MATTAWA - Some youngsters want to eat better and lead healthier lives, Registered Dietitian Cindy Johnson has learned through a recently conducted after school program called Media-Smart Youth.

Media-Smart Youth is an interactive after-school program that helps students, ages 11-13, to understand the role of media in their choices for being physically active and eating nutritious foods, Johnson said.

Media-Smart Youth is a national voluntary program. At Wahluke Junior High a dozen youngsters turned out. They met twice a week for five weeks. Three of them, all sixth-graders, finished the entire series of activities.

"They all said it was fun learning, and they want to sign up for the Media Smart Program next time it is offered, possibly in the spring," said Johnson, local coordinator through the Mattawa Community Medical Clinic.

The National Institutes of Health describes the program as a way to help empower young people to think critically about media and make thoughtful decisions about nutrition and physical activity.

The idea is to help youngsters navigate their way through the advertising with which they are bombarded daily. Johnson noted that a national survey found that, in the United States, youths ages 11-14 spend an average of 8 hours and 40 minutes each day using media.

Johnson added that excessive media encourages sedentary lifestyles, with only one-third of children ages 6-17, nationwide, engaging in vigorous physical activity.

According to Johnson, who was assisted by Megan Jamison, the local Media-Smart program was sponsored through a SNAP-Ed grant and the Mattawa Community Medical Clinic

The students became media smart through hands-on activities and actual mini-productions. They read labels, ran crazy relays, measured their pulses, discovered advertising techniques, designed an action hero ad and created 30-second infomercials. They toured a local supermarket and chose a healthy snack to take home.

"They know about added sugars in food and whole versus refined grains in snacks," Johnson said. "They know creative ways to include the recommended minimum of one hour physical activity needed each day - the Grain Mill shuffle, washing the floor, walking the dog, and family relays."

The students ate healthy snacks like yogurt and fruit and cereal, or homemade trail mix. They drank a different flavored water each week, which they made by infusing the water with various fruits or vegetables. Cucumber water and guava water were their favorites.

Johnson was impressed with how the students shared their newly found knowledge of healthy choices as they helped serve healthy snacks at the Mattawa Elementary Christmas concert and bazaar.