According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, one-third of American children and adolescents between 2 to 19 years old are overweight or obese.
This alarming number has given birth to more initiatives to help promote a healthier lifestyle for the youth, one of which is the Media-Smart Youth, a program that assists young people make better choices by being able to dissect media messages. The program, which is under the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, promotes the equation: Media Education + Health Information = Smart Decisions.
The Media Smart Youth curriculum has four key areas.
Media awareness: Using the 6 Media Questions , young people learn how to recognize and analyze techniques that media producers use to get their attention and how to evaluate media messages for accuracy and consistency with their ideas about being healthy.
Media production: Youth practice what they learn in each lesson by creating Mini-Productions in which they develop their own media messages. The Big Production, the program's culminating project, enables youth to create media products that promote healthy nutrition and physical activity to their peers.
Nutrition: A variety of activities encourages youth to choose vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and calcium-rich foods, and to reduce their consumption of solid fats and added sugars. Lessons also encourage youth to be thoughtful when choosing snacks; each lesson includes a Snack Break in which youth enjoy nutritious foods they may not have tried before.
Physical activity: Youth learn the importance of daily physical activity and develop strategies to become more active in their daily lives. Physical activity, they discover, is anything that gets their bodies moving, such as walking the dog, dancing, or carrying groceries. A 10-minute Action Break during each lesson engages youth in a fun physical activity.
Media Smart Youth is openly accessible to everyone. Learn more by visiting their official website: Media Smart Youth.
