Author: Rita Stewart
Planning Unit: Lincoln County CES
Major Program: Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices (general)
Plan of Work: Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices & Accessing Nutritious Foods
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
In January, this Family and Consumer Sciences Agent, along with the Nutrition Education Program Assistant and the Program Assistant initiated the Healthy Heart Jump Start 2020 program. The goal of the program was to empower participants to make healthy lifestyle practice changes in order to improve their overall health and well-being. Program emphasis included nutrition, physical activity, stress management and mindfulness. Pre-program health screenings for participants were sponsored and performed by Ephraim McDowell Health Faith Community Nursing free of charge. Plans were to provide post-program screenings, but due to COVID-19, that wasn’t possible. Throughout the eight week session, fourteen participants met twice a week for a total of 2 ½ hours for a nutrition class at the Lincoln County Extension Office and for a physical activity, stress management, and mindfulness class at a local gym. This agent taught the physical activity, stress management, and mindfulness classes; the Nutrition Education Program Assistant taught the nutrition classes. Our Program Assistant assisted with all classes. Participants learned about making healthy food choices, food safety, meal planning, budgeting, and finding time for physical activity and mindfulness in their daily routines. They tasted healthy recipes, walked for 30 minutes (or as long as they could) each week in class, did strength training, and participated in a stress reduction/mindfulness activity. They then practiced those activities at home. Several participants could only walk for five minutes at the beginning of the program, but each week, they were able to walk farther. Several reported losing weight. At the beginning of the program, 72% of participants had an abnormal body mass index and 78% had an abnormal blood pressure. At the end of the program, 100% of participants showed improvement in one or more physical activity behaviors (i.e., exercising for at least 30 minutes, doing workouts to build and strengthen muscles, or making small changes to be more active). 93% showed improvement in one or more diet quality indicators (i.e., eating fruits, vegetables, red and orange vegetables, dark green vegetables, drinking less regular soda, drinking less fruit punch, fruit drinks, sweet tea, or sports drinks, and cooking dinner at home).86% showed improvement in one or more food safety practices (i.e., washing hands before preparing food, washing all items and surfaces after cutting raw meat or seafood, not thawing frozen food at room temperature, or using a meat thermometer). 79% of participants showed improvement in one or more food resource management practices (i.e., cook dinner at home, compare food prices, plan meals before shopping, look in refrigerator or cupboard before shopping, or make a list before shopping). All these healthy lifestyle practice changes could definitely impact their overall health, including their blood pressure and body mass index. This program was a very powerful tool in helping our participants learn about and incorporate many healthy lifestyle changes into their daily routines. One participant summed it up when she said “If you want to change your situation, you have to change your environment.” Well said and well done by our participants in the Healthy Heart Jump Start 2020 program.
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