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Weight to Read

According to an article in USA Today, researchers found that reading books with an overweight main character helped obese girls lose weight. Remember: Obesity is when someone is 20 percent overweight for their age and height.
 
Scientists at Duke University had 31 obese girls read Lake Rescue by Annie Bryant, a book about an overweight girl who was made fun of by her classmates, until an outdoorsy trip changes things. Throughout the book, the main character learns how to eat nutritiously and how to enjoy physical exercise.
 
After six months, the girls who read this book dropped in their BMI (body mass index) percentile by .71, while the BMI percentile of girls who read a book without an overweight character went down by less and the girls who didn�t read any book actually went up.
 
Looks like reading about an overweight heroine who gets past her struggles in a healthy way motivates obese girls to make good-for-you choices.
 
Blog it out� Have you ever read a book and made changes in your life? If positive role models in books can help girls make good changes in their lives, do you think negative characters (like teen characters who smoke and drink) influence girls to make bad decisions? 
by Sharon Choi | 2/1/2016
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