U.S. Childhood Obesity Rates Still Rising



According to a recent study led by Duke Clinical Research Institute childhood obesity in the United States has not declined and severe obesity remains high. Dr. Sarah Armstrong pediatrician and director of the Duke Healthy Lifestyles Program said in a recent video in regards to the childhood obesity epidemic that, "Not seeing changes in the actual numbers, as this study points out, certainly is problematic, because there have been all the efforts aimed towards it." Researchers found that 33.4 percent of children between the ages of 2 through 19 were overweight and among those 17.4 percent had obesity. The results showed the continued increase of obesity among children from 1999 through 2014. Also according to the recent article 4.5 million children and adolescents had severe ...

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High school students get empowered to change their lunchrooms



A new movement towards healthier lunchrooms is happening in Iowa high schools by empowering students to assess and change their lunchrooms, helping to let take charge within their schools in making the healthy choice, the easy choice. Students are allowed to help change their lunchrooms through the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement, that applies the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs (BEN) into simple low-cost concepts that improve nutrition and marketing for healthier choices. With a three-pronged partnership between the Iowa Department of Education, the University of Iowa Public Policy, the College of Public Health and the Iowa Department of Education, five high schools across the state plan to let student's use BEN to make decisions within their own ...

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Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama Gives for Healthy School Initiatives



The Be Healthy School Grant Program will make $250,000 of money available for up to 25 schools to be awarded $10,000 grants from the 2016-2017 school year. This Blue Cross Blue Shield grant program allows schools across the state of Alabama, who enroll students in grades K through sixth and apply into the Healthy School Grant Program, a chance to implement school-based health and wellness programs that increase exercise, nutrition and parental involvement throughout the school year. Grant requests and applications will be accepted from now to March and schools considered for grant dollars schools must be located in Ala., serve students in grades K-6, and be public, private or non-profit. Only schools can be awarded the grant dollars, those not supported are for profit schools, ...

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Out With Soda in With Water Fountains



High Schools in St. Joseph, Missouri are now able to help students make the healthier choice the easier choice with the school's new water bottle stations. To help encourage students to chose water over sugary beverages, local health departments helped purchase the new water bottle filling fountains for various local schools and put up sugar shocker signs to help students know how much sugar is in various sugary beverages. The grant came through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and then the new fountains were purchased by the City of St. Joseph Health Department to help encourage students to drink more water. Quick-fill water bottle stations that transform regular water fountains into bottle filling stations were put into various local schools including ...

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ROTC junior student educates peers on nutrition with Mission Readiness



According to the U.S. Military Processing Exam, 62,000 new recruits to the military were turned away in joining the military due to their weight. Juan Cardenas, a member of the Marine Corps junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) at Northridge High School, offered fellow students a presentation on healthier foods, nutrition, calories, and label reading. Sixteen year old Cardenas said in a local article, that he wasn't always the strongest and fastest kid, but was always the bigger kid, but now he is the kid that can "hold his own" and compete. Cardenas knows that eating healthy and exercising has helped him and hopes to show that to his peers. Latino kids are at higher risks for diet-related dieseases like obesity and diabetes, and according to the the local article, ...

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How California Is Boosting In-School Physical Activity



With funding from The California Endowment, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program has launched a new initiate, Active Students, Active Minds, to help elementary, middle, and high schools in California (38.6% Latino) provide 60 minutes of physical activity for kids through a 60 minute equation (see image for equation). Any school staff member is eligible to register their school for free. When a school registers to participate, a school representative will have access to resources, trainings, assistance from national experts, and a customizable assessment tool and action plan, and will be prompted throughout the year to solve the 60 minute equation. Each week, schools will receive 2 simple classroom breaks/activities and a bonus activity to reach the ...

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New $7 million dollar school food service center for Springfield Students



The Springfield City Council has voted to authorize seven million dollars to help support a growing meals program for the state's second largest public school system. The money will help purchase and renovate a warehouse dedicated to help save taxpayers money and provide healthier school meals for the city's 30,000 impoverished kids, by housing all food-related operations for the district into one place. The school's department of finance chief Patrick Roach explained that the warehouse will help save the program over half a million dollars a year, and help create a culinary and nutrition center that will allow for more scratch cooking and less processed foods. The warehouse will also allow high school students learning opportunities and provide 40 additional full-time jobs to ...

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USDA Proposes Rule to Fine Schools Who Don’t Follow Nutrition Standards



Purposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on March 29th, a new rule is setting the standard to try to help schools get on board with school meal nutrition standards. According to a recent article, any school food authority or school administration that is not following the standards set for child nutrition programs may be fined. Child nutrition programs include the National School Lunch Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the School Breakfast Program, and the Summer Food Service Program and state administrative expense funds. In the first offense, schools would be fined one percent of meal reimbursements for the fiscal year for not correcting mismanagements of any program, or failing to correct repeated violations of program requirements. Schools can be penalized up ...

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CDC Looks at Healthier School Lunches, Says Locale & Socioeconomic Factors Remain



A new Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study shows that school lunches are getting healthier but there are still factors that limit healthy foods for Latino students, minority students and students from lower socioeconomic status. Fresh fruit and salad bar access increased from 16.4 percent to 31.5 percent, but mainly in the western area of the nation. Schools in the Northeast, Midwest, or South of the country were less likely to offer salad bars. Schools are where kids consume most of their daily calories, having healthy fresh fruit and vegetable options available may help decrease Latino students high risks for diet-related diseases like diabetes. To read the full study, click here. To see more of why it is important for Latino kids to have healthy school ...

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