Eat Well and Keep Moving

The Eat Well and Keep Moving program is a school-based interdisciplinary program designed to improve diet and increase physical activity among children in grades 4 and 5. Twenty-six lessons were integrated into existing school structures and curricula, and delivered during grades 4 and 5, amounting to thirteen lessons per school year.

The goals of the Eat Well and Keep Moving program are to improve eating habits, increase physical activity, and reduce television viewing among upper elementary school students.

The impact of this intervention was evaluated using a quasiexperimental field trial and repeated cross sectional surveys. Within the field trial, dietary knowledge and healthy activity knowledge was increased in students in intervention schools when compared to controls (p=.05 [dietary knowledge]; p=.02 [healthy activity knowledge]).The intervention group also experienced a reduction in percentage of total energy from fat (p=.04), increased consumption of fruit and vegetables (p=.01), increased uptake of vitamin C (p=.01), and a reduction in the percentage of total energy from fat (p=.02) when compared to the control group. Cross sectional surveys also showed a decreased in the percentage of total energy from fat (p=.02) and and from saturated fat (p=.04) in the intervention group compared to the control group.

The Eat Well and Keep Moving program is used in all 50 states and more than 20 countries, and it won the Dannon Institute Award for Excellence in Community Nutrition in 2000.