Obesity through the years. My, how things change...

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsOverweightChildren/dsOverweightChildren_270px.gif

I stumbled upon this chart while I was looking for some articles about childhood obesity. It's very self explanatory...the obesity/overweight rates of children has more than doubled in the last 30 years. What do you believe is the leading cause to this dramatic increase in overweight children???

Articles, articles everywhere!!

Okay, so below is a link to another article that we discussed in the child and maternal nutrition class. In class we actually compared the article below with the one I posted in my last blog post to compare and contrast them. Feel free to do the same and see which one you agree with more! I, personally, agree with and love Ellyn Satter's article!!!

http://www.nichq.org/documents/coan-papers-and-publications/COANImplementationGuide62607FINAL.pdf

Ellyn Satter is a GENIUS!!

Hello again!! So, in case I haven't mentioned it, I am currently taking a maternal and child nutrition class in my master's program! It's a wonderful class that is filled with all sorts of nutritional knowledge as it related to moms, babies, and children. I have attached a link below to an article that we went over in class. It is a great article by Ellyn Satter (wonderful, intelligent woman!) in which she discusses 8 steps that she believes can aid in the decline of childhood obesity. So go ahead, click on the link below and be amazed!

http://www.ellynsatter.com/resources/childoverweight.PDF

Kids give advice on how to decrease screen time

The following link is to an article that I read that has kids talking about ways to decrease screen time! It is a wonderful, easy read article that is very useful for a community nutrition project that I am working on! So, please click the link and be enlightened!

                                                               Managing screen time

Farm-to-school program throughout Kentucky!

Good morning! So I started reading some more information about childhood obesity in Kentucky and stumbled upon the farm-to-school program and the wonderful map below! Farm-to-School is a program that was created by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, in which the school cafeterias serve fruits, vegetables, and other foods that were grown locally by farmers in the community. Across the state, there are 78 different school districts that have become "Kentucky Proud", meaning they serve local products in their lunches! Last year, 10 more school districts received $5,000 grants from the Kentucky Department of Public Health's Obesity Prevention Program so they could establish farm-to-school programs!!

The above map indicates the 50 counties that had already implemented some type of farm-to-school program in 2010! There have since been more counties to add to the program!