T.all closed at home, always sitting in front of the devices, eating snacks and snacks: among the many damages of Covid is that of having made our children sedentary and overweight. And the consequences can still be seen today. The project LOVVATI from Do x Wellfunded by BNP Paribas Cardif, on the occasion of World Food Day, launches its second phase against childhood obesity: no longer just Milan, but children from 9 to 12 years old will be reached in Naples, Palermo, Rome.
A moment of the LOVVATI project against childhood obesity that restarts with World Food Day.
“We started with the estimates of Unicef and the World Health Organization,” says Giusy Laganà, general director of Fare x Bene. “In Italy, 33 per cent of children up to the age of 10 are overweight, a percentage that drops to 23, always very high, up to the age of 13. The sedentary lifestyle, combined with the increase in hours spent online, has also led to a worrying increase in cyberbullying ». As for nutrition, the Italian Society of Pediatrics also reminds us of one staggering growth in snack consumption by 60 percent and fruit juice consumption by 14 percent due to the lockdown.
“We have decided to focus on prevention among children and pre-adolescents, who have been very affected by the restrictions due to Covid”, continues Laganà, “also because education on well-being, nutrition and online management is within 33 hours annual courses of Civic Education. In the first phase of LOVVATI, last spring, we have already reached 600 students and 1000 parents from 6 Milanese institutes ». Now the project restarts on a larger scale, between Rome, Naples and Palermo: it is completely free and schools that want to join can apply on the site.
LOVVATI: not only prevention of obesity but also of cyberbullying
But what does LOVVATI consist of? The main feature, which distinguishes it from other projects, is its multidisciplinarity: «We involve psychologists, nutritionists, lawyers, digital experts, who speak the language of the youngest», explains the director. “We offer schools 8 meetings, partly in the lecture hall, partly in individual classes, divided into 4 steps”.
Here they are: «1 Psychologists talk to children about self-acceptanceself-esteem, stereotypes, body shaming. 2 With the nutritionists of the Auxological Institute the focus is on healthy nutritionwe teach to read the labels, we give advice on food combinations and quantities. 3 With digital experts, you learn to respect yourself and others onlinealso with a view to preventing cyberbullying. 4 Finally, with the motor education experts we give indications on practical exercises daily, we try to encourage the children to move, to leave the house to play outdoors, with their mates, breaking the isolation ».
“In the end, we give everyone a pedometer with a LOVVATI heart and leave the teachers with useful materials. The middle school kids, then, at the end of the course go to do peer education with their younger companions, and they manage to involve them very well ».
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