It's easier and cheaper than you may think to eat healthy, get exercise and de-stress. It just requires a little inspirational education and maybe a little chair yoga after your taco bowl.

In the coming year, toolkits that provide education on nutrition and physical activity will make their way out to Arkansans through the Cooperative Extension Service as part of a U of A System Division of Agriculture program supported by a nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

"The toolkits are tailored to specific counties based on demographics and the requests from the extension agents in those counties, but many of the toolkits can be adapted for any location to provide coaching that can improve physical and mental health and physical fitness," said Jamie Baum, director of the Division of Agriculture's Center for Human Nutrition and an associate professor in the Food Science Department.

The four-year grant supports an integrated multimedia approach for the DFEND program, which stands for "Delivering Food, Exercise, and Nutrition Education for prevention of chronic Diseases." Baum and Erin Howie Hickey, associate professor of exercise science with the U of A's College of Education and Health Professions, lead the program out of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and serve as Dean's Faculty Fellows for the U of A Honors College.

Bryan Mader, assistant professor and health specialist for the Family and Consumer Sciences Department with extension, is a co-investigator on project. Xinya Liang, associate professor in the College of Education and Health Professions, also serves as co-investigator and statistician for the project. 

Obesity and chronic disease are complex problems in the United States and are the results of many factors including unhealthy eating patterns, lack of physical activity, food insecurity and low health literacy, Baum said. Goals of the DFEND project, she added, are to improve health literacy related to nutrition and physical activity in adults at risk for chronic disease, as well as future health care professionals. 

Part of DFEND's goals are being carried out through the Good Medicine course for undergraduate students. The course was sponsored by the Honors College this semester and will be offered again in the fall 2024 semester as part of the USDA-NIFA grant.

Howie Hickey said that most of her undergraduate exercise students are on track to enter health care professions including medical doctors, physician assistants or physical therapists but may end up taking only one nutrition class and no exercise science classes throughout their degree plan. The Good Medicine course offers a well-rounded education on nutrition and physical activity, while serving the public with creation of the health toolkits, she said.

Toolkit Presentations

U of A Honors College students, whose majors include biology, engineering, marketing and political science, were chosen for the first year of educational toolkit development in the Good Medicine class, which was supported by the U of A Honors College. The students made final presentations on their toolkits to Baum, Howie Hickey and extension agents on Dec. 5. 

Extension agents offered a list of subjects for the three-person student teams to work on and then had meetings with them over the course of the semester. While the students could design the toolkits based on their project focus, they all had the same requirements that included social media posts and educational sessions for the general public.

A common theme among the five presentations was showing how physical fitness is tied to both physical and mental wellness. Even when sitting at an office chair, there are exercises one can do to decrease stress and stretch muscles called "chair yoga," as shown in the "Budgeting Wellness" toolkit developed for adults.

One group of students offered examples of healthy meals, such as a taco bowl, that can serve four people and be made for about $10. Other quick-and-easy healthy snack food options like hummus and vegetables, Greek yogurt and berries, and fruit and cottage cheese were also presented.

A health education toolkit designed by students for Hempstead County focused on "Physical Activity and Nutrition for Diabetics in Arkansas," P.A.N.D.A. for short. About 14% of the southwestern Arkansas county's residents over the age of 20 have diabetes. Along with fact sheets on quick snacks, common misconceptions about diabetes and exercises to get blood pumping, the toolkit offered turnkey social media material for extension agents to reach target audiences.

Other examples of toolkits created by the students included information on anti-inflammatory foods, physical activities for kids and adults, and a program that teaches eighth-grade students to mentor fourth-grade students on healthy lifestyle choices. 

Making games out of learning, like a scavenger hunt, was a part of the program for many of the toolkits.

The Honors College students who took part in the first Good Medicine course include Mariam Abboud, Samad Akhter, Madison Bremer, Carson Chappell, Mary Kate Cheek, Mary Cowen, Caleb Flores, Max Green, Breyuna Harris, Katelyn Helberg, Kennedy Hicks, Lily Hiegel, James Schnoes Jr., Samantha Stark and Bailey Wheeler.

Land-Grant Mission Hat Trick

Julie Robinson, associate professor of community, professional and economic development with the Cooperative Extension Service, noted the DFEND projects' unique quality of incorporating all three land-grant missions: teaching, research and extension.

"The Good Medicine Honors Course is a great combination of all three missions of the land-grant system," Robinson said. "The students take what they learn in class, the teaching mission, combined with research and information obtained through the research mission. The students then developed the content and materials presented during their final session, which fulfills the extension mission of the land-grant mission — extending knowledge and information to all Arkansans to help them improve their quality of life."

Working with the county extension agents to develop instructional materials was a "real-world experience" for students, Robinson added, providing the students with learning opportunities and challenges with community education.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. 

About the Division of Agriculture: The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation's historic land grant education system. The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses. The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.