The Wake County School Health Advisory Council of North Carolina is proposing that schools eliminate junk food or unhealthy options from school fundraisers, including the sales at sporting events. They believe that by cutting junk food and candy sales, they can help increase the healthy options at all school affiliated events. However the policy remains very controversial and is not being supported by all staff or coaches. The amount of profit brought in each year from the sales at their sporting events make up a major component of the booster club's annual budget. Those who do no support the change do recognize the health benefits for students and the community, but do not believe that they will make enough money to support their athletes if this policy goes into affect. In the ...
The ActOut campaign in Virginia, an initiative of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, is raising awareness about the need for more physical activity among youth.
Currently at least 1 in 4 youth in Virginia are overweight or obese and the problem is even more grave among Latino children. Health officials in Virginia worry that 1 in 2 Latino children born today will develop diabetes if action is not taken to reverse the obesity epidemic. Although 60 minutes of daily physical activity is recommended for children, 4 out of 5 kids do not meet this recommendation. This is why the ActOut campaign is calling all school districts in Virginia to provide at least 30 minutes of physical education to children. The ActOut Campaign encourages its supporters to get the word out to friends ...
The Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) program is a school based physical activity and nutrition program that promotes healthy food choices among children. After CATCH was implemented at schools in El Paso and Austin, Texas the program demonstrated that it had the potential to lower obesity in children. Recently, CATCH was recognized by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for advancing policies and environmental strategies to control obesity. It has been adopted by schools in all fifty states and now offers early childhood and after school programs. The success of evidence based programs such as CATCH suggest that policies to improve physical activity standards for children, could have the potential to significantly reduce and prevent childhood ...
Hispanic and Asian children living in the San Antonio community of East Oakland lacked access to outdoor spaces for recreation. This prompted David Kakishiba of the Oakland-based East Bay Asian Youth Center (EBAYC), to coordinate a Schoolyard initiative with the Oakland Unified School district. The Schoolyard initiative would provide a unique and dynamic environment for school children to learn and engage in physical activity. Parents, students, and teachers participated in a series of three community design workshop meetings, to provide input as to what the schoolyard should look like. Of the two top strategies for creating a healthy schoolyard, Kakishiba recommends working closely with the school district’s facilities department, and developing and following through on a ...
There is a bill now in front of the House Education Committee that will eliminate certain foods that are considered "junk foods" from lunch rooms and vending machines in South Carolina. The bill would also allow for only water, 100% fruit juice, and fat-free or low-fat milk to be offered in schools. Changing regulations would require the snacks served in the lunch room or in vending machines must not have more than 200 calories, 35% of total calories from fat, 35% of their total weight composed of sugar, or 10% of their total calories from saturated fat. These rules will only apply to events and locations during the school day, and will not be regulated during after school clubs, activities, or fundraisers. The regulation of food and nutrition at fundraisers will be debated in the ...
Anyone that impacts school health can be on a School Health Advisory Council (SHAC). Through SHACs parent liaisons, educators, and community partners can work together to plan, evaluate, and implement the healthiest practices for kids at schools. According to this report from the Arizona Department of Health, in 2009, 33 percent of Latino children were either overweight or obese. Thanks to a $15.7 million grant to fight obesity, Pima country started a program to establish over 150 SHACs all across the county. The Arizona Department of Health partnered with the Arizona Department of Education to encourage schools in Arizona to establish SHACs. Watch this video to see how students from Challenger Middle School are benefiting from the coordinated approach to school ...
Schools in southern Florida are implementing more changes to promote healthy eating amongst students. Various schools have started providing a salad bar, changing the vending machine options, and introducing more fruits and vegetables. The USDA's Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act standardized calories per meal and what types of foods must be offered. However many schools in southern Florida are trying to go beyond that to create. They were making these changes before the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which has helped the changes become less objectionable. They have gotten rid of deep fryers in many schools, and began eliminating some high fat foods (like hot dogs, corn dogs, and fried foods). Although they are facing obstacles like the student's acceptance and intake of new food, they ...
According to this news article UnitedHealthcare has teamed up with Konami, the producer of DanceDanceRevolution (DDR), to bring a new version of the game, called the DDR Classroom Edition, to schools. Some suggest that minority children, such as Latinos, living in inner-city neighborhoods may benefit the most from this game. According to this news article, researchers from George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in Washington, D.C., are finding that active video games may provide a new avenue for kids to participate in physical activity. Already many schools have begun to use interactive video games as part of their curriculum. According to to this news article, researchers from the University of Montreal say that exergaming--playing video games that ...
Through a grant from the Let's Move! Salad to Schools program, salad bars are being implemented into schools in Cordova, Alaska. These salad bars have a variety of fruits and vegetables, mostly raw, that the students love choosing from. Foods like raw spinach, cut up cauliflower, slide cucumbers, corn, peaches, orange slices, and many other items are featured in the salad bar, depending on what seasonal produce they can purchase. The students are responding well because they prefer being able to make their own choices on which fruits or vegetables to eat, which results in less food waste for the school and more healthy foods are actually eaten by students. The success of salad bars, like this one, are dependent on the foods being cut up, fresh, and easy for kids to see. This all ensures ...
