Last Chance to Weigh in on Ideas to Reverse Childhood Obesity Epidemic

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More P.E. classes in schools? Taxes on snacks and sodas? The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is issuing a last call for suggestions on the best ways to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic.

Share your thoughts in RWJF’s online forum, where our program officers are leading discussions about ensuring nutritious foods in schools, building more sidewalks and bike lanes, restricting food marketing, and unlocking school gyms and blacktops for community use outside of school hours.

Give us your two cents before the forum ends this Monday, Aug. 16, 2010.

More than 100 comments have been posted so far, with the topic of physical fitness in schools attracting the liveliest discussion. But what about other strategies, such as:

• Making certain foods and drinks cheaper—fruits, vegetables and water, for instance—to shift consumption from the high-fat, high-sugar stuff;
• banning french fries from school cafeterias—and cupcakes from classroom parties; or
• dispatching mobile recreation vans, filled with balls, jump ropes and other fun, to communities with little access to parks and programs.

RWJF has committed $500 million to reverse childhood obesity by 2015. The more input we receive on our policy priorities, the better chance we have of achieving that goal. Tell us what you think, what you see as the best strategies. Just be sure to do so by Aug. 16!