Tackling obesity in children and adults

When weight is a heavy subject, using words such as nutrition and exercise easy ways to talk about it, especially to an overweight child.
Lisa Moore, health education supervisor and health promotion coordinator with the Burke County Health Department, has has worked for years with the wellness initiative countering ill effects of unhealthy lifestyles.
Although the numbers haven't changed much, Moore said, "We have seen some children in the underweight category who have gone to the healthy weight spectrum."
Moore conducted an assessment among teachers, parents and students who have participated in the initiative.
"About 53 percent of them said by the end of the year they were buying and eating healthier snacks," Moore said, "While 96 percent are discussing eating healthier and getting more physical activity as a family."
"It's all in how you see food. You don't want to discourage kids away from food. They need to try to eat healthier and to do that we have to change some ways we are eating," she said.
School nurse at W A Young Elementary Miranda Michaels said she and guidance counselor Amber Lackey are headed into the classrooms to discuss better choices.
"We will discuss how to make healthy choices at home and school children sometimes don't make the right choices," Michaels said.
As part of the launch of their second family night with Wildcats Wellness, Michaels said the parents are encouraged to participate.
"We will teach nutrition and get the parents involved with making these healthy choices and creating healthier snacks along with seeing the importance of having family wellness," she said.
If you look at the numbers kids get heavier in grades three through five and their activity drops, Moore said.
"If you start in elementary school developing good behaviors and physical activity, that can go over into middle and high school," Moore said.
Moore summarized the findings: "We are seeing more improvement in attitudes and behaviors toward eating better and increasing physical activity."
The key, Moore said, is "increase vegetables, fruit and water consumption and offering less sugar-sweet beverages and increasing physical activity.
"When you present it that way and model some of that behavior, kids will follow along earlier and the better off they will be into adolescence when it is harder to change attitudes and behaviors."
As part of the wellness initiative in the schools, Moore said pending approval, they will be looking at ways to better present the food to kids and ways to increase physical activity at the middle and high school levels.
"It's not in the curriculum as much as in the elementary school so we need to find ways to get them moving and keep them moving through the day," Moore said. "There is a direct correlation between kids who are healthy as they are better able to pay attention in class and learn more and the grades go up as a result."
Moore said they will start pulling together school wellness teams at every elementary, middle and high school to do assessments on everything from environment to nutrition and physical activity to see where improvement is needed.
So far, Mull, W.A. Young and Rutherford College and Salem elementary schools all are doing the full wellness program this year and next school year. It starts with Moore compiling a tri-fit assessment on the faculty and body mass index on the students.
Michaels said stations will be set up for free demos on how to eat healthy at fast food restaurants, creating an English muffin pizza and fruit kabobs at home. A basketball shootout also is planned.
Since starting the wellness initiative at W.A. Young, energizers are incorporated in the classroom and a 12-week program launched in mid February, Girls on the Run.
"This is a program for third- through fifth-grade girls about body awareness and how to feel good about themselves and learn how to eat right," Michaels said.
"We are teaching more classes in the community with the Eat Smart Move More program with 15 lessons held one day a week for 15 weeks, which involves journaling food eaten, physical activity — including dance or teaching them things to do in the confines of their office — or things to take home to do, including adding strength and flexibility in their physical activity. This program teaches you how to eat better and increase your physical activity for life long benefits," Michaels said.
Moore has started the wellness initiative with Broughton Hospital employees teaching classes and healthier behaviors.
"The community as a whole has now seen the benefit in changing little pieces at a time," Moore said. "Our society didn't get sick with so many lifestyle choices over night it takes time to reverse those effects any step in the right direction is a positive one."