Categories

• National News
• Regional News
• Education
• Health and Nutrition
• Resources and Publications
• Partners & Other Links
• Farm To Table Conferences, Workshops, and Trainings

Archives

• September 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008

Healthy School Report Card Announced

Post Date: September 17, 2008

For Immediate Release
Contact: Beverly Friedman

September 8, 2008
(505) 795-0180

Governor Bill Richardson and Education Secretary Veronica García Announce Statewide Healthy School Report Card

SANTA FE- Governor Bill Richardson and New Mexico Education Secretary Veronica García today announced plans for a statewide report card that will measure how New Mexico’s public schools are responding to increasingly alarming child health issues.

“We’ve eliminated junk food from our schools, increased physical education and doubled the number of school based health centers,”
Governor Bill Richardson said. “This report card will help us track our progress in ensuring that New Mexico’s students are healthy and ready to learn.”

This school year, 67 schools across the state, including all Santa Fe public schools, will use the Healthy School Report Card developed by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. It will measure each school’s efforts to promote physical activity, provide nutritious foods and encourage family involvement in the health and education of their children.

All New Mexico public schools will begin using the report card within the next three years. Each school’s data will contribute to the statewide report card.

Research shows direct links between student health and academic progress. About a quarter of New Mexico students are considered overweight or obese and increasing percentages are suffering from preventable diseases, such as type two diabetes, caused by poor nutrition and sedentary lifestyles. The problem is worse among the state’s Hispanic and Native American students.

“In New Mexico we know that healthy students make better learners, which is why Governor Richardson has placed a focus on the whole child in New Mexico’s school reform efforts,” said Secretary Veronica García.
“The Healthy School Report Card will provide our schools with a cost-effective planning tool in order to affect positive change, determine policies, and establish programs at the local level.”

In addition, the report card will help districts and schools meet the state’s wellness policy mandate, which requires school health advisory councils to provide twice-yearly data-based recommendations for improving student health.

“We need a community approach to address rising rates of obesity among our students,” said Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil. “Getting schools more involved in promoting healthy lifestyles is an essential key to helping youth develop patterns now that will carry with them through adulthood.”

Des Moines Municipal School in Des Moines, New Mexico is one of 11 school and district sites from across the United States and Canada that have been using the HSRC to involve their communities in improving student health and academic performance as part of a pilot study. The school opened a school-based health center last August that provides physical, dental, and mental health care for students, staff, and the surrounding communities.

“The work at Des Moines Municipal School epitomizes community collaboration to ensure all children are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged,” said Gene Carter, Executive Director of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. “I admire and applaud Governor Richardson and Secretary Garcia’s commitment to providing resources so that all New Mexico schools can work with their communities to address a critical - but often overlooked - element of academic achievement.”

##

Topics: Education, Health and Nutrition, Regional News |

National ‘Fruit and Vegetables - More Matters’ Month is Now

Post Date: September 16, 2008

Produce for Better Health Foundation

For Immediate Release
September 15, 2008

For More Information Contact:
Jill Le Brasseur
Communications Specialist
Produce for Better Health Foundation
Tel: 302-235-2329
Email: jlebrasseur@pbhfoundation.org
TAKE YOUR CHILD TO THE SUPERMARKET DURING NATIONAL FRUITS & VEGGIES-MORE MATTERS MONTH

New Kids Activities Available Free Online

Wilmington, Del. - September is National Fruits & Veggies-More Matters® Month! In honor of this celebration, the Produce for Better Health Foundation website team has developed “Take Your Child to the Supermarket” activities to help parents introduce the bountiful variety of fruits and vegetables to their children. These materials are available to everyone online, free of charge. Just print them out and plan a trip to the store!

The “Take Your Child to the Supermarket” materials were designed as a series of fun, educational activities that encourage parents to get involved in teaching their children about fruits and vegetables during a trip to their favorite grocery retailer. The activities are age appropriate for kids four through ten years old, but may be appropriate for kids a little younger or a little older depending on the individual child. They are designed to encourage children to eat more fruits and vegetables.

The “Take Your Child to the Supermarket” activities give parents new tools to help them engage the whole family in the shopping experience and teach children that fruits and veggies can be fun in an entertaining, memorable way. The activity pages can also be printed out by teachers to provide a way to reinforce nutrition lessons while the kids enjoy a fun game.

The new activities include:
• Eat Your Colors Everyday - It’s important to eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables everyday. This activity encourages kids to find five different fruits and vegetables in each of five color groups.
• I’m Stuck on Fruits & Veggies - This activity encourages children to collect the PLU stickers from each piece of fresh fruit or veggie eaten at home and place them on the “I’m Stuck on Fruits & Veggies” card. When the card is full, the child can receive a special treat and then begin another card!
• All Forms Count - Fruits and vegetables come in many different forms, fresh, frozen, canned, dried, and 100 percent juice, and they’re all good tasting and packed with good nutrition! This activity encourages children to check off the different forms of fruits and veggies they find as they explore the supermarket!
“Parents have a tremendous influence on their children,” said Elizabeth Pivonka, Ph.D., R.D., president and CEO of Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) the nonprofit entity behind the Fruits & Veggies-More Matters national public health initiative. “Taking a little extra time at the grocery store to interact with kids and single out fruits and vegetables as important could make those kids more willing to give healthy fruits and veggies another try. We hope to help moms by offering the ‘Take Your Child to the Supermarket’ activities as a fun way for kids to learn about good nutrition.”

The new “Take Your Child to the Supermarket” materials can be printed from the Fruits & Veggies-More Matters website, www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org. The website also features great tips for adding extra fruits and vegetables to the whole family’s diet, from user-friendly cooking advice and recipes, meal planning help, nutrition information and interactive areas where parents can have their questions answered by other parents or a registered dietitian.

###

About Produce for Better Health Foundation
Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) consumer education foundation whose purpose is to motivate more people to eat more fruits and vegetables to improve public health. PBH is a member and co-chair of the National Fruit & Vegetable Alliance (NFVA), consisting of government agencies, non-profit organizations, and industry working to collaboratively and synergistically achieve increased nationwide access and demand for all forms off fruits and vegetables for improved public health. This vision of the NFVA is a nation in which half of the foods Americans eat are fruits and vegetables. Fruits & Veggies-More Matters is the nation’s largest public-private, fruit and vegetable nutrition education initiative with Fruit and Vegetable Nutrition Coordinators in each state, territory and the military.

PBH’s mission is to lead people to eat more fruits and vegetables because it matters for their better health. The foundation achieves success though industry and government collaboration, and a variety of marketing and nutrition education programs. To learn more, visit www.pbhfoundation.org and www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org.
Produce for Better Health Foundation | 5341 Limestone Road | Wilmington | DE | 19808

_

Topics: Education, Health and Nutrition, National News, Resources and Publications |

Great Food in a French High School - Let’s do this here!

Post Date: July 22, 2008

Beautiful account of a public school in France using fresh, local foods within 30 miles for the cafeteria…make sure to listen to the audio version to enjoy the sounds of cooking and laughter.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91687769&sc=emaf

Morning Edition, July 2, 2008 · Chef Dominique Valadier starts each day at 5:30 a.m., just as the fish market opens in the southern French provincial town of Salon de Provence.

On one particular day, he picks up 20 pounds of fresh, live mussels at the market before heading off to Lycee de l’Emperi, the public high school where he is the cook.

At the school, he prepares meals for about 800 students, using all fresh, local ingredients. The introduction of healthy school lunch programs, like this one, is one major reason France has been able to curb childhood obesity rates after two decades on the rise, according to two recent studies.

From Within 30 Miles

The menu on this day at Valadier’s high school: mussels in cream sauce over rice with leeks and stuffed turkey thighs, accompanied by a squash au gratin casserole.

Nothing here is frozen or pre-prepared, Valadier says.

“Voila. This sticker here shows where these mussels came from and when they were harvested,” he says. “This guarantees their freshness.”

Eyes twinkling and knives flashing, Valadier opens up the plump turkey thighs, cutting out the bones.

The flattened turkey filets are wrapped around a stuffing of ground up parsley, garlic, cheese and smoked pork shoulder. The loaves are then tied with twine and baked for three hours at low temperatures to keep in the juices and flavor. When sliced, they will serve hundreds of students, 10 times the number that could have been fed on the plain turkey thighs. Preparation and proximity are the keys to high quality meals at lower prices, says Valadier.

“We try to get our base products — meat, fish, vegetables — within a 30-mile radius, because there are fewer intermediaries and we can negotiate prices and quality with the producer. These turkeys were raised and slaughtered just near here,” Valadier says. “If I have a problem, I’ll ask the producer to come see me, and I can guarantee you things will be a lot better the next time!”

Healthy and Cheap

All around the school kitchen, food is cooking in various pots and pans. Gallons of bechamel, a seasoned white sauce, bubble for the squash casserole. A vat of chickpeas boils for homemade hummus. It is hard to believe this is a public school cafeteria and not a three-star restaurant.

Perhaps what is most impressive about Valadier’s meals is that they cost the students only $3 a day, less than the typical fast food fare served at many French high schools.

Another way Valadier saves money is by getting maximum use out of every ingredient. He never throws anything away. In one corner of the kitchen, he is boiling down the fish heads, flesh and bones from yesterday’s salmon to make a tasty bouillon for today’s mussels.

As lunch hour begins and the students file in, Valadier serves them while answering questions about the meal. He reaches across the counter with a forkful of the squash au gratin to give 17-year-old Valentine Biemence a taste. Biemence says she and her friends have all but quit eating lunch at McDonald’s and have discovered a lot of new dishes.

“It’s all the time different food and very, very good,” Biemence says. “People are really happy, because it’s really hard now to eat well and cheap.”

Investing in the Future

Valadier once worked in the glamorous world of Riviera restaurants. He says he left that life for something more meaningful. Investing in students’ well-being is also an act of citizenship, he explains. If young people learn to eat well early on, they will cost the country’s health care system a lot less in the future.

He has clearly found his calling here, while winning over the students — and teachers. Danielle Viou teaches drama and English at the high school.

“We are very, very lucky because it’s a real project. It’s not just doing the cooking, it’s a whole concept of educating and taking time and enjoying it,” Viou says. “And it’s artistic at the same time.”

Topics: Education |

Southwest Marketing Network Conference 2008

Post Date: June 24, 2008

May 5-7th, more than 250 people from all over the Southwest and beyond attended the 6th Annual Southwest Marketing Network Conference held at the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe. The attendees were a diverse group of farmers, ranchers, community organizers, students, and representatives of governmental agencies.

The conference began with an all-day tour of three Northern New Mexico farms and a stop at the Feasting Place for a delicious lunch. Concurrently, Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap, and Keecha Harris, consultant for Harris & Associates, led participants through the ins and outs of developing a food and agriculture policy council. Farm to School stakeholders also participated in a regional meeting and training session led by Le Adams, Farm to Table, Marion Kalb, Community Food Security Coalition, and Craig Mapel, NM Department of Agriculture. Meanwhile, Ra Vernon, Director of the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance, engaged ranchers and other interested folks in a lively discussion about the future of grassfed beef in the SW and how to build your direct-marketing business.

Tuesday morning began with two inspiring keynotes from Anthony Flaccavento, of Appalachian Sustainable Development, and Gary Nabhan, author of Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Marketing Place-Based Heritage Foods. Over the next two days participants attended 25 sessions on a variety of topics including:

· Alternative marketing strategies

· Food and Agriculture Policy

· Tribal initiatives

· Farmers’ markets

· Climate change and energy options

· Youth and new farmer initiatives

· Grant writing, business planning and organizational development.

Throughout the conference, participants enjoyed a cornucopia of local foods, including greens from Monte Vista Organic Farm, grassfed beef from Soaring Eagle Ranch, and cheese, jams and salsas from all over the Southwest.

The Conference also provided a number of opportunities for participants to meet, share their experiences and learn from each other. One participant said the best thing about the conference was “the absolutely incredible people. [It was] so great to have challenging conversations with people around food and agriculture issues.”

Conference participants enjoyed the “Great keynotes, great diversity of people and gracious accommodations” and noted that the Southwest Marketing Network had provided them with ”great connections; useful information in the newsletters, and collaborative project opportunities that we need to pursue more assertively.”

The conference could not have happened without the help of the expert presenters, the steering committee of the SWMN, the great staff of La Fonda Hotel and the support of the USDA Risk Management Agency.

Thanks to all who attended, and we hope to see YOU at the SWMN conference next year.

Topics: Farm To Table Conferences, Workshops, and Trainings |

Chef’s tips help students enjoy healthful snacks: Paradise Valley school cart is big hit in lunch room

Post Date: June 5, 2008

The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz. May 19, 2008

May 19–Renowned Valley chef and restaurateur Eddie Matney was joking with the lunch crowd he served Friday, addressing most customers by name as he handed out fruit and vegetable kabobs and low-fat cookies.

And it’s a good thing he knew them, too, because the students shopping at Chef Eddie’s Snack Wagon in the Cherokee Elementary School cafeteria are also his son’s classmates at the school in Paradise Valley.

Even though Matney sometimes comes in to see the students and help serve, the local television personality doesn’t claim this is his venture.

The idea for the snack cart came from Sue Bettenhausen, the Scottsdale Unified School District’s food services director, as a way to encourage kids to eat healthful snacks while reducing the wait time in the lunch line.

“The entire trend is once they get out of the meal line, anyone who is interested in additional items can go to the snack table,” Bettenhausen said. “We’re not encouraging kids to eat a fruit stick first before their entrees.”

It was an accident that Matney got involved at all.

Bettenhausen wrote a letter home to parents explaining the benefits of the a la carte options coming to campus. Matney saw the e-mail message and responded, asking if he could help.

So Matney came in and met with the schools’ fourthand fifth-graders, asking what kind of food they’d want. He took those requests and made some sample dishes for Bettenhausen’s staff to look at, who weighed those and other options as they developed the menu.

Matney said the students’ top request was roasted salmon. While that hasn’t made it on the menu — at least, not yet — there are several other healthy options, like fruit with yogurt dips and salads.

Matney hopes that giving students healthy food options will encourage them to keep making healthy choices, even outside the Cherokee cafeteria.

“It’s awesome that the kids say they want hummus and pita chips,” Matney said. “They can’t keep edamame (a soybean concoction) in this place.”

The food cart has proved popular so far. Cafeteria staff said it brought in about $370 its first day of operation and generally attracts between 320 and 350 of the school’s approximately 550 students daily. The upscale snacks go for 50 cents to $2 apiece.

And this is just a pilot project — Bettenhausen wants to replicate the carts at other elementary schools starting this fall.

“I’d like to see two more starting at the beginning of the (school) year,” she said. “We weren’t even sure it was going to be successful, but now it is.”

—–

To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.eastvalleytribune.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SNA, its staff or its members. Stories are collected from a variety of independent sources. Please contact the source directly with any questions or comments.

Please note that articles featured in the “In the News” section are only available for a limited time. If you believe you will need to refer back to an article, be sure to make a note of the original source.

Topics: Education, Regional News |

Community Food Security Coalition

Post Date: May 11, 2008

Please visist Farmtocollege.org! This site presents information about farm-to-college programs in the U.S. and Canada collected by the Community Food Security Coalition.

About farm to college

Farm-to-college programs connect colleges and universities with producers in their area to provide local farm products for meals and special events on campus. These programs may be small and unofficial, mainly involving special dinners or other events, or they may be large and well-established, with many local products incorporated into cafeteria meals every day.

The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) has a National Farm to College Program, which works to help farmers, food service personnel, students, faculty and others to establish and maintain farm-to-college programs.

Beginning in Fall 2004, CFSC has been working to create a comprehensive list of active farm-to-college programs in the United States and Canada.

If you would like to add information about your college’s farm-to-college program, please see instructions on the survey page.

Topics: Partners & Other Links |

A New Shape for the Old Pyramid?

Post Date: April 26, 2008

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released a new Food Guide Pyramid. There was talk of making it a different shape, like maybe a plate, but they ended up keeping the pyramid. Before they released the new version in April 2005, we asked kids what shape they would like the Food Guide to be.

A Food Guide Scooby Doo?

So what shapes did kids suggest? How about the Food Guide Lava Lamp - or the Food Guide Flower? Animals were big. Would you like the Food Guide Frog or the Food Guide Dog? Marissa, 12, even suggested a cartoon dog - the Food Guide Scooby Doo.

“He is my favorite character on TV and I know a lot of people would pay more attention to the good food groups,” she said.

Hey, Marissa is on to something. If the new food guide is something kids like and understand, they might listen to the message it’s trying to send about what to eat. Everybody wants kids to hear this message so they eat nutritious foods, feel good, and grow up healthy.

The Shape Matters

If the new food guide were Scooby Doo, it might get your attention, but it probably wouldn’t say much about healthy eating. The shape of this nutrition symbol is important.

Thirteen years ago, experts picked the pyramid shape because it could be divided into sections and those sections were different sizes. Different food groups were placed in these different sections. The bigger sections could show people that they should eat a lot of those. And the tiny tip, where fats, sweets, and oils are, could show people that they don’t need as much of those foods.

In the new version, the foods are vertical stripes to show that variety is very important. One side of the new pyramid also features a little guy running up the stairs. That’s to show people they need to be active and eat right!

Kids Get a Pat on the Back

We asked some nutrition experts about the ideas that kids sent us. The ones they liked best were those that made this connection between the shape and the message the shape sends. What do we mean? Some shapes would be fun to look at, but other shapes help say something about healthy eating.

“It sounds to me like we should have engaged these kids in this decision a long time ago,” Dr. William Dietz said.

Hey, that’s a big compliment to kids! Dr. Dietz has a top job at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heading up the division on nutrition and physical activity. His job is to figure out ways to help kids and adults eat healthy and get plenty of physical activity.

Another nutrition expert also praised the creative suggestions. Dr. Marion Nestle is a professor at New York University and has written books about food and nutrition.

Dr. Nestle said: “What’s so impressive about the ideas in your set are that they deal with the real issues: eating healthfully, eating less, being active, and not eating too much junk food. Good advice for everyone!”

Dr. Dietz liked the Food Guide Human Body, suggested by McKinzie, 11. She explained her choice this way: “The human body reminds us of the fact that you are what you eat.”

McKinzie made different parts of the body stand for different foods. For instance, the heart would be vegetables because they’re heart-healthy foods. The legs would be grains - for energy. Bones would be dairy products and the arms would be meat to keep your muscles strong. Just the tongue would stand for sweets, fats, and oils, which are “a good thing in small amounts,” she said.

“McKinzie has this right,” Dr. Dietz said.

He also liked suggestions for a Food Guide Star and a Food Guide Sun. Brandi, 9, suggested the sun because of “the beams of health beaming down on us.”

Dietitian Marilyn Tanner also liked the kids’ ideas for the new pyramid. Tanner said it’s a good idea for kids to learn about the Food Guide Pyramid. She teaches a class about healthy habits for kids and parents through St. Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri. Tanner, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, says that when kids understand something about eating healthy sometimes they can teach their parents!

“I wish there could be a Pyramid song to go along with it,” she said. Then, like the songs in the old “Schoolhouse Rock” series, kids would know it by heart.

Saying Goodbye to the Old Pyramid

Now that there’s a new pyramid, kids will have to get adjusted to it. For instance, grains are no longer on the bottom. Instead, grains are represented by the orange stripe on the new pyramid. Some kids said they were ready for the pyramid to be a new shape. When we asked Sharmaine, 10, if she’d miss the old pyramid, she wrote “No” 47 times!

Grace, 12, agreed: “A pyramid wasn’t so exciting for the children to follow, so a new, funky one would be exciting!”

But Dana, 13, said she will miss the old pyramid because the new one will probably discourage too much white bread and pasta. “That stuff is good!”

To older people, like your parents, the old Food Guide Pyramid still seems kind of new. (They grew up learning about the 4 basic food groups.) But the old pyramid was around for 13 years - as long as many kids have been alive! So it’s OK if you think you’ll miss it a little now that the new one has arrived.

Jordan, 11, put it this way: “It is pretty hard to change something that you’ve known all your life and expect to learn it easily … What will they be changing next? The alphabet?”

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD
Date reviewed: April 2005

Topics: Education |

Be a Fit Kid

Post Date: April 20, 2008

There’s a lot of discussion these days about fit kids. People who care (parents, doctors, teachers, and others) want to know how to help kids be more fit.

Being fit is a way of saying a person eats well, gets a lot of physical activity (exercise), and has a healthy weight. If you’re fit, your body works well, feels good, and can do all the things you want to do, like run around with your friends.

Some steps only parents can take — such as serving healthy meals or deciding to take the family on a nature hike. But kids can take charge, too, when it comes to health.

Here are five rules to live by, if you’re a kid who wants to be fit. The trick is to follow these rules most of the time, knowing that some days (like your birthday) might call for cake and ice cream.

1. Eat a variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. You may have a favorite food, but the best choice is to eat a variety. If you eat different foods, you’re more likely to get the nutrients your body needs. Taste new foods and old ones you haven’t tried for a while. Some foods, such as green veggies, are more pleasing the older you get. Shoot for at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day — two fruits and three vegetables. Here’s one combination that might work for you:

• at breakfast: ½ cup (about 4 large) strawberries on your cereal
• with lunch: 6 baby carrots
• for a snack: an apple
• with dinner: ½ cup broccoli (about 2 big spears) and 1 cup of salad

2. Drink water and milk most often. When you’re really thirsty, cold water is the No. 1 thirst-quencher. And there’s a reason your school cafeteria offers cartons of milk. Kids need calcium to grow strong bones, and milk is a great source of this mineral. How much do kids need? Aim for 3 cups of milk per day, or its equivalent. You can mix it up by having milk and some other calcium-rich dairy foods. Here’s one combination:

• 2 cups (about half a liter) of low-fat or nonfat milk
• 1 slice cheddar cheese
• ½ cup (small container) of yogurt

You probably will want something other than milk or water once in a while, so it’s OK to have 100% juice, too. But try to limit sugary drinks, like sodas, juice cocktails, and fruit punches. They contain a lot of added sugar. Sugar just adds calories, not important nutrients.

3. Listen to your body. What does it feel like to be full? When you’re eating, notice how your body feels and when your stomach feels comfortably full. Sometimes, people eat too much because they don’t notice when they need to stop eating. Eating too much can make you feel uncomfortable and, over a period of time, can lead to unhealthy weight gain.

4. Limit screen time. Limit screen time. What’s screen time? It’s the amount of time you spend watching TV or DVDs, playing video games (console systems or handheld games), and using the computer. The more time you spend on these sitting-down activities, the less time available for active stuff, like basketball, bike riding, and swimming. Try to spend no more than 2 hours a day on screen time, not counting computer use related to school.

5. Be active. One job you have as a kid — and it’s a fun one — is that you get to figure out which activities you like best. Not everyone loves baseball or soccer. Maybe your passion is karate, or kickball, or dancing. Ask your parents to help you do your favorite activities regularly. Find ways to be active every day. You might even write down a list of fun stuff to do, so you can refer to it when your mom or dad says it’s time to stop watching TV or playing computer games!

Speaking of parents, they can be a big help if you want to be a fit kid. For instance, they can stock the house with healthy foods and plan physical activities for the family. Tell your parents about these five steps you want to take and maybe you can teach them a thing or two. If you’re a fit kid, why shouldn’t you have a fit mom and a fit dad?

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD
Date reviewed: May 2007

Topics: Education |

Healthy Kids State, Local Partners Kick Off Healthy Kids Initiative in Las Cruces

Post Date: April 15, 2008

Department of Health Leads Obesity Prevention Project

(Las Cruces) – Students at Conlee Elementary School today walked to school, ate a healthy breakfast in their classroom, attended healthy cooking and tasting demonstrations and participated in physical education. The specially scheduled activities were a part of a kickoff celebration and represent the vision of Healthy Kids – Las Cruces a community wide obesity prevention project in Las Cruces.

Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil joined the city of Las Cruces, Las Cruces Public Schools and several state government departments today to launch the obesity prevention pilot project in Las Cruces. Healthy Kids – Las Cruces connects and enhances community efforts to motivate children, teenagers and families to eat healthier and be more physically active.

As a part of the project, the Department of Health has hired a dietician and physical activity specialist in Las Cruces to provide individual and group counseling for people who are obese. “We are concerned about the rising rates of obesity in New Mexico and how that negatively affects people’s health,” Dr Vigil said. “This project is a tremendous effort by state partners and community leaders who embrace our vision of helping children lead healthier lives.”

The Department of Health is leading the pilot project. Stakeholders representing local and state government, education, health care, social services, agriculture, nonprofit organizations,foundations and businesses worked with the Department of Health to develop a five year vision,goals and action plans for the initiative. “This program will be extremely beneficial to our children, considering the fact that studies have shown if we don’t do something now, in 20 years one out of two children will be obese,” said Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima.

Healthy Kids – Las Cruces Goals include:
· Create a Safe Routes to School Program for all public elementary schools in Las Cruces by 2013.
· Increase opportunities for elementary students to participate in daily physical activity, learn about nutrition, healthy cooking and how to make healthy food choices.
· Increase availability of affordable and healthy food in restaurants, grocery stores and schools, especially for families with low incomes.
· Increase opportunities for patients to receive health care obesity prevention services.
· Conduct a public awareness campaign that motivates children and families to reduce the amount of soda and high sugar beverages they drink, eat more fruits and vegetables, be more physically active and not watch television as much.
· Create an interactive website that provides information to motivate families to lead healthy lifestyles.

“A child’s health has a direct relationship to his or her educational success,” said Stan Rounds, superintendent of Las Cruces Public Schools. “Healthy students learn better and, more importantly, they learn about nutrition and physical activities that will be used throughout their lifetimes. As the flagship school in this initiative, Conlee Elementary will lead the way in proving that healthy living is possible for children and families of all socioeconomic backgrounds.”

The eight state departments involved in the pilot project hosted healthy events for children and families in Las Cruces this week. Activities included healthy home cooking demonstration classes for clients at the New Mexico Human Services Department’s Income Support Division Office and field trips to Leesburg Dam State Park and Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park, part of the New Mexico State Park’s “Outdoor Classroom” initiative that promotes nature, physical activity and recreation.

“This partnership project will truly benefit New Mexico’s lower income families,” said Pamela Hyde, Human Services Department Secretary. “The healthy home cooking demonstration classes will show families served by the Human Services Department how to use their benefits to make healthier meals and lead healthier lives.”

Healthy Kids – Las Cruces is funded by a grant from the National Governor’s Association and supported by the New Mexico departments of Health, Human Services, Public Education, Aging and Longterm
Services, Children, Youth and Families, Agriculture, Parks and Transportation. Local partners are: city of Las Cruces, Las Cruces Public Schools, Doña Ana Cooperative Extension, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces Metropolitan Planning Organization, Envision New Mexico, Farm to Table, New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council, New Mexico American Heart Association, New Mexico Healthier Weight Council, Rio Grande Medical Group, Retired Senior Volunteer Program, New Mexico Ag in the Classroom, Families and Youth, Inc., Con Alma Health Foundation, La Clinica de Familia, Inc. and Healthy U Magazine.

At CYFD we work very hard to make sure our children are safe and healthy,” said CYFD Cabinet Secretary Dorian Dodson. “That’s why we’re excited to be introducing the Color me Healthy curriculum into child care centers beginning in May. The idea behind the program was to introduce children at an early age to new types of nutritious foods and to help them explore opportunities for physical activity that will become a habit for life. That is precisely the point of Healthy Kids – Las Cruces.”

Topics: Regional News |

Farm to Table   3900 Paseo del Sol   Santa Fe   NM 87507   505-473-1004