PE4LIFE, ACFN, and ADAF Launch Nutrition Pilot

The Healthy Schools Partnership between the American Council for Fitness and Nutrition (ACFN), PE4life and the American Dietetic Association Foundation (ADAF) launched its pilot program in four Kansas City-area schools in October. The schools participating in the pilot include Blue Valley West High School of the Blue Valley, Kansas School District and the following schools from the Kansas City, Missouri, School District: Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, Pitcher Academy and Woodland Elementary School. More than 1,000 students in fifth through ninth grades will take part in this 12-week pilot during the Fall 2007.

The pilot’s innovative approach to addressing the childhood obesity epidemic is based on the already existing success of PE4life’s proven model of getting kids active now and instilling the lifetime benefit of health and wellness. Through the existing PE4life model, kids are inspired to become active and aware of healthy living through the model’s novel physical education programs that involve all children and offer a variety of fun sports and fitness activities versus traditional physical education programs that were once geared strictly towards athletics. “We have seen a great amount of success so far with our PE4life program in Kansas City, and we are eager to build on our foundation there by adding nutrition education to four pilot schools,” said Anne Flannery, PE4life CEO. “Offering our students a nutrition component will help them understand the importance of balancing activity with a healthy diet. This is an important lesson … and we are excited to help communicate this message through the Healthy Schools Partnership.” ACFN was instrumental for bringing the organizations together for this pilot, which provides a comprehensive program incorporating the USDA MyPyramid and focuses on teaching the concept of balancing food intake with energy expenditure. The content of the pilot’s nutrition curriculum is laser-focused on teaching the importance of calories and energy balance, and its delivery fits seamlessly into PE4life’s proven model, without taking away from activity time. During the pilot, energy balance is not taught as an abstract concept; instead, this concept is embraced in PE4life classes and throughout the school environment. “The Healthy Schools Partnership provides an opportunity to make a substantial reduction in childhood obesity rates by developing a replicable approach to providing comprehensive, measurable and sustainable healthy lifestyle education initiatives in the nation’s schools,” said Dr. Susan Finn, ACFN CEO. “ACFN, PE4life and the ADAF believe that the future educational model should embrace the concept of energy balance and teach the two subjects–food intake and energy expenditure—together.”

To deliver the program’s educational components, seven nutrition coaches — registered dietitians — are working side by side with the schools’ physical education teachers. Staffing nutrition coaches in schools is unique to the program, and is designed to model many of the premier fitness centers in the nation. “The American Dietetic Association Foundation is thrilled to help incorporate the nutrition education part of the equation into these schools,” said Mary Beth Whalen, Executive Director of the American Dietetic Association Foundation. “We have long supported the idea of teaching children the importance of healthy lifestyles through the ADAF’s Healthy Weight for Kids program, and we are excited that seven ADA members will be participating in the Healthy Schools Partnership pilot. Registered dietitians are a valuable resource and their roles in the pilot will be critical to the overall success of the program.” In addition to drawing resources from successful program models, the Partnership developed several unique components including “The Filling Station” interactive kiosk, posters and information cards to reinforce the pilot’s lessons. “The Filling Station” kiosk, developed through collaboration with software developer Immersion Media, is an interactive application integrated into physical education classes to deliver program information to students through a question and answer format that is aligned with weekly nutrition topics. The Partnership commissioned syndicated cartoonist Jerry Craft, creator of the Mama’s Boyz series, to develop illustrations for “The Filling Station,” as well as the other informative materials that support the program’s lessons.

To learn more about the American Council for Fitness and Nutrition, visit www.acfn.org.

To learn more about the American Dietetic Association Foundation, visit www.adaf.org.