One of the main challenges of health care in the twenty-first century is to encourage children to appreciate the health benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables as part of their regular diet. Concern for this challenge made the Institute for Clinical Systems Integration recommend that counseling for the intake of fruits and vegetables rich diet should be provided for children seven years and older during each of their periodic health examination.To increase knowledge, improve favorable attitude, and promote behaviors that will encourage children to be more fruit and vegetable friendly, a program "Making Friends with Fruits and Vegetables" was developed and pilot tested among 23 children, aged 7 and 8 years in a public elementary school in rural Wisconsin.Our pre-program activities included visiting the school to obtain consents from principal, teachers, and parents, seeking donation of nutritional fruit and vegetable items from local food stores, development of handouts, flyers, and preparation of the food items for taste testing. A one week fruit and vegetable diet recall process was also introduced with the participation of the students' parents. Information on the health benefits of fruits and vegetables were presented to the students, followed by sampling and identification of the various fruits and vegetables prepared for the program. Analysis of the post-test evaluation indicated increased knowledge of the benefits of fruits and vegetables among the students, a more favorable attitude to fruits and vegetables and a pledge of increasing their level of consumption of those products. Handouts will be provided for convention participants.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be presented with information on a program aimed at encouraging elementary school students to consume more fruits and vegetables. After completion of this session participant (learners) will be able to: (1) Develop a creative and cost efficient, friendly nutrition program for elementary school students. (2) Apply information to increase knowledge, improve attitude, and promote behaviors that encourage children to consume more fruits and vegetables
Keywords: Nutrition,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.