Contest Winners: THE ART OF HEALTHY EATING FOR GROWING HEALTHY KIDS

THANK YOU to Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County!  A special thank you to the clubs’ art directors for playing with us and helping us teach kids who can now teach others.  Our poster contest has been a blast to do together!  Our collaboration is unleashing the youth voice to improve the health – and lives - of America’s children. 

THE WINNERS of “The Art of Healthy Eating for Growing Healthy Kids” Poster Contest are:

Indian River County, Florida winners:

• Giselle Zamarripa, age 8, Fellsmere
• Lizbeth Jimenez, age 8, Fellsmere
• Amy Kenney, age 8, Vero Beach
• Rian Butler, age 9, Sebastian
• Esmeralda Rosales, age 9, Fellsmere
• Clara Grace Martin, age 9, Vero Beach
• Tamia Bermudez, age 10, Vero Beach
• Alexis Ann Taylor, age 11, Vero Beach
• Hannah Truex, age 14, Sebastian

U.S. winner: 

• Pramuditha Sithumini Madigapola, age 7, Northridge, California

THESE KIDS created designs which contest judges Christine Thomas and Judy Nash (both artists and educators) deemed creative, fun, and inspirational with serious messages for adults.  The power of youth and their voices to teach adults that kids want, need, and crave access to healthy foods is the message these kids are teaching.  

NOW it is up to us to listen.

Artist Lizbeth Jimenez from Fellsmere Boys and Girls Club
shows her design.

Nancy Heinrich teaches a lesson about healthy foods at the
Fellsmere Boys and Girls Club.

Look at the response to Nancy's question about favorite vegetables
at the Vero Beach Boys and Girls Club

Winner Rian Butler at the Sebastian Boys and Girls Club

SINCE HAVING FUN WITH A PURPOSE is key to our success, I want to tell you how much fun it has been to play with Boys and Girls Clubs members and staff on “The Art of Healthy Eating for Growing Healthy Kids” poster contest.  

A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to Publix  (www.publix.com), The Fresh Market (www.TheFreshMarket.com), and Growing Healthy Kids for the prizes received by these inspiring kids.  

To your great health, 

Nancy Heinrich

Growing Healthy Kids - improving the health - and lives - of America's children, one child and one garden at a time.  To learn more about our education programs, go to www.growinghealthykids.me.

BONNIE PFIESTER FIGHTS OBESITY

Kudos to Bonnie Pfiester.  Her comments in her column in today’s Vero Beach Press Journal mirror what I talk about everyday with parents, business leaders, and children throughout the United States and beyond.  Fighting obesity must happen on all fronts.  We cannot afford to be complacent in this fight.  

As a reader of this blog you know that my focus is childhood obesity- stopping it, reversing it, and preventing it. One in three kids in America is overweight or obese.  Two in three adults are overweight or obese.  If America’s children are going to have any kind of chance to get to a healthy weight as kids and avoid the early onset of obesity-related diseases seen primarily in older adults (like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and joint disease), then America’s adults had better start confronting their own daily excuses as to why they don’t exercise and why they are still making lousy food choices.  

From a kid’s perspective, it’s a case of “monkey see, monkey do”.  I see it every day.  Kids are simply modelling the behavior they see in their parents, their teachers, their friends’ parents, etc. 

I  agree 150% with what Bonnie said in today’s article about the five ways people can fight the obesity epidemic.  This is what you can do:

• Fight obesity in your home.
• Fight obesity in your workplace.
• Fight obesity in your child’s school.
• Fight obesity in your church and local organizations.
• Fight obesity in your close circles.

The really great thing is that Bonnie is doing more than just talking about fighting obesity.  She has drawn a line in the sand with an offer today that shows she is serious about fighting obesity.  She said that anyone who brings a copy of today’s Vero Beach Press Journal article into her Max Fitness Club (which she owns with husband, Steve) by August 1 will receive a free 30-day club membership.  

Bonnie, you are a wonderful role model for improving the health of America – and America’s children.   Thank you!!

Kids at a recent Growing Healthy Kids in the Kitchen event in Vero Beach.

Kids on the fitness trail at a recent Growing Healthy Kids event held in collaboration with Youth Guidance Mentoring & Activities Program.

Thank you,

Nancy Heinrich

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

• Growing Healthy Kids is a movement to improve the health – and lives – of America’s children by designing and delivering solutions to halt, reverse, and prevent childhood obesity.  For more information, go to www.growinghealthykids.me and www.growinghealthykids.blogspot.com.