Preventing Childhood Obesity through Healthy Diet, Physical, and Stress-Reduction Activities

The prevalence of child obesity is increasing in many countries, highlighting the need to educate children and to make them a priority population for obesity prevention. There is limited information about how to best engage children in comprehensive programs that include gardening, cooking, and physical and stress-reduction activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate engaging children in healthy diet, physical, and stress-reduction activities to encourage behavior changes to address childhood obesity. The participants were children ages 8 to 17 years old (n=20). The 2-week health education program included food safety, water intake, physical activity, energy intake, fast food, body mass index, eating disorders, cooking, overall health, and family meal times. Pre- and post-tests were administered to measure changes in participants' knowledge, attitude, and perception about health, and their learning experience was reported. The McNemar test was used to assess changes over time. Participants' knowledg...