Can Lifestyle Changes Prevent Chronic Disease in Kids?
At a YMCA in suburban Dallas, the lights dim. Music pulses through the gym. A group of kids jump through hula hoops, carry balls without their hands, and skip from wall to wall. It all looks more like a field day than a seminar, especially one on being healthy. And that’s the point.
“Kids don’t want another lecture,” said Alex Reid, director of disease management at Children’s Health in Dallas. “They want to have fun. And if they’re enjoying themselves, the learning follows, and when they get home, they want to do the same thing.”
The afterschool class is one part of Get Up & Go, a free program at Children’s Health taking on childhood obesity in neighborhoods instead of clinics. The healthy lifestyle initiative encompasses a variety of individual programs offered at more than a dozen locations — community centers, recreational facilities, and even online. Kids and families learn about healthy food and cook tasty meals in a community context to kickstart healthy habits and help prevent chronic disease.
Excerpted from Children’s Hospital Association
