Recording the Details Now

The Children’s Healthy Living (CHL) Program (www.CHL-Pacific.org) was started in 2011 to address early childhood obesity (2 – 8 year olds) in the Pacific by making it easier for families and communities to eat healthy and be active. Specifically, CHL wanted to determine if changes in the environment to improve access to water, fruits and vegetables would result in higher intakes of water, fruit and vegetables in young children. In order to determine if children’s eating behaviors were affected, CHL needed to record what young children were eating. The dietary assessment method that was applied is what is referred to as a food record. A food record is a detailed accounting of the actual food and beverages consumed, recorded at the actual time of consumption. In this lesson we will learn more about the details of this method and why it is applicable to young children.