Bike and blend your way to healthy living!

California 4-H is biking its way to healthy living.  At the World Ag Expo in Tulare last week, 4-H members from across the state came to help at the California 4-H booth in the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources tent.  In honor of UC Cooperative Extension's 100th anniversary this year, California 4-H presented activities focused on healthy living.

In 2010, 18 percent of children ages 6 to17 were obese and only 15 percent of students in grades 9 to 12 nationwide met the objective for daily physical activity. Also, according to the USDA, “The quality of children's and adolescents' diets is a vital issue because poor eating patterns established in childhood may transfer to adulthood.”

The 4-H solution is to improve young people's physical fitness, nutrition habits, and socio-emotional health using a long-term, positive youth development approach. Youth are provided hands-on experiences in consumer and family sciences, personal safety, foods and nutrition, and fitness.

Research shows that this approach works. 4-H participants are 2.8 times more likely to report healthy habits.

To promote healthy living and healthy eating habits, 4-H members and visitors rode our smoothie bike to make healthy and delicious smoothies. A smoothie bike? Yep that's right, you sit down and pedal our stationary bike and on the back is a blender,  the faster you pedal the quicker you make a smoothie! The smoothies were made entirely of frozen berries, bananas, fresh spinach and juice, no ice or yogurt.

Passersby were shocked at how good our smoothies were and wanted the recipe! Numerous mothers wanted to use our recipe to increase the amount of spinach in their children's diets.

See more photos on twitter (California4H) and Instagram (CA4H).

4-H program representative Sarah Watkins pushes pedals on the smoothie bike with a young visitor.

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