BALTIMORE, Sept. 22,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Medifast (NYSE: MED), the global
company behind one of the fastest-growing health and wellness
communities, OPTAVIA®, announced today the launch
of its "Healthy Habits For All" curriculum through a partnership
with WeAreTeachers, a popular resource hub for educators. Modeled
after the company's proprietary Habits of Health®
system, the lessons are designed to equip students with the skills,
knowledge and confidence needed to build healthy habits from a
young age. Lesson plans are available free of cost to millions of
teachers nationwide, though the initiative aims to prioritize
access for students in Title I schools.
Curriculum packs for grades K-5 can be downloaded from the
WeAreTeachers website. Each lesson is related to a pillar of health
and wellbeing: healthy eating and hydration, healthy motion,
healthy mind, healthy sleep and energy management, and healthy
surroundings.
"This curriculum provides health education resources on a
national scale, with a focus on under-resourced communities. The
lesson plans are designed to be simple and easy to teach in school
– where children spend a majority of their time – and empower
generations to embrace a healthy lifestyle," said Dan Chard, Chairman and CEO of Medifast. "We've
seen how powerful habit creation can be in transforming the way our
independent Coaches and Clients live, and we're excited to provide
resources to help teachers encourage their students to adopt
positive behaviors that can lead to lifelong healthy habits."
The curriculum was developed as part of Medifast's philanthropic
initiative, Healthy Habits For All, which provides education and
access to critical resources to under-resourced communities.
According to the CDC, two in five children have a chronic health
condition1 and an estimated 19.7% of U.S. children and
adolescents have obesity.2 By integrating healthy habit
lessons in school curriculums, children can be better prepared to
make healthy choices — regardless of their socioeconomic
background.
"By providing education and increased access to resources, we
hope to build on our Coaches' impact and create a world where
health and wellbeing are within reach for all," continued
Chard.
Medifast projects the curriculum will impact over 20,000
students by providing these lessons to more than 700 school
districts across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. At of the start of the
2022-23 school year, the curriculum already has more than 1,500
downloads.
The Healthy Habits For All curriculum follows the policies of
the American Academy of Pediatrics and its belief that kids should
focus on healthy behaviors, like eating healthy foods and
exercising. Dieting is in no way a recommendation for children
under the age of 18.
About Medifast:
Medifast (NYSE: MED) is the global company behind one of the
fastest-growing health and wellness
communities, OPTAVIA®, which offers
scientifically developed products, clinically proven plans and the
support of independent OPTAVIA Coaches and a Community to
help Customers achieve Lifelong Transformation, One Healthy Habit
at a Time®. As the publicly traded market leader by
revenue in the U.S. $7 billion weight
management industry, the company has impacted more than 2 million
lives through its Community of OPTAVIA Coaches, who teach
Customers how to develop holistic healthy habits through the
proprietary Habits of Health® Transformational System.
Medifast was recognized in 2022 as one of America's Best Mid-Sized
Companies by Forbes, in 2020 and 2021 as one of FORTUNE's 100
Fastest-Growing Companies and was named to Forbes' 100
Most Trustworthy Companies in America list in 2017. For more
information,
visit MedifastInc.com or OPTAVIA.com and
follow @Medifast on Twitter.
1
https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/factsheets/healthy-schools.htm
2 Stierman, Bryan, Afful, Joseph, Carroll, Margaret
D. (CDC National Health Statistics Reports) National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey 2017–March 2020 Prepandemic Data Files
Development of Files and Prevalence Estimates for Selected Health
Outcomes Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:106273
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SOURCE Medifast