Kelly Murillo, the Marketing Manager for OAW sent a note to Healthy Lombard thanking us for supporting Obesity Care Week 2020. They also expressed their appreciation for sharing their information on our social media posts and overall communication efforts that helped raise awareness about this important week.
The flyer below summarizes the amazing support they received.
To download a copy of this flyer, click here.
Harper, a freelance writer from the beautiful ‘City of Sails’ – Auckland, New Zealand, shared with Healthy Lombard that childhood obesity is a global epidemic that people are starting to realize isn’t limited to any particular country. There are many potential causes of obesity in children, and it usually isn’t the case that just one factor leads to it. It’s easy to throw all of the blame on parents, but sometimes a child can become obese despite the best efforts of their parents to keep it under control. Whatever the cause is, good news points to there being a variety of solutions too. Parents have the power to prevent childhood obesity, and here’s how.
Getting your child to eat healthily can be a pain, it’s the classic scene of them refusing to eat whatever healthy greens you have served up. This attitude can be exacerbated if healthy foods are not a regular part of the family diet. As a parent, it’s important to create the expectation of healthy foods as an integral part of what’s on the dinner table. For the child, healthy food shouldn’t be seen as healthy food at all, it’s just-food.
For the parents, this means cooking the same meal for everyone. No deviations. If the child is old enough to be eating regular meals, then they deserve the same dietary attention that their parents do. Chances are, if everyone is sat at the dinner table eating the same meal, then the child shouldn’t have to be enticed into eating. Simply seeing their parents tucking into the same meal they have should entice them enough to join in. Of course, this doesn’t always happen, and some children are fussier than others. In this case, involving them in the meal process has the potential for much better results.
Consider the idea of cooking with children. This can often be difficult, as parenting is busy and very stressful. Being so focused on providing for the child, it’s easy to overlook these Read more
Asen from FighterCulture, shared with Healthy Lombard that Children obesity becomes a more serious problem with every year that passes.
Only about 20 years ago children had a very different childhood and today’s kids. Generations of children were spending most of their childhood outside playing and enjoying various activities.
However, with the quick development of technologies, the fun gets a lot more reachable. Literally, a hand away from everyone – you just need to grab your phone. This in result, leads to a global spike in obesity amongst children.
The good news about that? It’s preventable. And one of the best ways to prevent obesity is to implement healthier habits in your children’s lifestyle.
Sports like MMA are proven to burn a lot of fat and on top of that provides your metabolism a much-needed boost.
Punching a heavy bag is super fun for kids and it helps them spend a lot of energy.
In case you don’t know, martial arts is a full-body workout. That means your kid will be exercising and utilizing almost every part of his body whenever techniques are executed.
And the return will be a fit body and a healthy body. Read more
Karthik Reddy, Community Manager at Webmasterjury shared with Healthy Lombard that conventional food has been scientifically proven to contain over 2,000 chemicals that can be detrimental to a child’s health. It can cause numerous health problems such as hormonal disorders, kidney stones, gout, brain damage, obesity, and even cancer.
To prevent various diseases that may arise from eating conventional food, many parents try to encourage healthier eating habits in their children by buying organic products. According to the insightful infographic composed by HealthCareers, 40% of them try to preserve their children’s wellbeing early in childhood by purchasing organic food for their babies.
Did you know that 57% of children are well on their way to becoming obese by the age of 35? This is a staggering number, especially considering that parents nowadays have the opportunity to buy food that is healthy and will not harm their child’s health in any way. Although more visually appealing, conventional food is not nutritionally rich, causing a temporary feeling of satiety in children.
Excessive calorie intake and lack of physical activity can cause obesity in children of all ages. Furthermore, many conventional food producers add a variety of preservatives and additives to keep the food fresh for a longer period of time and make it more attractive to consumers. These chemicals can have a long-lasting negative effect on your children’s health.
Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. The number of children with various types of cancer is one the rise. The CDC records about 15,000 pediatric cancer patients each year. It may be hard to believe, but food can be a cause of cancer.
A study was conducted in France, which followed a group of 70,000 adults over a 5-year period. People who consumed organic food were found to have 25% fewer diagnoses of cancer. These benefits would apply to children as well. Just imagine how many children’s lives can be saved with a simple change in eating habits?
Healthy Lombard is a proud Champion of Obesity Care Week (OCW). We strongly support this awareness week, set for March 1st-7th, 2020 and encourage you to join us in supporting Obesity Care Week 2020!
About Obesity Care Week (OCW)
Obesity Care Week is an annual public awareness effort supported by more than 50 countries worldwide and more than 55 healthcare-focused organizations. From advocating for fair treatment of obesity to ending weight bias, OCW aims to raise awareness, educate and advocate for a better world for people living with obesity.
Mark Your Calendars!
OCW2020 is set for March 1st-7th, 2020 and each day is dedicated to a specific topic to highlight issues impacting people with obesity:
Learn How You Can Get Involved!
Sign-up for OCW2020 Alerts and stay up-to-date with the latest news and information on how to get involved and change the world for people living with obesity during Obesity Care Week, taking place from March 1st-7th. Read more
Simon Weedy wrote for “Child in the City” that the Association of Play Industries (API) is promoting a new initiative aimed at getting children outdoors and using playgrounds over the winter.
It has joined forces with Leyla Preston, founder of online parenting platform Motherhood Diaries and social media influencer, to launch the new winter campaign.
It builds on the API’s Play Must Stay campaign, which has shown that parents are becoming increasingly concerned with the steep decline in public playgrounds. With the vast majority of families living in urban areas, community playgrounds are often their only chance to get their children playing outdoors and the winter months present even more challenges.
Mark Hardy, API Chair, said: “Without access to free, local, high-quality outdoor play facilities, children can spend most of the winter cooped up indoors. The closure of hundreds of playgrounds across the UK means that the reality for many families is that children are not even getting the minimum recommended amount of daily exercise. In the midst of a childhood obesity epidemic and rising mental health problems, we are calling on the government to urgently invest in public play provision before it’s too late.”
Leyla Preston added: “Last year our summer project explored how less screen time and more time spent in playgrounds impacted not only my two boys’ lives but our family as a whole. I saw a dramatic difference in their health and wellbeing. My children were happier, they slept better and their behavior improved.
“I know that many parents are waiting for this debate to take place; so many of us know that our children are not outside enough and spend far too much time indoors and on screens, especially in winter. Parents need and deserve support to turn this around. We have wonderful playgrounds in the UK that we need to value and protect, as well as campaign for government investment in them before they disappear for good. Read more
Toni Havala, MS, Registered Dietitian, Endeavor Health Weight Loss Clinic in Naperville asks in the Edward-Elmhurst Health Blog, “Ever try to get your child to eat her/his veggies and failed miserably?” If you are like many parents, you may be searching for clever ways to sneak veggies into meals because your kids just won’t eat them.Picky eating is common in young children, especially when it comes to vegetables and other healthy foods. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nine out of 10 children don’t eat enough vegetables.
But they should. Vegetables provide nutrients that are vital to good health. Eating a diet rich in vegetables may help reduce the risk for health issues later, include type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease and certain types of cancer.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends vegetable consumption with every meal and snack. How many veggies does your child need to eat in a day? It depends on her/his age, gender and activity level. According to choosemyplate.gov site, the daily recommended vegetables for children are:
Edward-Elmhurst Healthy Driven Blog shared that in the past 30 years, childhood obesity in the United States has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents. Today, it affects more than one in three children, making it the most common chronic disease of childhood. It’s no wonder the battle over childhood obesity has gained national attention, with September declared as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.
Childhood obesity is caused by various genetic, behavioral and environmental factors. Exposure to unhealthy foods and eating patterns, increased portion size, physical inactivity, socioeconomic status, medications, and other factors contribute to this growing national epidemic.
The consequences of obesity during childhood affect a child’s health and well-being now and later in life. Obese youth have a greater risk of heart disease caused by high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and other serious health issues, including:
Michael Greger M.D. FACLM shared on his blog, NutritionFacts.org that recommendations on limiting sugar consumption vary around the world, with guidelines ranging from “[l]imit sweet desserts to one every other day” to “[k]eep sugar consumption to 4 or fewer occasions per day.” In the United States, the American Heart Association is leading the charge, “proposing dramatic reductions in the consumption of soft drinks and other sweetened products” and recommending fewer than about 5 percent of calories a day from added sugars, which may not even allow for a single can of soda.
Why is the American Heart Association so concerned about sugar? “Overconsumption of added sugars has long been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease,” meaning heart disease and strokes. We used to think added sugars were just a marker for an unhealthy diet. At fast-food restaurants, for example, people may be more likely to order a cheeseburger with their super-sized soda than a salad. However, the new thinking is that the added sugars in processed foods and drinks may be independent risk factors in and of themselves. Indeed, worse than just empty calories, they may be actively disease-promoting calories, which I discuss in his video Does Diet Soda Increase Stroke Risk as Much as Regular Soda?.
Robert Murray, MD (Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) Board Member) and Grace Perry, RD, LD (AFHK Program Manager) recently shared that children are the products of their environment and experiences; like sponges, they absorb all that’s around them. They’re constantly picking up language, mannerisms, ideas, and habits. The people in a child’s life — especially during their formative years — will have a lasting influence on them for years to come.
That’s why it’s critical for everyone from family members to teachers to coaches to faith leaders to understand the impact they have on a child’s diet and nutrition and the resources they have available to support children’s healthy eating habits from the start. Diet quality can affect a child’s growth. Not only can it change their physical development, but it impacts cognition, behavior, well-being, and ability to deal with life’s challenges as kids grow older.
Despite the fact that there is an abundance of publicly and privately funded programs and resources with the goal of improving children’s healthy eating opportunities, experts agree that these resources don’t always stretch far enough or get to those who need them the most. Furthermore, an urgent need for these programs is often unforeseen for parents who may have sudden financial obstacles to overcome. Read more
