In many poor Chicago neighborhoods, it is easier and cheaper for kids to get potato chips and soda at the corner mom and pop store on their way to school than to find orange juice. Many single or working parents, often lacking resources, have no easy access to grocery stores stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables readily available in other parts of the city.

“Food deserts” is the polite term, but some areas of Chicago are nutritionally starving. It is a problem often fostering a familial pattern of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health issues, because food choices are not available and knowledge about healthy eating is lacking. For example, many families simply do not realize the negative impact of too much sugar on their children’s or their own health.

In many Chicago families, obesity has reached crisis proportions. Part of the problem is access to healthy food and knowledge to change decades of bad habits. Recognizing this problem, The Salvation Army Metropolitan Division decided to do something about it through an innovative health and fitness program – “Keep It Fit Chicago (KIFC).”

This certainly fits the mission of The Salvation Army to serve its communities, according to Lt. Col. David E. Grindle, head of The Salvation Army Metropolitan Division. With an overwhelming preponderance of health issues caused by poor nutrition, he said, it is not enough to give families in need groceries – as Salvation Army Corps Community Centers do on a regular basis – but also help them with additional education and resources.

Now in its second year, The Salvation Army and Rush University Medical Center again are partnering to provide the nutrition, diet, and exercise program to about 200 people, starting in February. Rush doctors and medical students will work with program participants on healthy eating and Army staff will lead physical exercises, encouraging exercise for at least 30 minutes daily, five times a week.

While The Salvation Army is known for helping the needy, this program is open to everyone, according to Rosalind Goldman, creator of the Keep It Fit Chicago concept and Group Director for Marketing and Communications for the Metropolitan Division.

“We do not want to make this about low income,” she said, “but we do know that low income families do not have access to fresh food.” The number one goal is to help the families in the program change their lifestyle, even if it means traveling further to get nutritional food and learning new methods of food preparation.

“It also is about changing attitudes,” Goldman said. “It is important for the members of the family who shop and prepare the food to be part of the program, as is eating together as a family.”

Each month of the program, the participating families will meet at Salvation Army’s Temple Corps Community Center, 1 N. Ogden Blvd., for a variety of activities. One month, the participants might hear a lecture about diabetes, or get a healthy cooking lesson on meatless chili or how to prepare low-fat tacos. Or they might take a field trip. Last year, participants visited a Rush University Medical Center anatomy lab for a firsthand look at how the body works. They also got to see what 25 pounds of fat looks like.

Army staff lead Keep It Fit Chicago registrants in a variety of exercises at each session, which ends with participants sharing a healthy meal.

Rush medical students keep in touch weekly with their families by phone or in person to answer questions, or if needed, accompany the family to the store to teach them how to buy healthy food.

The benefit of this is two-fold. Not only do the participants learn healthy lifestyles, but the healthcare professionals learn about positively impacting targeted populations.

The majority of the 75 families participating last year reported that they lost weight, and some who participated last year are returning again, which fits the program model. The idea is to establish healthy patterns, become program volunteers and advocates, and teaching others in their community program guidelines, according to Goldman.

One Keep it Fit Chicago participant wrote last year: “This program was helpful, especially the cooking experience! I copied the meal for Sunday dinner the next day.” She also reported opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator, increasing walking intervals, and being able to go from 2 minutes to 20 minutes on the elliptical machine.

Recruitment is currently underway. Interested persons can visit www.keepitfitchicago.org to find out more about the program and how to enroll. The site also contains helpful information on diet and exercise.