improved their abilities to choose healthier foods following federal guidelines.   Following one of the cooking activities, one student stated, “I didn’t realize it was so easy to fix something healthy to eat. I thought it didn’t get any better than Ramen Noodles, boy was I wrong!”  At the end of the program, the students were able to see how the choices they make have lasting effects on their overall well-being.  The students will use the knowledge gained throughout this program to build a better foundation for a healthier life.  






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