Planet Health FAQs

Is Planet Health a dieting program?

No! Planet Health teaches children how to make room in their lives for healthy eating and regular physical activity and helps them limit screen time. Planet Health promotes good health and prevents excessive weight gain for all youth. It is not a treatment program for youth who are already overweight. You’ll find that although the teacher resources talk about preventing excess weight, weight is not a focus of the lessons themselves. Instead, we focus on promoting good health.

Does Planet Health actually work?

Yes! We’ve published studies in some of the nation’s top scientific journals showing that, compared to control groups, Planet Health offers these benefits:

• It prevents obesity in girls.
• It reduces television viewing in girls and boys.
• It increases fruit and vegetable consumption in girls.
• It prevents disordered eating behaviors in girls.
• It’s highly rated by teachers who use it. Subject teachers feel quite confident teaching the health-related content.

If I teach Planet Health, won’t I lose valuable class time that I need to use to address our academic curriculum?

Time spent teaching Planet Health actually contributes to major subject skills and competencies. The repetition of themes in various classes is a key component of the curriculum’s approach. Perhaps most important for major subject teachers, Planet Health addresses Massachusetts curriculum frameworks in language arts, math, science, and social studies. This means that your Planet Health lessons fit into your existing curriculum; the curriculum isn’t something you need to teach in addition to your current lessons.

I don’t really want to do the whole thing. Can I just try one or two lessons?

Yes! The curriculum’s effectiveness depends, of course, on how much of it is taught. However, it always makes sense to try something out on a small scale before committing to a big change. We encourage schools and individual teachers to try out a lesson or two and then think about broader, more coordinated implementation.

How can I learn how to implement Planet Health?

Learn more about the curriculum through this Web site. Then, plan to get trained in using it. Training is available through a Web-based slide presentation or an accredited online course hosted by Framingham State College in Massachusetts. In addition, schools sometimes arrange face-to-face training by contacting the Harvard Prevention Research Center.

Are other curricula like Planet Health available for younger or older children?

For fourth- and fifth-graders, we recommend Eat Well & Keep Moving, the “sibling” curriculum to Planet Health. The cognitive approach of Planet Health is geared to young adolescents, but some of the more challenging lessons can be used in the lower grades in high school.