Eldorado Elementary selected for 'Foodplay'

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Eldorado Elementary School has been chosen as one of 20 schools in Illinois to host Foodplay this month.

Foodplay is an award-winning show that uses the power of theater to turn kids on to health eating and exercise habits. The performance at Eldorado will be held 1 p.m. Monday, April 27 at the gymnasium.

Foodplay, sponsored by the Illinois Soybean Association, was developed in response to the nation's childhood obesity epidemic, according to a news release from Foodplay Productions. The "Celebrating Soy Foodplay Tour" will reach up to 8.500 kids and their families with nutrition and health information in April.

In the last 25 years, obesity rates among elementary school-age children have doubled while the rates among teen-agers have tripled. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of all black and Hispanic children and one out of three Caucasian children born in 2000 are expected to develop diabetes if current eating and exercise habits don't improve, according to the news release. Fewer than one percent of American children eat the recommended servings of healthy foods and fewer than half participate in daily physical activity.

During the performance, children follow the story of Johnny Junkfood, who wants to become a juggler, but keeps dropping balls because his diet is bad. He eventually learns how to juggle the foods he eats to end up with a balanced diet, acceding to the news release.

Foodplay was founded in 1982 to spread a message of good health to schoolchildren across the nation.

--On the Web: www.foodplay.com