FOOD for Lane County - Health Campaign

Health campaign enlists local group

Tim Christie, The Register-Guard

EUGENE, Oregon (June 2, 2005) -- A Lane County anti-obesity group finds itself at the forefront of a national campaign to get kids to eat healthier foods and be more active.

The Lane Coalition for Healthy Active Youth is one of 13 community groups and public agencies nationwide picked by federal health officials to launch the program, called Ways to Enhance Children's Activity and Nutrition, or We Can.

The main goals of the educational campaign from the National Institutes of Health are to increase physical activity; improve nutritional choices; and reduce screen time, whether television, computers or video games.

The campaign will get its start at upcoming local summer camps, which will include up to 60 minutes of activity each day and nutritional education information, said Sandy Shaffer, who manages the city of Eugene's recreation program. It will continue in the fall at after-school programs.

Kids will be get advice such as: Choose food portions no larger than your fist. Eat "go foods" - such as low-fat milk, oatmeal and veggies - every day, and save chips and other "whoa foods" for special occasions.

Such simple tips were found to get 8- to-10-year-olds to eat healthier for three years, concludes the biggest study ever to track the impact of childhood nutrition education. But there's more work to do: Snacks, desserts and pizza still made up an astonishing one-third of those youngsters' diets.

Nevertheless, "kids can learn to take small, positive, healthy steps," said Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, chief of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which sponsored the research. "It suggests that kids who learn to eat healthy during their adolescence will continue to eat healthy."

Health officials estimate 9 million American children ages 6 to 16 are overweight, including one in five Oregon eighth- and 11th-graders. The problem: not enough nutritious food and not enough exercise. Overweight children usually grow into overweight adults, at increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, asthma and other disorders.

The $2.6 million ``We Can!'' campaign aims to extend healthy lessons - along with encouraging more physical activity - to all 8- to 13-year-olds.

The Lane Coalition for Healthy Active Youth was begun last year by a partnership of health providers, school officials, youth recreation programs and social service agencies.

As the group was getting off the ground, its leaders heard about the national campaign and applied to be a part of it, said Dr. Jimmy Unger, a Eugene pediatrician and chairman of the Lane coalition.

Just as attitudes about tobacco use and child car seats have changed in the past 20 years, this new campaign can change the way people think about exercise and nutrition, he said.

The local coalition will receive educational materials to help parents teach their children to each sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetable each day, and to eat fewer high-fat foods and energy-dense foods that are low in nutrient value, such as french fries and doughnuts, Shaffer said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

WE CAN

The federal government has a new Web site - wecan.nhlbi.nih.gov - to help parents fight obesity with such tips as:

Make it easier to get healthy snacks and harder to get unhealthy ones. Don't keep chips in the house, but keep a bowl of fruit within reach on the kitchen counter. Choose a checkout line
without the candy display.
Limit TV or video games to two hours or less a day. Don't just sit and watch - challenge your children to a jumping-jack contest during commercials.
Go on an after-dinner family walk or bike ride; make outdoor play, or visits to gyms or recreation centers, a routine.

Contacts:

Tim Christie, Reporter, The Register-Guard
tchristie@guardnet.com

Linda Kelley, Agency Relations and Family Dinner Program Manager, FOOD for Lane County
(541) 343-2822
lkelley@foodforlanecounty.org