Healthier Communities in Urban America
The YMCA released a document on their Pioneering Healthier Communities (PHC) initiative. This program supports leaders in sustaining changes for healthier communities, such as neighborhood walkability, access to fresh fruits and vegetables, physical education requirements in schools, and workplace wellness efforts. The document shares the lessons of seven leading practices that were successfully used by community leaders in PHC.
Prevention is Primary 2nd Edition Released
The Prevention Institute released the second edition of Prevention is Primary: Strategies for Community Wellbeing. The book highlights best practices, prevention tools, and strategies to strengthen community efforts. The first edition of the book, released three years ago, influenced both the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Affordable Care Act.
Podcast: We Can! and National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month We Can! provides parents with some easy ways to promote healthy choices through three key behaviors: improving food choices, increasing physical activity, and reducing screen time.
WellSAT (Wellness School Assessment Tool) The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University recently released this new online evaluation of school wellness policies that address nutrition education and promotion, physical activity/physical education, school meals, and competitive foods.
Reports & Articles
School Meals Study Provides Food for Thought San Francisco Chronicle, September 23 2010 A three-year UC Berkeley study shows that students fed a steady curriculum of gardening, cooking and nutrition have significantly better eating habits than children who don’t get the same instruction.
Portland’s Bike Coordinator Wheels and Deals Portland Press Herald, September 20, 2010 Making sure schools have enough bike racks is not the kind of big transportation initiative that rises to the top of anyone’s agenda. That might explain why schools in Portland have gone years without enough racks to meet demand. Some don’t have any.
New Studies on Vending Machine Foods in Schools
- One study, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, found that foods in vending machines are linked to obesity, diabetes, and coronary artery disease. The researchers also discovered that children who eat these foods are more likely to develop poor eating habits, leading to obesity and related chronic diseases.
- The second study examined the impact of the Healthy Food Certification (HFC) program in Connecticut. This program provides funding to school districts that implement state nutrition standards for competitive foods that are sold outside the school meals programs such as vending machine foods and school stores. The study showed that the HFC program significantly reduced the availability of unhealthy, competitive foods.
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) this week released federal policy recommendations on childhood obesity. The recommendations were released in a briefing to federal policymakers on Capitol Hill, and focus on four areas: promoting physical activity, nutrition and wellness in schools; educating and empowering parents and families to adopt healthier lifestyles; coordinating government and private resources; and focusing on underserved communities.