Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity

Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 107
Release: 2010-01-10
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309139279
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The prevalence of childhood obesity is so high in the United States that it may reduce the life expectancy of today's generation of children. While parents and other adult caregivers play a fundamental role in teaching children about healthy behaviors, even the most positive efforts can be undermined by local environments that are poorly suited to supporting healthy behaviors. For example, many communities lack ready sources of healthy food choices, such as supermarkets and grocery stores. Or they may not provide safe places for children to walk or play. In such communities, even the most motivated child or adolescent may find it difficult to act in healthy ways. Local governments-with jurisdiction over many aspects of land use, food marketing, community planning, transportation, health and nutrition programs, and other community issues-are ideally positioned to promote behaviors that will help children and adolescents reach and maintain healthy weights. Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity presents a number of recommendations that touch on the vital role of government actions on all levels-federal, state, and local-in childhood obesity prevention. The book offers healthy eating and physical activity strategies for local governments to consider, making it an excellent resource for mayors, managers, commissioners, council members, county board members, and administrators.

Preventing Childhood Obesity

Preventing Childhood Obesity
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 435
Release: 2005-01-31
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309133408
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Children's health has made tremendous strides over the past century. In general, life expectancy has increased by more than thirty years since 1900 and much of this improvement is due to the reduction of infant and early childhood mortality. Given this trajectory toward a healthier childhood, we begin the 21st-century with a shocking developmentâ€"an epidemic of obesity in children and youth. The increased number of obese children throughout the U.S. during the past 25 years has led policymakers to rank it as one of the most critical public health threats of the 21st-century. Preventing Childhood Obesity provides a broad-based examination of the nature, extent, and consequences of obesity in U.S. children and youth, including the social, environmental, medical, and dietary factors responsible for its increased prevalence. The book also offers a prevention-oriented action plan that identifies the most promising array of short-term and longer-term interventions, as well as recommendations for the roles and responsibilities of numerous stakeholders in various sectors of society to reduce its future occurrence. Preventing Childhood Obesity explores the underlying causes of this serious health problem and the actions needed to initiate, support, and sustain the societal and lifestyle changes that can reverse the trend among our children and youth.

The DASH Diet Action Plan

The DASH Diet Action Plan
Author: Marla Heller
Publisher: Amidon Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2007
Genre: Hypertension
ISBN: 097634081X
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The DASH Diet Action Plan is the user-friendly teaching guide to the DASH diet. Initially, many people find it difficult to follow the DASH diet. This book makes it simple to understand and put into practice. The book makes it easy to lose weight with the DASH diet, and it has realistic ways to add exercise. Although the book was not intended to be an aggressive weight loss book, people are writing to say that they have surprised themselves by finding it easy to lose weight following the plan! Many people find the DASH diet to be hard to implement and sustain in a hectic lifestyle. The average American gets 2 - 3 servings of fruits and vegetables combined each day, so following the DASH diet may seem daunting. The DASH Diet Action Plan book is designed to help you with more than just "what" is involved with the DASH diet, it also shows you "how." How to follow the DASH diet in restaurants, how to lose weight, how to make over your kitchen to make it easy to follow your plan, how to fit in exercise, how to reduce salt intake, how to add vegetables even if you "hate" vegetables. And the book helps you make your own personal plan with specific steps you will take to fit the DASH diet into your daily routine. Our readers say that this is the best DASH diet book! Your step-by-step plan will include: setting your goals for blood pressure and cholesterol, determining the calorie-level you need for maintenance or weight loss, developing meal plans, developing a realistic exercise plan, adjusting the DASH diet to accommodate other health problems, choosing the key DASH diet foods, reading food labels, and learning how to incorporate more vegetables in your diet, and setting up your kitchen to make it easy to stay on track. This book was written by a registered dietitian who is experienced in helping people make sustainable behavior changes, and make healthy eating part of their real lives. She knows that people need flexibility and options to choose different approaches, since not everyone has the time or the interest in cooking or making drastic changes in how they eat. The book incorporates tools that will help you plan the specific steps you will take to adopt the DASH diet. Research shows that people who make concrete plans are more likely to be successful with adopting new health behavior. This should improve your ability to lower your blood pressure (and cholesterol), without medication.