Background: Childhood obesity is a nationwide health crisis in the United States, with about 31.7% of children between ages 2-19 years considered overweight or obese. The US Preventative Service Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening for obesity in children and adolescents six years of age. Texas ranks 19th out of 51 among all states and the District of Columbia. Lifestyle modifications, compromised of health eating and exercise, are the first-line treatment for the management of overweight and obesity. Nutritional counseling, among other interventions, is encouraged to promote weight management. EBP Framework: Lewin Change Theory and Rosswurm and Larrabee Evidence Based Practice (EBP) Model. Methods: This process change is aimed to enhance nutritional counseling by providers. The process change provides a standardized way for providers to provide dietary counseling to patients/parents using the traffic light diet brochure. The electronic medical record was reviewed and documented as “yes” or “no” for the presence of educational counseling. The Chi-Square Goodness-of-Fit Test was used to analyze and calculate differences in dietary counseling from pre to post-intervention. Findings/Results: Following implementation of the TLD diet brochure, the pre versus post-implementation data showed a significant increase in education and documentation from 25% to 85.4%, indicating a significant increase in nutritional counseling. Conclusion/Recommendation: The TLD brochure’s introduction increased the PCP’s behavior in providing dietary counseling. A follow-up study with a longer time frame is recommended to evaluate the effects of dietary counseling on these patients.
