Fine, Fit and Fabulous: Addressing obesity in underserved communities through a faith-based nutrition and fitness program

Background: The Bronx Health REACH coalition, led by the Institute for Family Health, includes over 70 community-based organizations, health care providers, and faith-based institutions. The coalition works to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities related to diabetes in the Bronx and Harlem, which are low income, minority communities with inadequate access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity. Method: Fine, Fit, and Fabulous (FFF) is a 12-week, bilingual faith-based, diabetes prevention program developed by the coalition. FFF offers nutrition education and fitness activities and incorporates Bible-based teaching on the value of adopting healthy lifestyles as part of one's religious faith. FFF has been implemented in 11 Bronx and Harlem churches. Pre-post surveys, nutrition tests, and weight logs were collected to assess participant's knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding healthy eating and physical activity. Results: Participants (n=93) reported increased understanding of healthy food choices (15%) and improvements in healthy behaviors such as: exercising in past 30 days (20%); eating fruit daily (20%); judging food portion sizes (12%); reading food labels when shopping or cooking (23%); eating less fast food (15%); and less overeating (13%). Average weight loss across churches was 3.24 lbs. and BMI reduction was .53% per participant. Conclusion: Evaluation results show FFF's success at engaging overweight and obese adults in behavior changes regarding healthy eating and exercise. FFF demonstrates the potential of faith-based health interventions to address obesity and diabetes rates in high need communities of color.