Eating Smart • Being Active is an evidence-based, direct education healthy eating, active living curriculum that includes 9 core lessons and 3 supplemental maternal and infant lessons. The curriculum incorporates the main messages of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025, Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans 2nd Edition and MyPlate. The teaching methods of Eating Smart • Being Active are based on social cognitive theory and adult learning principles emphasizing dialogue-based learning.
The Eating Smart • Being Active curriculum teaches participants about nutrition and physical activity through hands-on activities that emphasize the skills needed to make healthy choices. Core content areas are: nutrition/diet quality, food safety, food resource management, physical activity and food security. Each core lesson includes a recipe preparation activity which allows participants to develop cooking skills. The lessons in Eating Smart • Being Active are activity based to ensure participants have opportunities to practice new skills, increasing the likelihood of positive behavior change. Participants are actively engaged in both physical activity and food preparation in each of the core lessons. The curriculum can be used in a variety of settings but was developed for peer educators to use with adults of limited resources either one-on-one or in small groups of 2-12 participants. Groups of these sizes allow maximum interaction and therefore learning among participants.
The lesson plans are fully scripted which aids program leader’s efforts with curriculum fidelity as well as ease of use for peer educators. The For Your Information (FYI) section of each lesson is an easy to use, low-literate reference resource to help peer educators answer questions. The FYI is also a valuable tool when training new peer educators in need-to-know content. All curriculum materials are available in English and Spanish and are sold individually allowing program leaders to purchase according to their program needs. The curriculum and supporting materials can be found online at https://eatingsmartbeingactive.colostate.edu/. Lesson support materials and training materials are available at no cost and can be found at www.eatingsmartbeingactive.com. The Eating Smart • Being Active mobile app is available for free from the App Store (Apple) and Google Play (Android). The app includes access to all the recipes and physical activities in Eating Smart • Being Active, a physical activity tracker, and a unit price calculator.
Several evaluation studies have been conducted to evaluate and document the evidence base of Eating Smart • Being Active. Citations for publications detailing the results of these studies can be found at: https://eatingsmartbeingactive.colostate.edu/eating-smart-%e2%80%a2-being-active/about/evidence-base/
