Transcript health psyc presentationx

Creating a Healthy campus and Adopting Healthy Eating Habits.
Cooking classes on Universities Campuses
Renee Hodgson and Robin Harris
The health issue of interest that we chose is how to establish and
maintain healthy eating habits, and creating a healthy campus.
As this can be difficult and not to mention eating healthy can be
quite expensive. This is why our target audience is university
students, as being a student is an expense in its self. As most
eating habits have set since becoming a university student, we
want to focus on promoting and keeping a healthy diet.
Previous Data
 Brown, B. J., & Hermann, J. R. (2005). Cooking Classes Increase Fruit and
Vegetable Intake and Food Safety Behaviors in Youth and Adults. Journal Of
Nutrition Education And Behavior, 37(2), 104-105. doi:10.1016/S14994046(06)60027-4
 This article examines the effect of cooking classes on the fruit and vegetable
intake and food safety behaviors in youth and adults. This took place with a
group called Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service developed cooking
classes to provide education on basic fruit and vegetable preparation skills,
food safety practices, and nutrition related to produce.
 Six hundred individuals participated and completed the evaluation of the
program, which was done by a survey.
 They found significant increases in the number of fruit and vegetable servings
consumed per day were observed for both youth and adults. There was also
improvements in safe food-handling behaviors such as washing hands and the
washing of fresh produce before use and consumption.
Theory of Reasoned Action/ Planned Behavior model tells us
that an individual’s behavior is not only determined by personal
attitudes but also by social pressures. We want to use this model
to help develop good eating habits. The theory of reasoned
action says that often if people tend to evaluate the suggested
behaviour as something positive, and if their significant other or
other social factors wants them to perform it, they are more
likely to perform the behaviour as it results in higher intentions
to do so. This being said, if we can showcase these healthy
eating habits in a positive and engaging manner, it is more likely
university students will find them more appealing.
Our Idea
 Students would be charged five to ten dollars to participate in a cooking
class offered on campus. These classes would be offered each month, and
each one would teach a different quick, and healthy recipe. Recipe cards
would be given out at the end of each class and students would be
encouraged to bring empty Tupperware containers so they could bring
home their leftovers. By having students do this in a group, they would
influence each other to keep up the good habit, and they could even
share their recipes that they could have made throughout the month.
The Pros
 Teach students how to cook
 How to eat healthy
 How to maintain a healthy lifestyle
 Social interaction and group work
 Provide information and resources
when it comes to cooking with fresh
and local foods
 Teach students about proportions
 Help students reconnect with food,
the joy of cooking, and eating well.
We believe that this would overall be a
good and efficient way to get people
to think about their health and the
eating habits that they adopt.
It is a much more interactive and
engaging way for young adults to
learn about eating healthy and
maintaining a certain lifestyle.
We could assess any behavior change
by running a survey among the
students on campus, or even having a
mass email sent out to get individual’s
attitudes and ideas towards this
proposal.
The Cons
The barriers that stand in the way of this project include

who will construct the classes?
 How will we go about getting the essentials for cooking such as a
functioning kitchen with all of its necessary supplies
 The cost of the food
We thought the best way to minimize these issues is by donations, or by having
an actual group (such as a society) that would be willing to volunteer for this
as well as having other events to help fund this project.