There’s increasing evidence that whether a person will have a healthy weight as an adult is influenced by nutrition and physical activity in the first 5 years of life. In fact, a new study this week in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that overweight 5-year-olds are 4 x more likely to become obese [...]
The Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics recently updated their collection of hands-on tools that can be easily integrated into clinical practice. The tools are designed to help clinicians to incorporate clinical evidence-based recommendations for obesity prevention, assessment, treatment and referral into their practice. They’ve included a document that can be folded to [...]
Our Empower program is hosting its second annual conference Empowering Habits, Empowering Lives: Super Heroes in Action on May 4. The conference is a great opportunity for providers in Early Care and Education settings to learn the new 10 Empower standards that have been established for 2013. The conference sessions will also equip participants with [...]
I just got back from this year’s (30th annual) United States-Mexico Border Governor’s Conference in Albuquerque- called “Energize Our Borders”. It was an opportunity to further strengthen the ties of friendship, security, and economic prosperity among the 10 states that comprise our United States-Mexico border region. The Conference is made up of 7 worktables including Agriculture and [...]
Registered Dietitians are on the front lines of our battle against obesity. They work everyday to help people understand the importance of balancing diet and exercise - not necessarily an easy task in this junk-food, drive-thru world. Some of them are really good at it - including our own Adrienne Udarbe and Maricopa County's Trudes Rodriquez. The Arizona Academy of [...]
One of the things I’ve always been jazzed about is coming up with simple and easy policy interventions to drive public health change. The Governor signed a bill that’s a good example. SB1059 addresses liability concerns of schools when opening outdoor facilities to the public outside of the school day. This is a critical first [...]
Congratulations to our Bureau of Nutrition and Physical Activity for their grant award announced this month from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Leadership for Healthy Communities program. Over the coming year, we’ll be strengthening our capacity to make a dent in childhood obesity by conducting a health impact assessment to prevent childhood [...]
This week the Archives of Internal Medicine published the results of a 20-year lifestyle study on 4886 people in the UK between 1985 and 2005. The study compared mortality rates among the group and analyzed longevity’s relationship to behavior. The study compared people that had various bad behaviors- allocating 1 point for: 1) smoking; 2) [...]
Pima County will receive a $16 million grant as part of the national Communities Putting Prevention to Work efforts funded through the federal Stimulus program. They’ll be creating a community-wide set of strategies and interventions to reduce obesity by ensuring safe, attractive accessible places for physical activity and making healthy foods available, accessible, and affordable. [...]
The federal Healthier US Schools Challenge Program establishes rigorous standards for schools’ food quality, participation in meal programs, physical activity, and nutrition education – key components that make for healthy and active kids – and provides recognition for schools that meet these standards. In the next school year, the USDA’s goal is to double [...]
