National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

Posted by Carolyn Martin on September 14th, 2017 Posted in: Health Literacy, Health Observances

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It’s a fact, many Americans are overweight, including our children. Childhood obesity continues to be spotlighted in the news whether as a statistic, a campaign to reduce the rates, or recent research. Many factors contribute to childhood obesity such as increased screen time, family lifestyle, and certain economic or social issues. It’s a constant struggle for everyone and it’s difficult to take the steps to reduce our body weight. Healthfinder provides a toolkit for National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month for libraries and organizations  to use with helpful ideas to bring awareness and to tips to increase the health of children.

Another way to encourage reducing weight is to also observe Fruits & Veggies and More Month. Eating more fruits and vegetables and decreasing sugars and fats is one way to becoming healthier and lose weight. The USDA’s Choose My Plate website offers a visual method of understanding the portions and proportion of food. Consider having contests or hashtag campaigns for kids to post healthy plates of food. Often fixing fruits and vegetables where kids would find them more appealing is difficult for time strapped parents. Offering quick, easy, and healthy recipes on websites or on a brochure or social media can be just the trick. Providing opportunities to purchase affordable fruits and vegetables is another way to put kids on a healthier path to eating.

It’s not easy but hopefully we can all try by taking one small step at a time to help our kids have a healthier future.