The purpose of this study was to describe the implementation of a nutrition and physical activity education program among the food pantry patrons to motivate them to make healthier food choices and to incorporate physical activity into their daily lifestyle for prevention of chronic illnesses and negative outcomes related to poor quality of life.
Methods:
An interventional research design with biweekly visits to food pantries located in underserved areas, was used for 12 weeks of the study. The study was guided by the Cox’s Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior and social cognitive theory. Inclusion criteria were low income adults aged 18 years and older residing in rural Midwestern underserved areas, IL and obtaining foods from at least one food pantry located in these areas. Purposeful and snowball sampling were used for a sample of 100 men and women. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the affiliated university. The six-item short form of the United States Household Food Security survey and the seven-item Block Fruit-Vegetable-Fiber screener were used to assess dietary behavior for baseline data. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey was used to assess physical activity behavior for the baseline data. In addition, the anthropometric measurements and blood pressure screening was performed at the baseline visit. Data for daily steps and the number of minutes spent per week on various types of activities involving walking at household, occupational and leisure-time aerobic physical activity was collected at baseline, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks. The nutrition and physical activity education program sessions were held at the food pantries lasting approximately two hours, twice per month for three months. During these sessions, participants were educated on different nutrition choices and healthy recipes. Participants were also offered to taste-test healthy recipes prepared with the items available at the food pantries. In addition, they were educated to incorporate physical activity in their day-to day lifestyle. Physical activity sessions focused on self-motivation to overcome barriers, health benefits of physical activity, time management to incorporate physical activity, social support to enhance physical activity, and environmental and safety issues as barriers to physical activity. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, means, and standard deviations) were calculated.
Results:
The mean age of the participants was 50 years (M= 50, SD=7.0) with their average household size of 4.3 (SD= 1.25). The sample included patrons from diverge ethnic backgrounds including Caucasian, African Americans, Hispanics and Polish population. The mean BMI (M=29) was in the overweight range (25-29.9). Based on the preliminary findings, about 50% of the patrons consumed fruits, vegetables and fiber in their diet less than a week and consumed meals and snacks with high content of saturated fat 1-2 times a week on average. The majority (>75%) had sedentary lifestyle (< 5000 steps a day). At 24 weeks follow up in spring 2019, the difference in body weight, BMI, blood pressure, average daily steps and average number of minutes spent on moderate and vigorous intensity leisure-time aerobic physical activity will be calculated to monitor any trends and improvement with the implementation of the nutrition and physical activity education intervention.
Conclusion:
Implementation of nutrition and physical activity education intervention with taste-test healthy recipes approach is an innovative strategy for promoting healthy nutrition choices and enhanced lifestyle physical activity among underserved food pantry patrons. Meeting the recommended physical activity guidelines with structured leisure-time aerobic physical activity of at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity, or 75minutes of vigorous-intensity, or an equivalent combination of both per week, would further help in reducing the morbidity and mortality risk related to inadequate physical activity status, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity in these at-risk underserved food pantry patrons.