Choosing to eat healthy foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables, is something you probably take for granted. To solve the childhood obesity crisis, kids' access to healthy foods, such as locally grown fruits and vegetables must improve and increase. Fruits and vegetables are what I call REAL FOOD, as opposed to artificial foods, loaded with salt, sugar, and the bad fat, like you find at many fast food restaurants.
I may be "going rad" on you, but what people buy from the dollar menus at fast food restaurants is not real food because it has no nutritional value. Something stripped of all the fiber (white flour), fried in fat, and sprinkled with salt and seasonings designed to get you addicted, is not real food. Yet, people struggling to feed their children, opt for the dollar menus because it is quick, easy, and cheap. It's also a major contributor to the childhood obesity epidemic.
Something else you should know. According to an article in the December 3, 2011 issue of the Vero Beach Press Journal, 18% of residents and 30% of children in the Treasure Coast of Florida DON'T REGULARLY KNOW WHERE THEIR NEXT MEAL WILL COME FROM.
Hunger in America and obesity in America are directly related. It has to do with access to healthy foods, access to locally grown foods, economic security, and jobs. If you don't have a job, you have less choices about what to eat.
Enter Judith Cruz. Her job just got bigger. Judith has just been appointed to Feeding America's strategic planning committee "to help formulate the national hunger relief agency's next 5-year plan to close the country's meal gap." Judith is the CEO of our Treasure Coast Food Bank which provides a stop-gap solution for several counties here on the southeast coast of Florida. Her Food Bank is part of Feeding America, which is an organization where I will soon be doing healthy cooking classes (they don't know it, however). Judith deserves our support and ideas. She is looking at long-term solutions to hunger in America. Hunger and obesity go hand in hand.
To repeat the key point: on the Treasure Coast of Florida 30% of kids don't regularly know where their next meal will come from. Access to healthy food is something most people take for granted. Yet for almost 1 in every 3 kids here, they are worried about access to ANY food, let alone healthy, fresh food.
Hunger in America. Obesity in America. Be part of the solution. Go to http://www.feedingamerica.org/ and http://www.stophunger.org/.
Growing Healthy Kids is a movement to improve the health - and lives - of America's children, one child and one garden at a time. Because failure is not an option.
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Obesity in Kids and Vitamin D
"Obese children with lower vitamin D levels may be at higher risk for type 2 diabetes, a new study shows....Obese children were more than three times more likely than non-obese children to be vitamin D deficient, and both obesity and low vitamin D levels were associated with higher degrees of insulin resistance."
This quote is from an article I read this morning: "Low Vitamin D May Raise Diabetes Risk in Kids," by Salynn Boyles.
Another finding from the newly published study disturbed me, "Obese children were also more likely than non-obese children to skip breakfast and drink more soda and juice, suggesting that these lifestyle factors may contribute to lower vitamin D levels, the researchers noted."
I write frequently about the importance of not skipping meals, ESPECIALLY breakfast. This study, published in the latest issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, makes me stop and think about whether every child whose lives we each touch starts their day with a good breakfast. Given the current economy and high unemployment rates, it is to the point now where almost anything kids eat for breakfast is better than NOTHING for breakfast.
In a recent program I did for middle school kids in Indian River County, Florida, only one child had breakfast that day. ONLY ONE CHILD OUT OF 12!!! Why? Is it because of the food insecurity crisis affecting families where parents of young children are unemployed or underemployed? Is it because of the embarassment and shame that prevents families from applying for the free and reduced meal programs at their child's school? With the rising prices of food due and fuel, many families are forced to make choices which are affecting their children's (and their own) health.
One of my jobs is to raise awareness about the root causes for the childhood obesity epidemic in America. The journal article referenced above shines a spotlight on a topic I have long been following.
I will be writing more on the relationship between low vitamin D levels, obesity, and diabetes in future blogs. Stay tuned.
Growing Healthy Kids is a movement to educate adults, school administrators, and policy makers about the root causes of obesity so we can prevent obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, in America's kids. Growing Healthy Kids, Inc. creates solutions which improve the health - and lives - of America's kids, one child and one garden at a time. It is my belief that our society will be judged in the future by how well we protect our children.
Gracefully yours,
Nancy L. Heinrich, MPH
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
This quote is from an article I read this morning: "Low Vitamin D May Raise Diabetes Risk in Kids," by Salynn Boyles.
Another finding from the newly published study disturbed me, "Obese children were also more likely than non-obese children to skip breakfast and drink more soda and juice, suggesting that these lifestyle factors may contribute to lower vitamin D levels, the researchers noted."
I write frequently about the importance of not skipping meals, ESPECIALLY breakfast. This study, published in the latest issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, makes me stop and think about whether every child whose lives we each touch starts their day with a good breakfast. Given the current economy and high unemployment rates, it is to the point now where almost anything kids eat for breakfast is better than NOTHING for breakfast.
In a recent program I did for middle school kids in Indian River County, Florida, only one child had breakfast that day. ONLY ONE CHILD OUT OF 12!!! Why? Is it because of the food insecurity crisis affecting families where parents of young children are unemployed or underemployed? Is it because of the embarassment and shame that prevents families from applying for the free and reduced meal programs at their child's school? With the rising prices of food due and fuel, many families are forced to make choices which are affecting their children's (and their own) health.
One of my jobs is to raise awareness about the root causes for the childhood obesity epidemic in America. The journal article referenced above shines a spotlight on a topic I have long been following.
I will be writing more on the relationship between low vitamin D levels, obesity, and diabetes in future blogs. Stay tuned.
Growing Healthy Kids is a movement to educate adults, school administrators, and policy makers about the root causes of obesity so we can prevent obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, in America's kids. Growing Healthy Kids, Inc. creates solutions which improve the health - and lives - of America's kids, one child and one garden at a time. It is my belief that our society will be judged in the future by how well we protect our children.
Gracefully yours,
Nancy L. Heinrich, MPH
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
Monday, November 28, 2011
New Numbers for Diabetes in American Adults
The Growing Healthy Kids project started as my response and reaction to the increasing number of overweight and obese children I see attending our public schools. What I really see is kids who will soon be diagnosed with diabetes. These are kids who already cannot complete a physical education class due to their weight. These are kids whose parents say they cannot afford to eat healthy, so they let the kids buy energy drinks at the 7-11 loaded with 17 teaspoons of sugar on the way to middle school and they eat the "dollar menu" from McDonald's 2 or 3 nights a week because they think that is all they can afford. These are the kids on the free and reduced meal program in public school who choose the fried foods and chocolate milk instead of salads and baked fish because of ignorant school district employees who are obese themselves.
So when I saw yesterday's PARADE magazine with the column entitled "Say What?" I was not surprised. There are nearly 2 million Americans each year being diagnosed with diabetes. The column addressed 3 questions these newly diagnosed people are being hit with by their doctors:
1) You need a glucometer.
2) I want you to reduce your hemoglobin A1C.
3) Choose foods that have a lower glycemic index.
Remember Lucy's husband Desi, in "I LOVE LUCY", saying, to her, "You got some 'splaining to do!" The thing is that doctors are not teachers and they don't do the "'splaining" when they diagnose someone with diabetes. They say, "You need a glucometer to test your blood sugar and I'll see you in 3 months." So many times I've encountered patients newly diagnosed with diabetes who've been told they they to start checking their blood sugar and the patient is just wandering around the lobby in circles, clueless about what their next step is, let alone what a glucometer is or how to use the darn thing.
Because of my passion for teaching and for preventing diseases such as diabetes, I created an education program that answers questions 1-3 above and SO MUCH MORE for anyone diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes. If you know anyone who the PARADE article is addressing, you should know that getting educated quickly about all the basics is key to preventing complications. The education program I created is simple to use, effective, and explains all the basics in language you and I can understand without having to go to medical school. The place to go is http://www.healthydiabetescoach.com/. There are a bunch of educational videos I've created that you can look at in addition to the numerous blog entries which each teach important lessons.
I'm serious about preventing diabetes. I'm serious about doing something serious about the obesity epidemic. Especially when it comes to the kids all around us who are overweight and obese through no fault of their own. If adults with diabetes and prediabetes don't start taking responsibility for learning the basics on their own instead of staying with the mindset of "If my doctor didn't prescribe it, I'm not going to do it", then the kids have NO CHANCE of escaping a diabetes diagnosis.
The fact is that diabetes is preventable and reversible WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO. For more information about what to do, go to http://www.healthydiabetescoach.com/.
Growing Healthy Kids is a movement to improve the health - and lives - of America's kids, one child and one garden at a time.
Are YOU willing to do to be part of the solution?
To your health,
Nancy L. Heinrich, M.P.H.
Founder of Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.
A non-profit organization which designs and delivers solutions to America's childhood obesity epidemic
So when I saw yesterday's PARADE magazine with the column entitled "Say What?" I was not surprised. There are nearly 2 million Americans each year being diagnosed with diabetes. The column addressed 3 questions these newly diagnosed people are being hit with by their doctors:
1) You need a glucometer.
2) I want you to reduce your hemoglobin A1C.
3) Choose foods that have a lower glycemic index.
Remember Lucy's husband Desi, in "I LOVE LUCY", saying, to her, "You got some 'splaining to do!" The thing is that doctors are not teachers and they don't do the "'splaining" when they diagnose someone with diabetes. They say, "You need a glucometer to test your blood sugar and I'll see you in 3 months." So many times I've encountered patients newly diagnosed with diabetes who've been told they they to start checking their blood sugar and the patient is just wandering around the lobby in circles, clueless about what their next step is, let alone what a glucometer is or how to use the darn thing.
Because of my passion for teaching and for preventing diseases such as diabetes, I created an education program that answers questions 1-3 above and SO MUCH MORE for anyone diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes. If you know anyone who the PARADE article is addressing, you should know that getting educated quickly about all the basics is key to preventing complications. The education program I created is simple to use, effective, and explains all the basics in language you and I can understand without having to go to medical school. The place to go is http://www.healthydiabetescoach.com/. There are a bunch of educational videos I've created that you can look at in addition to the numerous blog entries which each teach important lessons.
I'm serious about preventing diabetes. I'm serious about doing something serious about the obesity epidemic. Especially when it comes to the kids all around us who are overweight and obese through no fault of their own. If adults with diabetes and prediabetes don't start taking responsibility for learning the basics on their own instead of staying with the mindset of "If my doctor didn't prescribe it, I'm not going to do it", then the kids have NO CHANCE of escaping a diabetes diagnosis.
The fact is that diabetes is preventable and reversible WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO. For more information about what to do, go to http://www.healthydiabetescoach.com/.
Growing Healthy Kids is a movement to improve the health - and lives - of America's kids, one child and one garden at a time.
Are YOU willing to do to be part of the solution?
To your health,
Nancy L. Heinrich, M.P.H.
Founder of Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.
A non-profit organization which designs and delivers solutions to America's childhood obesity epidemic
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