The Salvation Army’s new health pilot program kicked off at our Red Shield Community Center in Englewood and attracted nearly 75 families who wanted to improve their well-being. The six-month program is a collaborated effort between The Salvation Army and Rush University Medical Center.

Medical students from Rush are working families to implement changes in their diet. Each group will meet once a month at Red Shield to discuss progress and to also come up with alternative recipes for traditional meals. The alternative recipes will create the Keep It Lite Cookbook.

The Keep It Fit objective is to mitigate predispositions and build environments that support obesity and unhealthy behavior. A systematic structure has been created so that families learn how to change eating behaviors, cultural attitudes and also learn how to problem solve the barriers to optimal living.

Families participating have overall program objectives and personalized goals. Within six months, each child participating is expected to strive towards a body mass index (BMI) of less than 30. Families are expected to increase physical activity to at least 30 minutes five days a week. Diet consumption changes with each family making an effort to include five servings of fruit and vegetables in meals per day. Families are expected to eat more meals together, which help to cut down on the high-fat low fiber food consumption away from the home. Time spent playing video games and watching television should be severely reduced. More importantly, in order for the program and its suggestions to work, families have to change their attitudes toward physical fitness and a healthy diet.