According to the CDC, nearly 1 in 5 children are obese, and in Florida that ratio is even higher with 1 in 4 kids facing obesity. To help battle rising obesity rates, national health leaders are partnering up to teach children how to properly prepare healthy home-cooked meals — a skill they can stick with for many years to come!
The American Heart Association and the Orlando Health Heart Institute teamed up with the After School All-Stars program for a cook-off competition to teach the local Orlando middle school students cooking tips and tricks, in addition to valuable life skills such as leadership, responsibility and teamwork through friendly competition and demonstrations.
Perhaps the best part of the competition came after the five-week course was complete. Now equipped with the knowledge, children such as Alejandro Rivera are leading the way when it comes to cooking in their households. Alejandro now spends quality time with his mother, Yetsenia, every evening cooking nutritious dinners. This is something that program leaders hope carries into generations to come, ultimately leading to fewer heart attacks, strokes and other preventable chronic diseases.
