Study Finds: Family Time Can Help Waist Lines!

Derived from 17 previous studies, researchers found that, "youngsters who joined family members regularly for meals were 24% more likely to eat healthy foods than kids who rarely ate with their families. They were also less likely to suffer from eating disorders," reports US News Health.

Amber Hammons, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as the study lead author for the findings that were recently published in May 2 issue of Pediatrics wanted to find if there was a relationship between family and nutrition.

Verdict: Yes and here are some of the findings:

3 or more meals with the family
- 12% less likely to be overweight
- 20% less likely to eat sweets, fried foods, pop, and other junk foods

5 or more meals with the family
- 25% less likely to practice poor nutritionn habits

The study suggests that eating with the family serves as protective benefits for children, but the reasons are unclear.

Families play important roles in children's lives. Most kids actually see their parents as their role models the article says, which could be a reason why there is a positive link between families and nutrition. Think of the potential the positive link has. If a child's parents helped him be more involved by growing and picking produce from the family organic garden, cooking, and sitting down to enjoy the work all of them put in, can you imagine the benefits? Not only would the child be more involved, he could also learn about good nutrition during the process.

I think the benefits can be two fold too. Parents can pack a lunch for the next school day made from leftovers, (because who doesn't want leftovers of a meal made from love? I don't think those people even exist...), which could continue the suggestions made by the study and lessen the chances of childhood obesity.

Win-win.

Read the original article yourself here.

America’s Great Outdoors Initiative: the connection between health and the outdoors

Human health is unquestionably linked to nature and the outdoors. It is essential that we address the amount of time adolescents are spending inside consumed by technology and the reduction in time spent outdoors partaking in its beauty and restorative resources. In order to accomplish this, important issues of safety and accessibility of the outdoors need to be dealt with. With 80% of Americans living in cities today, it is more important than ever that we establish appropriate facilities so people can have access to outside space.

This past April, President Obama signed a memorandum establishing the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative with the hope to develop conservation agenda aimed to reconnect Americans with our great outdoors. He believes that protecting, restoring and reconnecting must happen at a local level. Leaders in the initiative are traveling across the country to listen and learn from people directly involved in finding grassroots solutions to reconnect Americans to the outdoors. The great ideas that emerge from the national dialogue will be brought back to the President on November 15th, where recommendations for a 21st century conservation agenda will be designed.

On August 31st, the Organic School Project participated in one of these listening and learning sessions focused on the connection between health and the great outdoors. Many representatives from local and national organizations aimed at conservation efforts and battling health related issues in America attended this session in Chicago, and brought with them their great ideas for the President. With the hopes of creating a cultural turn around, leaders and attendees talked about important issues that need to be addressed. Some topics discussed included ways of improving access to outdoor facilities, ensuring safety in the neighborhoods so kids can use the facilities without fear of danger, doctors incorporating the outdoors in their suggested remedial exercise, for example, walking in a park instead of on on a treadmill, spending some of the trillions of dollars spent on health care on preventative programs, and starting community gardens to foster exercise and eliminate food deserts.

At the "break out session" we were encouraged to contribute our thoughts for future needs and discuss what is currently being done to reconnect humans and the great outdoors. During this session, we shared our beliefs on how school and community gardens can serve as a great mechanism to draw people back outside and get them active. A garden provides a safe place for parents and kids to come and reconnect with the earth and be involved in regular exercise. Here kids learn about nutrition and the environment, and what is involved in keeping an organism healthy. Reconnection at a young age will ensure they become stewards of the earth, providing careful and responsible management of its resources. School and community gardens result in healthier lifestyles among the kids actively working the garden, and a more sustainable way of living among future generations.

One of the great outcomes of the session was being introduced to the many great initiatives taking place across the nation, and many right here in Chicago. Stay tuned as we update you on more topics discussed at the listening and learning session, and current endeavors going on locally and nationally to address these issues.

It is important that you take part in this national dialogue as well! Share your ideas for the conservation agenda, and let the President know what issues you find important for future action.

Prescriptions for healthy food

One reason why fast food restaurants are so appealing to low income families is because of the amount of food a family can get for a dollar. Families with limited amount of money to spend on food often rely on cheaper, higher calorie foods in order to maximize calorie intake for amount of money spent. This can cause over consumption of calories and an unhealthy diet that leads to obesity and other health problems. A new pilot program in Boston hopes to compete with fast food. By making healthy food less expensive, it is now possible for low-income families to afford the healthier option.

In this effort to combat obesity in children, doctors at three health centers in Boston are encouraging children of low-income families to use local farmers’ markets as a preventative approach to health problems. Doctors are providing coupons amounting to $1 a day for each member of a patient’s family to be used on healthy options at these markets. The goal is to amend eating habits. The doctors hope to augment the amount of fruits and vegetables the kids are familiar with and will eat and increase their intake of fruit and vegetables by one serving a day.

This program is a great effort to make healthy food more affordable; though can it have a long-term influence on reducing obesity? The program not only relies on families getting to the markets to use the coupons, but also on families increasing their fruits and vegetable consumption and cutting back on their intake of junk food. It may take more than just a voucher for healthy foods to alter many years worth of poor eating habits.

Access to the markets also raises a concern. Lowering food cost can only be successful if the families are able to get to the fresh food; and what will happen once the farmers’ market season ends? Will the families revert back to their old snack habits without the access to affordable healthy food during the winter?

The doctors will be monitoring participants from 50 families, determining the effects on eating patterns and health indicators such as body mass index (BMI).

To read about the program, click below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/business/13veggies.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=obesity&st=cse

Is it possible, fresh and healthy food available on every corner…?

Northwestern Medicine and Near North Health Service Corp. has partnered with Walgreens in a new pilot program designed to improve access to affordable, healthy foods for diabetics living in food deserts. The Greenlight Select Program provides practical tools to help manage their health. Diabetics will receive food “prescriptions” from the Komed Holman Health Center that act as discounts on produce and other nutrient-rich food items. The patients may use these prescriptions at the Walgreens located at 67th and Stony Island.

The fresh food center is not only designed to benefit diabetics. This Walgreens location is one of ten Chicago stores that have been redesigned to include new food items, assisting consumers in neighborhoods where healthy food is scarce. The modification strives to eradicate food deserts inflicting the more than 600,000 Chicago residents (according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) who live in neighborhoods with limited access to grocery stores with fresh, healthy food. The enhanced Walgreens is now selling about 750 new food items that include fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, whole grain cereal, frozen meat and fish, and rice and beans.

While there will only be ten expanded Walgreens by the end of August, this is a positive step in Chicago. Selling healthy and fresh food at Walgreens seems like a great idea since there seems to be one on every block and has the potential to reach a large percentage of the population. Even though Walgreens is not aiming to be a full service grocery store, they are providing a variety of choices of healthier food and the chain plans to expand its fresh food center to about 400 stores across the country in the next few years.

Is it possible that with the expansion of this program, fresh fruits, vegetables and healthy food will soon be like Starbucks coffee… available on every corner?

To read more about the Greenlight Select Program and the fresh food center now available at some Walgreens locations, read these articles.

http://www.suntimes.com/health/2593662,diabetes-greenlight-walgreens-northwestern-081210.article

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/health/daley-walgreens-chicago-food-desert-100499829.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129160851&sc=emaf

Response to “Senate’s Important Lunch Date”

By: Greg Christian

After reading an article by Richard Lugar in the NYtimes “The Senate’s Important Lunch Date”, I had to comment.

Lugar talks about reauthorizing the federal child nutrition programs—and how important this is.

I have witnessed a similar consensus in Chicago, and I am in agreement, it is important!

However, what they are proposing is essentially a 6 cent increase in the amount spent on children’s lunch, and this is not sufficient funding.

The program would also be expanded to include more people in need,

but nowhere in the article does he take responsibility for the quality of food being served in the future.

He ensures, “This bill… is as close to a moment of consensus as can be achieved.”

But the lack of political will here is obvious—‘settling’ on our future generation’s food is something I struggle with supporting.

‘Baby steps’ is the common phrase in ‘moving a system’, but the process of improving school food needs much more than baby steps to make a difference in the health of our kids.

Read the New York Times article at

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/opinion/04lugar.html