“Shainell is now confident enough that she is teaching the other kids in her community how to eat healthy,” says Healthy You for Life Nurse Practitioner Elizabeth Kerr. “We are so proud of her and her family! Her weight is down 13 percent. Five to 10 percent is considered a success, so she has made exceptional progress!”
Meet Shainell Hobbs - Healthy You for Life Graduate
Shainell Hobbs can’t pinpoint exactly how she gained extra pounds, but the 8-year-old girl does know she was eating too much junk food, like cookies, chips, and cake.
She was having a hard time keeping up with her 6-year-old brother when they were running. “My goal was to outrun him,” she says.
Earlier this year, a nurse practitioner told her and her mother, Naika Cherry-Hobbs, that Shainell would benefit from losing some weight. She recommended the Healthy You for Life program at CHKD.
Healthy You for Life is a comprehensive program designed to help children gain control of their weight with the help of a doctor or nurse practitioner, registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, and a licensed clinical therapist.
The Healthy You for Life team talked with Shainell about which foods to limit and which ones were healthy. For instance, Lynn Kistler, a registered dietitian, talked with her about eating more vegetables and fruits, and cutting back on processed foods and sweetened drinks. She also encouraged
her to drink more water.
Naika helped her daughter find a salad that she loved, with lettuce, cabbage, green beans, sunflower seeds, and carrots. “We all tried it and it was soooo good,” Shainell says.
Elizabeth Kerr, a nurse practitioner with Healthy You for Life, said Shainell was great about setting goals for herself and reaching them, and also encouraging other family members to eat healthier, too. It helped that Naika is a chef.
She made the family veggie and fruit plates, and cucumber tomato salads with dressing. Not only does Shainell like it but so do her brothers and friends. Shainell also ate yogurt instead of ice cream and healthy grain bars instead of candy or chips.
“She was very strict on herself,” Naika said. “If I offered anything like cookies or chips to her and her brother, she’d say, ‘No, I’m good.’”
Kerr says Healthy You for Life also helped Shainell to stop late-night snacking, and talked about ways to increase her activity during the day.
The family was living in Hampton when Shainell first started the Healthy You for Life program, in a neighborhood that felt unsafe. Shainell was limited to her own yard. But then they moved to Chesapeake, to an apartment in a safer neighborhood where she could ride a bike.
Shainell started biking every day with her brothers and other close friends. Not only has Shainell improved her own health, she’s helped others improve theirs, too.
In two months, Shainell dropped 15 pounds.
“Shainell is now confident enough that she is teaching the other kids in her community how to eat healthy,” says Kerr. “We are so proud of her and her family! Her weight is down 13 percent. Five to 10 percent is considered a success, so she has made exceptional progress!”
How does that make Shainell feel?
“It makes me feel good.”
