The obesity rate in America has steadily increased over the years. Obesity increases the risk for many chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, diabetes, depression, sleep apnea, and eventually death (Gagnon and Stevens 2015). The main causes for obesity are lack of exercise and poor nutrition. Not only is this a serious issue for the health of Americans, but financially it has had a drastic impact. Medical costs due to obesity have reached a point of $150 billion each year (Gagnon and Stevens 2015). Obesity rates have skyrocketed in the past few decades, and childhood obesity has been the most alarming. Two out of every three Americans exceed the recommended weight standards, and childhood obesity rates have increased dramatically to 17% in the past decade (Gagnon and Stevens 2015). America is known for having high obesity rates. This especially applies to childhood obesity, which is at an all-time high. Lack of exercise and a healthy diet lead to obesity. Nutrition is often overlooked when considering one’s overall health. From my experiences as a student athlete in high school, I was never taught a proper nutrition. Having a healthy diet can have many positive effects for each individual, especially athletes. It is important to be knowledgeable when it comes to nutrition. One must understand the basics of a healthy diet, how it effects their everyday life, and then apply it to their lives.

It is vital to educate the youth about the benefits of a healthy diet. The organization that I will be proposing a program for is the Haddon Heights High School baseball team. Haddon Heights High School serves the students from the Barrington, Lawnside, and Haddon Heights communities, with an enrollment of 800 students. The target audience will be 30 male baseball players on the team ranging from ages 15-18. All 30 members of the team will be given a pretest to test their knowledge on nutrition. They will then attend an hour long seminar, followed by a discussion group, in which they will be provided information on nutrition. They will learn what a healthy diet consists of, how it can affect their athletic performance, and how to apply it to their lives.

Objectives:

  1. To increase the knowledge and inform players of the benefits that a healthy diet provides.
  2. To inspire the Haddon Heights baseball players to make changes to their diet that will be beneficial for them.
  3. To have at least 60% of players keep a nutritional journal of what they consume on a daily basis.

Following the hour long seminar and the discussion group, the players will then take a survey to see what new information they have learned, and if they planned on making any changes to their current diet. I will compare their answers to the survey with the pretest that they took before the seminar. This survey will evaluate the program, as I will be able to see what the players were able to learn, and how effective the program truly was. At the end of the season, the players will take another survey to test the long-term effects of the program. In this survey I will be able to evaluate if the players retained their knowledge throughout the season, and if they made changes to their diets. I will be able to measure the knowledge that they kept throughout the season, how many players made changes to their diets, and how many players began taking a nutritional journal from the two survey’s that I hand out. During the seminar each player will be given a nutritional journal for which they can begin to use throughout their season. This journal allows them to track their calories along with carbs, fats, and proteins. From the survey that follows the end of the season I will be able to evaluate how many players made changes to their diet and if 60% of the players kept a journal throughout the season.

Reference List

Gagnon, M., & Stephens, M. B. (2015). Obesity and National Defense: Will America Be Too Heavy to Fight?. Military Medicine, 180(4), 464-467. doi:10.7205/MILMED-D-14-00328