Released August 24, 2010
More than 23 million U.S. children and teens ages two to 19 are overweight or obese, a fourfold increase in 40 years. Obesity strains children’s bodies making them susceptible to adult ailments including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.
Congress declared September the first-ever National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. This is a time for all Americans to
- realize children’s lives are in danger from excess foods and lack of physical activity;
- make changes that will result in healthier kids and
- take responsibility for a healthier future.
Obesity does not start or stop with children. Almost 65 percent of adults in the United States are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic diseases associated with excess body weight account for 70 percent of American deaths each year. The obesity epidemic hits Americans’ pocketbooks as well, costing the nation a whopping one trillion dollars.
Health and nutrition professionals from the nation’s land-grant universities provide research-based information in the Families, Food and Fitness resource area on eXtension.org. The goal is to help Americans become healthier.
eXtension is an educational resource designed to provide skills and knowledge that help you grow and empower you to improve your quality of life. You can trust eXtension to take the best university-based research and turn it into hands-on practical information you can use to solve today’s problems and develop skills to build a better future.
The Families, Food and Fitness resource area is organized around three goals: improve diets; increase physical activity; and maintain body weight in a healthy range and avoid excess weight gain.
Six key behaviors
The content of the website is focused on six behaviors to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight:
- Move More Everyday
- Tame the Tube
- Control Portion Size
- Enjoy More Fruits and Vegetables
- Prepare More Meals at Home
- Re-Think Your Drink
Visit eXtension Families, Food and Fitness for helpful articles, frequently asked questions (FAQs) and fun interactive tools including the “Beverage Guide to Sugars,” “Fast Food Menu with Fitness Calculator,” “Spice Guide” and “Nutrition Facts Label.” The site also offers healthy recipes, a cooking and nutrition glossary contributed by culinary textbook author Chef Sarah Labensky, and short, entertaining, and instructional videos. You can ask questions with eXtension’s “Ask an Expert.”
Connect with Families, Food and Fitness on
- Facebook, http://bit.ly/94G6cF
- Twitter, http://twitter.com/FFFCoP
- You Tube, http://bit.ly/bS3H9x
Free one hour webinar
On Wednesday, Oct. 20 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time, eXtension will offer a free webinar on early parenting feeding practices for parents and caregivers of children ages three to five years old. Jennifer Orlet Fisher from Temple University and Laura Hubbs-Tait from Oklahoma State University will review parenting and feeding styles and their association with overweight and obesity. Details on how to join the webinar are at http://www.extension.org/events/1786.
eXtension’s Families, Food and Fitness team is led by Jane Clary from Mississippi State University, Carolyn Dunn from North Carolina State University, Kathleen Morgan from Rutgers University and Susan Welsh from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Visit Families, Food and Fitness on eXtension at http://www.extension.org/families_food_fitness.
For more information on National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month visit http://www.healthierkidsbrighterfutures.org/home/.
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Source: Ashley Fondren, Mississippi State University, anp44@fsnhp.msstate.edu
Writer: Lynette Spicer, eXtension, lynette.spicer@extension.org
