The Junior League of Chattanooga announced Thursday they will participate in the fifth annual education initiative on childhood obesity and nutrition, titled Junior Leagues’ Kids in the Kitchen, with more than 200 Leagues from the Association of Junior Leagues International. With the goal to raise awareness and help reverse the growth of childhood obesity and its associated health issues, the Junior League of Chattanooga will host Kids in the Kitchen on May 9 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at Orchard Knob Elementary School.
This initiative, which launched in 2006, is a response to the statistic that nearly one-third of children and adolescents in the United States are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. Even more alarming is that childhood obesity has been shown to be the leading cause of pediatric hypertension, is associated with Type II diabetes, increases the risk of coronary heart disease, increases stress on the weight-bearing joints, lowers self-esteem and affects relationships with peers.
The 2015 Kids in the Kitchen Chair, Brooke Maedel said, "We are proud to once again partner with Orchard Knob Elementary to host our 2015 Kids in the Kitchen event. This is an event that many in our community look forward to each year, and it's exciting to see how much it has grown in the past few years. Kids in the Kitchen truly embodies our mission of strengthening our community by connecting families to local resources, as well as reinforcing healthy lifestyle choices."
This year’s event will feature healthy snacks, cooking demonstrations, educational games and physical activities. Several organizations will be hosting booths with fun, healthy activities, such as dance instruction, yoga, and field day games. The YMCA Mobile Fit Crew, Chattanooga Fire Department, Sodexho along with several other organizations and local restaurants have committed to making this year’s event the biggest and best yet, said officials.
"Orchard Knob Elementary is on the pinnacle of healthier students, parents and community. Teaming up with the Junior League of Chattanooga has been an integral part of making this goal a reality,” stated Jashari White, family partnership specialist with Orchard Knob Elementary.
As children are more likely to eat foods that they helped prepare, the Junior Leagues offer an online recipe collection featuring kid-friendly, nutritious recipes from celebrities, chefs and athletes. The website also features downloadable nutrition and exercise tips, quizzes to test kids on their nutritional knowledge and the USDA’s MyPyramid Blast-Off game, a way for kids to learn guidelines for daily food consumption and physical activity, tailored to their nutrition and fitness needs. The Kids in the Kitchen website, which launched in February 2006, can be found at www.kidsinthekitchen.org.
Hundreds of thousands of children and their families will have the opportunity to enrich their lives and palates with recipes, tips and activities from Junior League members through the Junior Leagues’ Kids in the Kitchen initiative. The Junior Leagues believe that education is the first step to making a lasting change in children’s future.
For more information, call 267-5053, go to www.jlchatt.org or e-mail juniorleague@jlchatt.org.