Teaching Children to Take Control of Their Health

Children in the developed world are suffering, in unprecedented numbers, from a host of health problems related to obesity. And sadly, obesity is just one symptom of an unhealthy lifestyle that may reverse a 100-year trend toward longer and healthier lives. Inactivity, ignorance about health basics, Cultural Stress® and a high-calorie diet that is low in the diversity that marks good nutrition appear to be the principle culprits.

So how do we help the next generation to change direction?

Inclusive Health in Education is helping kids understand how small shifts in their habits can lead them to a healthy, life-sustaining lifestyle.

The pilot project for Inclusive Health in Education is a ten-week program that not only teaches kids why skincare, diet, exercise and stress management matter—it gives them an opportunity to see how basic indicators of health, like weight and blood pressure, start to move in a positive direction as they adopt a healthier lifestyle.

The lead educator for the pilot project is Inclusive Health Practitioner Paula Coyne. Taking Inclusive Health into schools has been an eye-opener for Paula. “It was startling to discover that 90 percent of the kids entering the program had high blood pressure. These are elementary and middle-school children who are showing the kind of compromised health we expect to find in a sedentary person who is in late middle age. But the poor health comes as no surprise when you find out that some children cannot identify whole fresh vegetables because they have never seen them at home.”

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