Event provided resources to boost family health Published May 6, 2015 By Senior Airman Sarah Hall-Kirchner 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Members of Team Scott partnered with Operation Homefront to provide healthy food and nutrition information to military families April 27 at the National Guard building next to Scott Air Force Base. Darcy Clardy, Growing Healthy Military Families Organizer, wrote a grant that provided the funding for events like the health fair, which aim to show families how to live a healthy lifestyle on a budget. "We are trying to make our programs more education-based to help the families for a longer period of time," said Clardy. "We are providing the information and the resources to help the families make better choices." Participants of the event learned how to shop on a budget and grow vegetables. They were also given the opportunity to speak to a dietician from the 375th Aerospace Medical Squadron Health Promotion Flight. Those who attended received a box of approximately 40 pounds of fruits and vegetables, gardening gear, a cook book, and reusable shopping bags. Heather Braundmeier, 375th AMDS Health Promotions Flight Coordinator, attended the event to encourage a healthy lifestyle among military families. "The United States is currently in an epidemic of obesity and diabetes in children," said Braundmeier. "It is important to teach children healthy lifestyle choices from an early age, because those choices will lead into their future choices." It is important for parents to pay attention to nutrition too, because they lead by example said Braundmeier. "Children follow our example," she said. "If I have french fries in my hands all the time, my children are going to want fries all the time. If I have an apple, my children are going to want an apple. We need to show our children a healthy lifestyle through our actions." Darla Klausner, 375th Medical Group Disease Management Health Educator, hoped that the event would build awareness among military members and their families to the resources and local nutrition programs available to them. Klausner is the program manager for the 5-2-1-0 Healthy Military Children program here. It is a community-wide health initiative to inspire military children and their families to adopt a healthy lifestyle. The program encourages children to consume five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, to limit screen time to two hours per day, to add one hour of physical activity per day, and to reduce sugary drinks to zero per day--arriving at the 5-2-1-0 concept. Although I am not in favor of labeling children as overweight or obese, the data suggests that one in four military children at Scott fall into that category," said Klausner. "With small and steady behavior changes provided by the 5210 HMC concept, we as a community can help reduce obesity and the risks associated such as diabetes, heart disease, and other preventable chronic ailments." Klausner provides one-on-one or group classes to parents, family members, and base organizations. It's important to make childhood nutrition front and center on a daily basis, she said. To keep nutrition up front, Klausner and Braundmeier have fun recommendations for families. Use smoothies to sneak vegetables into a picky eater's diet. A fruit and yogurt smoothie can have spinach mixed in and kids will not taste the spinach over the sweet fruits. Spaghetti sauce hides a lot of vegetables, so cutting them up in sauce will provide more nutrients in their diets. Get children involved in the kitchen, especially chopping fruits and vegetables, and they will eventually try it and perhaps like it. For more information on health and nutrition, visit the Scott AFB Clinic Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ScottAFBClinic, www.choosemyplate.gov/kids or www.letsgo.org.