Monday, April 2, 2012

NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH WEEK 2012 - A HEALTHIER AMERICA BEGINS TODAY - JOIN THE MOVEMENT!

Every April since 1995, communities around the country have come together to celebrate National Public Health Week (NPHW). This year, NPHW 2012 is April 2 - 8, 2012 and the Lake County General Health District will focus on the theme “A Healthier America Begins Today: Join the Movement.” Preventing disease before it begins is critical to reaching this goal, as well as to lowering the cost of health care. If we take small actions, our communities, homes and families will see the large benefits of preventive care and contribute to the growth of the movement. Each year, chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes are responsible for millions of premature deaths and cause Americans to miss 2.5 billion days of work, resulting in lost productivity totaling more than $1 trillion.

The 2011 Lake County Community Health Assessment indicated that Childhood Obesity (53.4%), Drug Addiction (44.4), Mental Health/Illness (42.2%), and Childhood Obesity (39.9%) were the most important problems facing Lake County. The report further indicated that 68.5% of Lake County adults are overweight or obese. Additionally, the report cited lack of exercise (46.7%), poor eating habits (42.3%), and smoking/tobacco use (38.6%) among the “unhealthy behaviors effecting health.

In order to make Lake County the healthiest county in Ohio, Lake County General Health District is developing key partnerships with stakeholders and agencies, such as Lake Health, Lake County YMCA, Lake County Free Clinic and countless others.

Lake Health leads the B-Fit Corporate Challenge with support from the Lake County General Health District, Lake Metroparks, and the Lake County YMCA that allows for employers and employees to keep active and expose them to life-long physical activity options. For more information, visit http://www.gethealthylakecounty.org/bfit4life or contact Sharon Minjares 440-350-4512.

Action Communities for Health, Innovation, & EnVironmental ChangE (ACHIEVE) Wellness Lake County is a central site to get involved in starting your school or agency on a path to better health. We are also looking for leaders to become engaged in our efforts to impact health policies and programs in Lake County. To find out more, visit www.lakecountyohio.gov/achieve or contact ACHIEVE Coach Tori Sinclair at 440-350-2442.

Over 25 Lake County families have benefited from the personalized nutrition and healthy lifestyle coaching services of the Lake County Healthy Lifestyle Initiative. One family first seen during the month of February was able to incorporate changes they learned from the Healthy Lifestyle Initiative Registered Dietitian and Health Educator into their daily lives and have began to see results. The son saw a two pound weight loss over the course of the month and has gotten his blood glucose readings under control. Additionally, the whole family has seen an improvement in their health since beginning the program.

For more information on NPHW, visit www.nphw.org.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Lighten Up 2012

Every year The News Herald hosts a weight loss competition for readers.  Competitors are required blog their journey through the New Herald web page, weigh in monthly, and be featured in the newspaper.  Due to this year’s surplus of applicants The New Herald was unable to take all that were interested and has asked the Lake County General Health District to assist them in reaching out to more participants.

The Lighten Up program has been able to pull together many local resources to help support participants.  The Lake County YMCA is offering a free 4 month membership to be used at any of the 3 branches. Additionally, Lake Health has graciously offered to provide participants with free classes through their Wellness Institute.   Last, the Lake County General Health district is managing the weigh-ins for the non-News Herald participants, offering free registered dietitian services, and any additional services deemed necessary to the success of the program.

We are excited that so many local resources are willing to share in this endeavor and hope that these participants can help be an inspiration to all those hoping to make healthy lifestyle changes.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Walmart to Assist With School Nutrition Initiatives


The Lake County General Health District is glad to see another private industry join the fight against obesity.  The Walmart Fondation is donating a total of $9.5 million nationwide to various health promotion and healthy eating initiatives.  One such program, Action for Healthy Kids, a non-profit organization helping schools provide better nourishment for children, will be receiving a grant for $1.5 million.   This grant will be used to help increase access the healthy foods, provide students with nutrition education, and provide 20 state teams with funding to recruit more volunteers and carry out support services. The additional funding will assist in reaching 160,000 children at about 400 schools nationwide. 

Action for Healthy Kids reaches students in all 50 states and has over 20,000 volunteers.  In the 2009-2010 school year the organization reached about 4.5 million students in over 9,000 school districts.  Many of the programs focus on increasing physical activity and healthy eating habits for life.  Volunteer and donation materials can be found on their website, along with information regarding some of their different programs.  

The Lake County General Health District is the representative to the Ohio Action for Healthy Kids Zone 4 efforts on behalf of Lake County.  Visit http://www.ohioactionforhealthykids.org/ to find out you can get involved. 

If you would like more information on the different organizations receiving money for health promotion activities from the Walmart Foundation, you can find that information on their corporate website by clicking here. 

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Change is Good: USDA's New Standards for School Lunches


On January 25, 2012 USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and First Lady Michelle Obama announced new school lunch guidelines that will gradually be phased in starting in Fall 2012.  The changes reflect the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which were released last January, and are a part of The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.  The Dietary Guidelines for Americans focus on calorie balance, consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages, limiting added fat and sugars, limiting sodium, increasing whole grain intake, and increasing intake of fruits and vegetables.  The new guidelines for lunches follow these recommendations.  Schools will now offer children portion sizes consistent with their estimated calorie needs, provide a full serving of fruits and vegetables each day, vary the colors and types of fruits and vegetables, limit saturated and trans fats, limit sodium, and increase whole grains.   For more specific information on these changes you can view the USDA press release here.  Also, a sample menu depicting the changes can be viewed here.
About 32 million children in the United States participate in school lunch programs everyday and with about one-third of school school-aged children being classified as overweight or obese, these changes have the potential to help kids establish healthy eating habits.  For now these changes will only effect school meals and do not apply to vending machines or รก la carte items.  New guidelines for those foods will be released in the future. 
If you would like more information regarding the recommendations of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans you can view the Executive Summary online here.
*Information adapted from the USDA, Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010, and “Government requires more fruits,  veggies for school lunches” USA Today available at http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/diet-nutrition/story/2012-01-25/Government-requires-more-fruits-veggies-for-school-lunches/52779404/1