UTSA scholar, team encourage healthy living through vacation bible school program

William Cooke

UTSA nutritional scholar Meizi He is sharing her healthy living knowledge with local congregations

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(July 14, 2015) -- A UTSA nutrition scholar and her team are helping three local churches communicate the importance of healthy living in an effort to combat obesity among San Antonio’s Hispanic population.

In 1 Corinthians 6:19 of the Christian Bible, the human body is referred to as “God’s Temple.” Dr. Meizi He, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Kinesiology, Health and Nutrition with the UTSA College of Education and Human Development, and her research team are using that verse to help teach local congregations the importance of healthy living through their unique program Building a Healthy Temple (BHT).

Obesity among Hispanic children is consistently high. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded that in 2011-2012, an approximate 12.7 million children and adolescents were considered as medically obese. Hispanic children aged 2-to-5 years old made up 22.4 percent of that total number.

Building a Healthy Temple was founded in 2009 to reduce those numbers by engaging San Antonio’s Hispanic population through their church. More than 90 percent of Hispanic families in the U.S. belong to a faith-based organization of some sort, which makes churches perfect platforms through which to reach this population.

“We see churches as good platform through which to reach people where they are,” said Dr. He. “We can foster lasting healthy lifestyle changes in trusted, social settings. ”

As part of the broad BHT health promotion program, Dr. He and her team team recently developed and are currently pilot-testing an innovative childhood obesity intervention program. The program works in parallel with local churches’ annual vacation bible schools (VBS). Funded by BlueCross BlueShield of Texas, the BHT team is working with San Antonio-based churches St. Paul Catholic Church, Central Church of God and Grace Calvary Church to implement a special VBS curriculum emphasizing healthy living. The program is designed for school-aged children and provided for free to the church and their local community members.

The five-day VBS, themed “Under Construction” to build a healthy temple, is designed to coincide with the Bible-related teachings the children learn during the VBS. According to Dr. He, the children will learn to “care for their temple” by learning to make their own healthy snacks, participate in physical activities and healthy eating competitions. Parents will also have the opportunity to take part in the VBS proceedings by attending daily health education sessions and cooking demonstrations.

“We are very excited about the positive effects that Under Construction curriculum has had on our community,” said Rosie Arismendez, director of Religious Education from St. Paul Catholic Church. St. Paul is the first church to fully adopt the BHT’s Under Construction curriculum during its July 13-17 vacation bible school. “Encouraging our congregation, especially the children of our congregation, to live healthy, active lives is important, and we are grateful to Dr. He and UTSA for working with us.”

The UTSA Department of Kinesiology, Health and Nutrition serves more than 1,000 students in four-degree programs, a minor and a master’s program. Its faculty specializes in community health, school health, nutrition, exercise physiology, exercise and sport psychology, pedagogy, adaptive / developmental physical education, biomechanics, motor learning and control, and evaluation and assessment. Research conducted in the department focuses on the prevention and treatment of risks for diseases and promotion of healthy growth and living across lifespan.

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For more information about Building a Healthy Temple, visit http://on.fb.me/1D1gPff or contact Dr. Meizi He at meizi.he@utsa.edu.

Learn more about the UTSA College of Education and Human Development and its Department of Kinesiology, Health and Nutrition.

Connect online at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and UTSA Today.

 

 

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