UnitedHealthcare and Sesame Workshop are sharing the importance of
making food choices that establish lifelong healthy habits during a
30-second Public Service Announcement (PSA) titled “Eat a Rainbow,”
featuring Reed V. Tuckson, M.D., Senior Medical Advisor, United Health
Foundation, and Sesame Street’s Abby Cadabby.
During the PSA, Abby Cadabby and Dr. Tuckson talk with children and
families about eating a rainbow of colors found in fruits and vegetables
like oranges, bananas, blueberries, green beans and tomatoes as part of
a balanced diet.
“We are passionate about encouraging and enabling families to make
healthy choices early in life and providing them with access to healthy
food,” said Dr. Tuckson. “We are thrilled to partner with Sesame
Workshop to offer tools and resources to help parents and caregivers
gain a greater understanding of the relationship between healthy habits
and children’s healthy growth. The PSA is a great way to share tips with
families to help them stay healthy.”
The “Eat a Rainbow” PSA is part of UnitedHealthcare’s Healthy Habits
for Life partnership with Sesame Workshop, which includes bilingual
(English and Spanish) educational outreach materials through the Sesame
Street Food for Thought: Eating Well on a Budget™ initiative.
Food for Thought aims to help families, with children ages two to
eight, make food choices that are affordable and nutritional, and that
set the foundation for lifelong healthy habits.
“As an organization, we share UnitedHealthcare’s passion for encouraging
and helping kids to be healthy and stay healthy,” said Dr. Jeanette
Betancourt, SVP, Outreach & Educational Practices at Sesame Workshop.
“The partnership is a perfect pairing that sparks positive change and
improved health to help all kids reach their highest potential.”
Since the launch of Food for Thought in 2010, Sesame Workshop has
unveiled independent research indicating the Food for Thought
program has been successful in helping families increase their
knowledge, beliefs and behaviors around nutrition. The research found
that within four weeks’ exposure to the Food for Thought kit,
nearly three in four families reported making positive nutritional
changes including seeking information on how to cope with food
insecurity, taking steps to save money on food and making changes to
promote healthy eating in the family. To learn more about eating your
colors, visit the Food For Thought website at www.sesamestreet.org/food.
About Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit
educational organization behind Sesame Street, the landmark
television program that reaches millions of children every day in more
than 150 countries. The Workshop’s mission is
to use the educational power of media to help children everywhere reach
their highest potential. Delivered through a variety of platforms,
Sesame Workshop develops research-based content – including television
programs, books, games, mobile apps and community engagement initiatives
– that supports early childhood learning, helps prepare children for
school, and addresses developmental needs. The Workshop’s programs are
tailored to the needs of specific regions and focus on topics that help
young children and families develop critical skills for lifelong
learning. For more information, visit us at www.sesameworkshop.org.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to
helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health
care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and
sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers
the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers
and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with
more than 650,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,000 hospitals
nationwide. UnitedHealthcare serves more than 38 million people and is
one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified
Fortune 50 health and well-being company.
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