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Get
Your Kids in the Kitchen!
By Jennifer Faddis
Kids in the kitchen
may sound like a messy proposition, but a University of Missouri
Extension program is using the idea to combat childhood obesity.
According to the American Heart Association, 16 percent of all
kids and teens are overweight. As a solution to this problem,
the program, available to youth ages 6 to 15, emphasizes basic
cooking skills, physical activity, good nutrition, food safety
and healthy food choices through hands-on activities.
Though children are learning valuable life
lessons, mainly that healthy food can taste good, the atmosphere
is far from classroom-like. Children are allowed to prepare food
themselves. For example, with “edible caterpillars,”
they get to assemble celery, peanut butter, raisins and pretzels.
“If a child is allowed to prepare the
food, he or she is more likely to try new foods and make healthier
choices,” said Candance Gabel, a registered dietitian, associate
state nutrition specialist with MU
Extension and assistant program director in the College
of Human and Environmental Sciences.
According to the Missouri Department of Health
and Senior Services, nearly four out of 10 Missouri children and
teens are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. However,
MU Extension isn't just working with children, but officials are
talking to entire families. As low-income families may have only
a limited amount of food stamps a month to spend on groceries,
many children don't get the opportunity to sample a variety of
healthy foods, according to Gabel.
“A healthy lifestyle can start with
even a simple lesson: eat five or more servings of fruits and
vegetables a day,” Gabel said. “If we can get people
to do that starting at the age of five through 105, we'd all be
healthier.”
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Last Update:
November 20, 2007
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