Pediatric Obesity Class: Teaching Kids How to Life Healthy Lifestyle

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. At the Longstreet Clinic, Diabetes Education and Medical Nutritional Therapy Department, and Pediatric Department have joined together to create the Pediatric Obesity Class to address the epidemic of pediatric obesity in the local community. In the class, the child and parent are taught about calories, how to develop healthy eating habits and become physically active as a family. Visual aids as well as hands on activities for both nutritional and physical activity components of the class are utilized. Thus far, approximately 120 children along with their parent(s) have participated in the class. Pediatric department tracks post-class height and weight measurements. Currently, additional outcomes are being considered to measure the effectiveness of the class.