FIT AND FAB PILOT PROJECT OVERVIEW
A 12 week afterschool/summer overweight and obesity pilot program for pre-teen girls
A community partnership with Shared Hope, Community Youth Ourtreach Program. The American Dream Factory. IRSC culinary school, the Diabetes Coalition and the St. Lucie County Health Department
Project start up: June 10 2013 – 12 week program – 4 days a week (3 hours in the afternoon0
Goal: Contribute to the decrease the rates of overweight and obesity among pre-teen girls by developing a replicable and evidence based overweight obesity prevention after school program.
Key objectives: 1.Decrease the # of participating pre-teen girls whose anthropometric measures places them at risk of overweight or obesity 2.Increase the # pre-teen girls eating at least 5 vegetables and fruits 3.Increase #of pre-teen girls who participate in at least 69 minutes of regular physical and play activities. Increase the number of caretakers who can prepare healthy snacks at home
Target area: Ft Pierce (areas recognized as food deserts by the United States department of Agriculture)
Beneficiaries: 20-30 Pre-teen girls 9-13 years old and their parents – 2 groups in Ft Pierce and 1 control group in Port St. Lucie
Project Strategies:
Community and health assessment – Girls recruited into the project will conduct a community assessment of the resources available for healthy living in their community using cameras. A health assessment will also include a physical assessment using body measurement.
LIL CHEF - HEALTHY SNACKING AND COOKING EDUCATION - will recruit student chefs to educate preteen girls and parents through hands on demonstrations on healthy snacking and cooking.
SHOP HEALTHY - Mothers and girls will be taught to recognize healthy snacks at local supermarket or at the local food bank. The Harvard curriculum and other partner educational materials will be used as the basis for nutrition education
FEMALE WISDOM - MODEL CAREGIVERS TO SHARE HEALTHY HABITS AT HOME AND IN THE COMMUNITY - Mothers will serve as primary role models in the home. Caregivers will be identified who model healthy habits at home and will be recruited to participate in the Lil Chef program. Their role will be to share their secret recipes and empower other caregivers in the community to follow their lead.
OUTDOOR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PATH - The “Outdoor Physical activity path” is a series of activities including walking, playing and gardening that the pre-teen girls must complete at the end of 12 weeks to receive a healthy living certificate, patch or beads. Play activities will include Fit and Tag, HideNSeek, double dutch, treasure searches and Zumba. * VEGGIE YARD - GARDENING AS EXERCISE, ART AND FOR
