EVENTS

Families Eating Smart & Moving More

On February 2nd, Families Eating Smart & Moving More will kick off another year of teaching families how to live healthier lifestyles, based on its plan, shop, and fix method of preparation. Last year, 80 Cabarrus County residents attended the pilot program, with 32 graduating after attending all four sessions in a series. This year, the Cooperative Extension and Cabarrus Family Medicine would like to reach more local families.

Our nation’s lack of physical activity costs us collectively an annual $9.7 billion dollars in healthcare – money that could be saved if we paid more attention to the needs of our bodies earlier on. Cabarrus Family Medicine, the site for Families Eating Smart & Moving More, estimates that about 1000 of its teenage patients are suffering from obesity, and by helping to sponsor the program, they hope they can treat these patients now, instead of having to treat them later in life, when the consequences of obesity have taken effect.

One of the goals of this program, co-created by the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, the N.C. Division of Public Health and the N.C. Academy of Family Physicians originally as an “Adolescent Obesity and Inactivity Project,” is to track the progress of some of these teenage patients. Area physicians identify potential children, recommend them to the program, and then over a three-year period, track these patients’ progress. Cabarrus Family Medicine has committed to track at least 5 children in the county.

Dr. Christopher Snyder, who has coordinated the program with the Extension, said, “Our job at Cabarrus Family Medicine is to encourage families to become empowered to make positive changes for the health of their children. A few simple changes, practiced on a daily basis, can make an enormous difference in a person' s health in the future.”

Alisha and Dean Proctor are a couple from Salisbury who decided to attend Families Eating Smart & Moving More in 2005, when their six-year-old daughter, Keely, was diagnosed at her wellness check-up as being on the verge of obesity. “We’re a family that’s on the go all the time. Dean and I are PTO officers and we’re involved in church,” Alisha said. So the couple was skeptical when the first thing they were told in the program was to try to eat more meals at home. “But that is one thing we have tried to change,” she said, “once we realized the time we were actually spending eating out, the money we spend, and the calories.”

“We got a lot out of the program,” Alisha said. “A lot of the information really hit home.” Alisha said that she and her husband did not want to put six-year-old Keely on a diet, but that the program provided them with many alternative ideas to help their daughter become healthier and lose weight.

“We’ve been getting out and moving more,” Alisha said. For Christmas, instead of getting Keely toys that would keep her stationary and only be an enabler, Dean and Alisha bought Keely a bike and a basketball goal. “She’s really been enjoying basketball,” Alisha said. “And now she’s on a basketball team. We also make a night each week to go to the YMCA together, and we get outside and play more.”

Families Eating Smart & Moving More focuses on the five main contributors to obesity in America: lack of physical activity, watching too much TV, drinking too many soft drinks, lack of portion control, and eating too many meals away from home. The program teaches families everything from how to prepare a grocery list to how to – not cook – but “fix” a meal and how to substitute family activities for TV time.

The first session in the series, “Eating Smart at Home” helps families learn how to plan, shop, prepare, and eat healthy meals at home. Families who eat together at home eat more fruits and vegetables and less fat. Families are given tools that will help them in the planning process, such as weekly meal planners and blank shopping lists organized by food group.

The second session, “Eating Smart on the Run” provides families with better food choices amid a busy, on-the-go lifestyle. Eating out has become a way of life for many families, and eating in restaurants often means eating more fat, sugar, and calories, and fewer fruits and vegetables. Eating out can also equal large portion sizes and too many soft drinks. This class teaches families skills to choose wisely when eating away from home.

In the third component of the program, “Moving More Everyday, Everywhere,” parents are given ideas of how to initiate physical activity with their children. Building physical activity into the day doesn’t require special equipment or a special place. Families learn to take advantage of everyday opportunities for moving more. Every step counts toward the recommended 30 minutes of activity for adults and 60 minutes for children per day.

The last topic of the program, “Moving More, Watching Less,” teaches families methods for getting children interested in replacing time in front of the TV with more physical activity and provides parents tools for planning and logging stationary and active recreations. This topic is important, considering that television, computers, and video games are now some of the primary sources of recreation in American households.

All sessions are free to the public and will take place from 7-8 p.m. in The Copperfield Room at Cabarrus Family Medicine – Concord, 270 Copperfield Boulevard. Healthy snacks will be provided for each session. Each person who completes all four topics will receive a certificate, a goodie bag, and be eligible for door prizes. Daycare teachers will also receive four hours of approved childcare training credit for completing the series.

To reserve your spot, please contact Pam Outen, Extension Agent, Family & Consumer Sciences, at 704-920-3310 or at pamela_outen@ncsu.edu.

Winter Series . . . . . . . . February 2 & 16, March 2 & 16

Spring Series . . . . . . . . April 6 & 20, May 4 & 18

Summer Series . . . . . .  August 3 & 17, September 7 & 21

Fall Series . . . . . . . . . . . October 5 & 19, November 2 & 16