Monday Moment - Change the Environment Instead of the Person

Over the weekend I worked with 4-H Choose Health Ambassadors who are teens who will teach the benefits of healthy eating and healthy play to kids in afterschool settings. In addition to teaching lessons designed to help kids learn healthy food and activity practices, they’ll also be surveying those kids to find out how easy it is to make healthy choices in the afterschool environment.

It’s been my job to put together the survey tool that our teens will use. It’s based on similar work I did with 4-H Camps last summer, and it has really opened my eyes about how much our environment affects the choices we make.

It’s always been easy to see a disconnect between teaching nutrition in school when French fries were the only vegetable kids were served in the school cafeteria. And it’s not surprising that kids are more likely to be active and to eat vegetables if adults around them also play and eat vegetables. We could probably even figure out that if kids play outside, they tend to be more active than if they play inside.

But did you know that kids are more likely to eat enough vegetables if two or more are served with every meal? It makes sense when you think about it. If I don’t like green beans (and I confess that I do not) and that’s the only veggie served, I’ll probably pass. But if there are also carrots, I’ll have an alternative that I do like. Did you know that research shows that kids – and adults too – are more likely to eat a fruit or vegetable for a snack if it is already cut into slices? Me too. When it’s easy, I like to choose healthy, but the minute it gets hard, then choosing healthy takes an extra effort.

So the trick – with kids and with ourselves – is to create an environment where it’s easy to choose healthy. And the new thinking is that the best opportunity to make a difference in what kids – and adults – eat is to changing the environments in which they live, work, and play.

We made a good start at shifting environment toward health at the weekend training program for the Choose Health Ambassadors. There was plenty of good food – and many healthy alternatives. There were all kinds of fun activities to do – planned and spontaneous. Teens weren’t told that they couldn’t spend their time exercising their thumbs with hand-held video games. They just didn’t want to, because there were too many other fun things to do. Adults who worked with teens participated in active play right along with the kids and ate the same healthy foods. Beverages were limited to water and milk with no soda, lemonade, or other sweetened drinks. Teens and adults shared a commitment to choose healthy – and it was easy to do so!

So what can we adults do to make it easier to choose healthy in our own environments? We can rid our cupboards of food items that tempt but that don’t contribute to our nutrient needs. If we have to go out to get ice cream, we’re less likely to pull out the tub just any old time. We can make physical activity a routine – something we enjoy and that we do as a matter of habit. We can fill our lives with more interesting things to do than watch television, and we can avoid mindless eating when we do watch tv.

Probably, though, the one thing that will make the most difference, will be to surround ourselves with people who are committed to make healthy choices. We might have to take leadership – to give away the M&M’s, to bring whole wheat crackers and low-fat cheese for a snack instead of cookies or cake, to keep a bowl of orange or apple slices in our fridges to ward off snack-attacks, to suggest a walk as an alternative to the Wheel of Fortune, and to actively recruit friends and family to join us in healthier pursuits. And when we do, I’m willing to bet that we’ll find it easy to choose healthy!

What’s one small change you can make in your home or office environment that will help you be healthier today?

Sally