health initiatives | senatorschell

/Health Initiatives

But...There's Hope.

o $4.5 million in the form of a five-year grant was given from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the Childhood Obesity Prevention Graduate Training Program (COPT) to support nine graduate students and two graduate fellowships from Penn State to further research childhood

What's the problem?

o 25% of American children from ages 2-5 are already on their way to obesity (as they are already overweight)

-Caused by:

* Lack of sleep

* No education on nutritious foods

* Competitive foods school in schools without nutrition standards

* Low exposure to nutritious meals

* Little to no physical education in schools

* Dilapidated public parks and infrastructure

* Excess sugar in unnecessary amounts

Who will help us?

In addition to my efforts in the Senate, it is vital that key interest groups have shown incredible interest in this pressing national issue:

The Campaign to End Obesity Action Fund:
o Strives to influence federal policy that will allow America’s youth to be more active and healthy (also looking to have more provision of medical care for low-income children)
§ People involved: Highly qualified doctors, lawyers, lobbyist, etc. who all have an interest in helping every single American child (have strong representation of all ethnic groups, interests, and backgrounds)
§ Work with: American Diabetes Association. AARP. Discovery Health Channel. Humana. GW University. NIKE

o Priorities for The Campaign to End Obesity Action Fund:
§ Make sure federal food programs actually meet nutritional guidelines while still making the food affordable
· Encourage healthy food choices and options
§ Making exercise more accessible
· Improving infrastructure to encourage outdoor and physical activity
§ Want to streamline obesity prevention initiatives- make sure that the entire nation has the same goal and process in fighting obesity to ensure its success
§ Increase research to reduce medical costs in the future

MyPlate:

Implemented/supported by the Department of Agriculture
Entire free website allows people (kid friendly as well) to track their food habits and learn about healthy patterns
Serves as an educational tool to allow children and adults to understand what is going into their bodies

Mainly, the USDA is trying to encourage that Americans use this website and initiative as an outlet for education and research about their bodies in a way that will be largely beneficial to their health and overall happiness.