Kids get lesson in healthy eating

A professor created interactive games to teach students about nutrition.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Leave it to a brainy Carnegie Mellon University professor to cook up a fun way to teach kids how many french fries they can eat.

Using cartoon characters named Elvis Pretzley, Fry Girls and Slop P. Joe, Kristin Hughes wants to spread the right word about nutrition and exercise: Just because Dad eats a huge plate of macaroni and cheese doesn’t mean we have to imitate him.

“Not everyone has to eat the same portion size,” said Hughes, an associate professor in CMU’s School of Design. “A lot of kids, at this age, they get fed adult amounts ... but everyone is really specific and individual. It’s about my amount and no one else’s amount.”

Hughes spent a recent afternoon at Pittsburgh Montessori School in Friendship, where a lively group of fifth-graders in Kathy Schwartz’s classroom gave high marks to Hughes’ creation — a series of interactive games called Fitwits.

The students spent about an hour learning that Deep Dish Don (a slice of deep dish pizza) likes to swim in grease and Mr. Leather (the popular fruit roll-ups) have no real fruit in them. They gasped in disbelief when they heard the right portion of french fries should be no bigger than three fingers put together.

“Isn’t that a bummer?” said Dr. Susan Fidler, a resident at UPMC St. Margaret who is part of the team working with Hughes.

Pittsburgh Montessori is one of five schools where Hughes and her partners are testing the games. The project developed about a year ago when Hughes received a $195,000 grant from The Heinz Endowments to help children learn about nutrition. She partnered with Dr. Ann McGaffey of UPMC St. Margaret Family Health Centers.

“What I love about it is that it takes important concepts in nutrition and makes them concrete,” Fidler said.

A deck of oversized cards is modeled after the popular Memory game. The cards have pictures of foods such as broccoli, cheese and hamburgers. The goal is to pair them up with a card that shows the correct portion size: one thumb is the right serving size for peanut butter, one palm is the right size for a piece of chicken, and so on.

Laurynn Morgan said she enjoyed the game, even if it means she’ll have to cut back on her favorite foods like macaroni and cheese, chicken and peach cobbler.