Land O' Pines pupils get lesson in healthy eating
BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff As part of the Shape It Up program that visited the Land O' Pines School, Howell, Tania Ahuja (l), a Rutgers graduate student, discusses healthy living. Aman Deep Kaur (c), another Rutgers graduate student, and Brian Jacobson from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, show pupils how fat can clog their arteries and impede blood flow by using a plastic tube (the artery), shortening (fat) and Gatorade (blood).

HOWELL - Imagine that. Children do eat their vegetables. At least the students at the Land O' Pines School, Windeler Road, say they do.

As the kindergartners, first- and second-graders listened to representatives from the Shape It Up initiative - an anti-obesity program developed by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and the Rutgers University Ernest Maio School of Pharmacy - project manager Brian Jacobson asked the children if they like to eat certain foods.

Overwhelmingly, the students said they eat their vegetables, fruits and chicken.

And cookies, too. After all, they are children.

Using a tube filled with shortening to simulate fat, Brian Jacobson demonstrates the difficulty blood (red Gatorade) has passing through clogged arteries.

While Jacobson and two sixth-year Rutgers pharmacy students, Tania Ahuja and Aman Deep Kaur, explained everything from serving size to the food pyramid and exercise, the students received prizes like raisins and tennis balls for their answers.

Tennis balls?

To explain the size of a single serving, Ahuja asked the children if a football or a tennis ball seemed more akin to the appropriate portion.

Aside from one student who was overheard musing that he "could eat three of those footballs," the tennis ball showed the students the correct portion size.

The Shape It Up group led two other demonstrations that showed what fat and sugar can do to the body.

In one demonstration, Jacobson held a clear plastic tube and poured red Gatorade through it to demonstrate a healthy artery with blood flowing smoothly through it.

Then, Jacobson pulled out a tub of shortening and asked the children if they knew what would happen if they ate french fries or candy too often.

"How about if you went home and ate your entire bag of Halloween candy?" he asked.

With that, Jacobson stuffed the clear tube with the shortening.

As the children groaned, Jacobson presented the stuffed tube. Pouring the Gatorade "blood" through the tube this time, the liquid could not get past the clog in the "artery."

The demonstration remains an important lesson.

"We're at somewhat of an epidemic of childhood obesity," Jacobson said. "A lot of these kids have been taught this by health teachers, but to make it fun and interactive, it helps."

Another demonstration showed the actual amount of sugar in a single can of soda. As the pupils guessed that five teaspoons are in one can, Kaur proceeded to dump 10 spoonfuls of sugar in a cup of water. In one voice, the students responded by calling concoction "disgusting."

Afterward, Kaur stressed the importance of the program.

"I love working with kids, and with this [problem], you have to start early," she said.

Now in its second year, the Shape It Up program has traveled to 225 schools, speaking with more than 60,000 children along the way.

In August 2005, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey held an obesity conference for teachers through which the educators could earn professional credits.

Jacobson hopes to "expand the scope of what we're doing and bring it to a larger scale of kids." He reiterated that "it's important to get to the kids early."

No stranger to weight loss, Jacobson said he has lost 74 pounds.

"I try my best to bring that element, to practice what I preach," he said.

And like the children at the Land O' Pines School, he apparently eats his vegetables, too.