The Robert Crown Center for Health Education’s FIT (Fighting Internal Temptation) Campaign is designed to increase elementary school students’ awareness of obesity and its causes.  FIT teaches healthy dietary choices and the importance of exercise and adequate amounts of sleep, and discusses the correlations between obesity and Type II diabetes. Each FIT session ends with time for physical activity, including a dance with accompanying cheer that reinforces the lessons learned.

The FIT Campaign is a multiple-session program for elementary school students. The first- and second-grade program runs for three one-hour sessions; the third- and fourth-grade program runs for four one-hour sessions. The FIT Campaign's overall goal is to teach healthy dietary choices and physical activity to prevent childhood obesity. The program takes both a preventive and intervention approach to the obesity epidemic, supporting critical needs for ways to reverse the rise in childhood obesity and resulting health complications. FIT Campaign students:

·       Learn the primary causes of obesity.

·       Discuss dietary habits (portion sizes, food quality, eating when bored or tired, etc.) which contribute to the increased risk of obesity.

·       Learn healthy snack alternatives.

·       Learn active alternatives to being sedentary.

·       Learn the correlation between obesity and disease, including Type II Diabetes.  

·       Learn and practice a dance and cheer at each program session.

FIT features an original cartoon character image, “Addy” (short for adipose tissue), representing a fat cell. Addy was created by David Bedney, M.D., a RCC health educator and a medical doctor, to illustrate the causes and consequences of obesity. Addy eats unhealthy foods, doesn’t exercise, gets bigger, ends up living in “O.B. City (obesity),” and becomes diabetic. This cartoon character is used in all program materials, explaining the function of fat cells in our body in an engaging way that is easily understood by young children.  Addy also features in the FIT dance and cheer, which students learn and practice at each session.

Program Goals:

Goal #1: To increase students' awareness of obesity and its causes in the Chicagoland area. 
Goal #2: To create awareness in students of dietary habits which contribute to the increased risk of obesity. 
Goal #3: To provide practical suggestions for implementation of healthier food choices and physical activities into students daily lifestyles. 
Goal #4: To increase awareness of how to lead a healthy life and avoid long term illnesses like Type II Diabetes and other associated consequences of childhood obesity.

The FIT Campaign supports the following state goals:

Illinois State Learning Standards for Physical Development and Health:

STATE GOAL 19:  Acquire movement skills and understand concepts needed to engage in health-enhancing physical activity.

19.A.2  Demonstrate control when performing combinations and sequences in locomotor, non-locomotor and manipulative motor patterns.

19.C.2a  Identify and apply rules and safety procedures in physical activities.

STATE GOAL 20:  Achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness based upon continual self-assessment.

20.A.2a  Describe the benefits of maintaining a health-enhancing level of fitness.

20.A.2b  Regularly participate in physical activity for the purpose of sustaining or improving individual levels of health-related fitness.

20.B.2a  Monitor individual heart rate before, during and after physical activity, with and without the use of technology .

20.C.2a  Set a personal health-related fitness goal.

20.C.2b  Demonstrate the relationship between movement and health-related fitness components (e.g., running/cardiorespiratory, tug-of-war/strength).

STATE GOAL 22:  Understand principles of health promotion and the prevention and treatment of illness and injury.

22.A.2a  Describe benefits of early detection and treatment of illness.

22.A.2b  Demonstrate strategies for the prevention and reduction of communicable and non-communicable disease (e.g., practicing cleanliness, making healthy food choices, understanding the importance of immunizations and regular health screenings).

22.B.2  Describe how individuals and groups influence the health of individuals (e.g., peer pressure, media and advertising).

STATE GOAL 23:  Understand human body systems and factors that influence growth and development.

23.A.2  Identify basic body systems and their functions (e.g., circulatory, respiratory, nervous).

23.B.2  Differentiate between positive and negative effects of health-related actions on body systems (e.g., drug use, exercise, diet).

23.C.2a   Identify physical, mental, social and cultural factors affecting growth and develop­ment of children (e.g., nutrition, self-esteem, family and illness).

STATE GOAL 24:  Promote and enhance health and well-being through the use of effective communication and decision-making skills.

24.B.2  Describe key elements of a decision-making process.

Illinois State Learning Standards for Science Education:

STATE GOAL 12:  Understand the fundamental concepts, principles and interconnections of the life, physical and earth/space sciences.

12.C.2a  Describe and compare types of energy including light, heat, sound, electrical and mechanical.