Childhood obesity is a major concern in the United States. Over the past few decades there has been a dramatic increase in the number of children suffering from obesity. Kids are staying indoors more with limited physical activity and increased caloric consumption, resulting in a nationwide epidemic of obesity in our children. There are hundreds of organizations, large and small, fighting to stem this trend and help get our kids’ health back in check. But a business or non-profit can’t do it alone. Parents and kids must both be willing to change their habits to create a healthier lifestyle.

Causes of Childhood Obesity
There are many causes for childhood obesity, and sometimes a complex combination of circumstances work together to put our children at risk. One thing we know for sure is that reduced physical activity in school is a component and a risk factor for childhood obesity. Studies have shown that throughout our nation, less than one third of school-aged children (age 6-17) engage in physical activity – that is, activity that makes them sweat and increase breathing and heart rate for at least 20 minutes. And that’s just the minimum recommended amount of physical activity. There is no surprise here that childhood obesity has become a frightening epidemic in our country.

Risks of Child Obesity

• High Cholesterol and Blood Pressure: High levels of “bad” cholesterol called LDL and also high blood pressure are common in obese children.
• Bone and Joint Problems: There have been numerous cases of obese children experiencing a slipped growth plate in their hip bone.
• Sleep Apnea: Obstruction of the child’s airway is common and can result in many other day-to-day problems like poor school performance and nighttime bedwetting on top of the primary risk where the individual stops breathing in their sleep.
• Psychological Problems: Probably the most severe risk of obesity in kids is their emotional and psychological health. Kids will develop poor self-esteem and accept the fact that they will be obese their entire lives, making it extremely difficult for them to change their lifestyle in later years.
• Type 2 Diabetes: What used to be only of concern in adults and very rare in children is not a major concern for obese kids.

Child Obesity Statistics

• Prevalence of Obesity: Among children ages 6-11, there was a 6.5% rate of obesity in 1980 which increased to 18.6% by 2008. Ages 12-19 increased from 5% to 18.1% in the same time period.
• Cardiovascular Disease: 70% of obese children from 5-17 years have at least one symptom and risk factor of cardiovascular disease like high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
• Low-Income Obesity: 1 of 7 low income children in preschool is obese.
• 13 million children and adolescents in the U.S. are obese.
• Obese adolescents are 80% more likely to end up as obese adults.
• Healthcare expenses directly related to childhood obesity are $14 billion every year.

One Solution to the Epidemic: Quality PE in Schools
The problem of childhood obesity is urgent – changes need to be made immediately. Children need positive influences from the adults around them to make better choices. And who better to provide that than a physical education teacher? In general, children attend about 5 or 6 hours of school, 5 days per week. Physical education classes might take up about an hour per day. Imagine the good that could be done for children if that time was optimized with fun, challenging, and healthy activity.

Implementing quality PE in children’s school schedule would be a great first step to turning this epidemic around. PE classes should be used to really teach children about how important a healthy lifestyle is. We can reverse the stigma about PE classes being boring, awkward, and repetitive by breathing new life into old games and activities. Children can learn that challenging themselves and staying healthy are great for self-esteem and making new friends. Teachers should be passionate about their purpose, and lead by positive example.

When students are able to connect with teachers and create a respectful relationship, they are highly more likely to engage in activities and try their hardest. With energetic and fun teachers, a challenging and exciting curriculum, and education about the crucial importance of physical activity and healthy eating, children will take fitness seriously. We will improve the PE in our schools, and let our children reap the benefits.

Let’s Move! is an initiative [ih-nish-ee-uh-tiv] (Noun: an introductory act or step; leading action).  Initiatives can raise awareness and with awareness comes a call to action.  The First Lady and the Let’s Move! Initiative have been instrumental in several big steps so far, including:

• Helping to organize communities to be the driving force behind Let’s Move! Where many Faith groups from across the country have committed to walking 3 million miles and hosting 10,000 community gardens or farmers markets.
• Promoting health and wellness to reduce chronic conditions
• Creating a new Prevention and Public Health Fund to build healthier communities, including preventing childhood obesity
• Mandated that new health insurance plans to cover screening for childhood obesity and counseling from doctors without a co-pay or any other payment
• Issued a call to action for healthier options in schools and other sites where children attend
• Teamed up with athletic organizations including the National Basketball Association, the US Tennis Association and the National Football League, where some of our nation’s favorite athletes are working to inspire kids to play sports and get active
• Helped to launch the new President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. .
• Just last month, Walmart, one of the nation’s largest retail stores, announced a new Nutrition Charter designed to bring healthier and more affordable foods to the 140 million customers that shop at their stores each week.

Let’s Move! has built momentum over the last year and we in communities need to be ready to build on these outstanding efforts in the year ahead.

-Kymm Ballard, SPARK Partnership Development Specialist

Some reasons include a lack of standards and policies, lack of nutrition education curriculum, and time to teach this content with so many other responsibilities being placed on teachers today.  So what can you do to integrate nutrition into your day?  Here are some ideas to get you started! (For more in-depth information make sure to join our January webinar on this topic- Click Here)

• Math- students can record their food and calorie intake into a food journal and calulate averages, servings sizes and portions
• Art- create a colorful menu for a restaurant complete with healthy choices
• Social Studies- teach students about different cultures by cooking traditional receipies in class
• Language Arts- select books to read that talk about food and nutrition this can introduce them to foods they have never heard of before
• Science- students can build a car out of fresh vegetables or do an experiment to learn about the properties of foods
• Physical Education- have a relay where students have to build a balanced meal by running down and selecting one food item picture at a time

That’s why we’ve begun to develop screen-time management tools like SPARK’s Screen-Time Vouchers. We feel it’s especially timely to share this resource as we hit the holiday gift-giving season. Each year more video games, handheld devices, and video screens top children’s gift lists.

Teachers, share this resource with your students’ families. Parents and caregivers, consider using screen-time vouchers to help manage family zombie zones. SPARK’s Screen-Time Vouchers help families align with 3 of the WeCan! Strategies for reducing screen time.

1. Talk to your family. Use these vouchers to start and continue a conversation with your kids about why it’s important to limit screen time and increase activity time.
2. Log Screen Time vs. Active Time. By turning in Screen-Time Vouchers, children are easily tracking time spent focusing on screens.
3. Set Screen Limits. These vouchers instantly set parameters around screen-based devices and help families enforce screen-time rules.

Here are 3 important notes as we build off the great work of WeCan!

• Set a Good Example. It’s “move it or lose it” time. If you don’t prove your point by moving your gluteus, you’ll lose credibility with your kids. Make vouchers valuable by proving their value with your example.

• Next, don’t over emphasize vouchers by treating screen-time as a reward. Screen-time vouchers are tools for teaching responsible health management, just like an allowance is used to teach financial responsibility.

• Finally, consider active screen-time separately. Nothing replaces the social interaction of real-live pick-up games or activity at the park. However, active video games are a great alternative to muscle melting sedentary ones. Plus, they’re pretty fun. For full benefits, participate with your children. You’ll sweat, laugh, and bond the new-school way.

Click Here to download SPARK’s Screen-Time Vouchers. Check back with SPARK often for new resources and ideas.

Have a safe and wonderful Holiday Season.

Aaron Hart

Development Director

The SPARK Programs

Keeping up with healthy habits has benefits for your whole body – like helping to avoid holiday weight gain, helping to fend off holiday stress and fatigue, and helping to keep your immune system strong. Many people give up on healthy habits during the holidays but with these tips you can teach your children how to stay healthy during this busy time of year.

Tips for healthy holiday eating:

• Feed your children – and yourself – a light meal or snack before going to a holiday party. It’s harder to avoid overeating when you’re overly hungry.
• Set a good example for children by eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains with meals or as snacks.
• Offer to bring a healthy, low-calorie dish to holiday parties so you’ll know that at least one healthy item will be available.
• Teach your children to eat smaller portions of food, especially at a buffet, where they may want to try everything. Help them choose the items they want to try the most, and eat a small portion of each.
• Sodas and other sweet drinks contain a lot of calories and many contain caffeine. For a healthier version of “soda” mix 100% fruit juice with club soda or seltzer.
• The holiday season can keep you extra busy but try to avoid fast food – it may be handy, but is often high in fat and low in nutrition.

Tips for physical activity:

• Hula Hoop, Jump Rope: If Rocky can jump rope for hours, it’s got to be good, right? Grab a few hula hoops and jump ropes, clear out one of your rooms, and turn on some fast-paced music. Your kids will love learning new skills, and you’ll love getting their heart rates up! You can even hold a tournament or a competition to make it more interesting.
• Dance: In First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, she encourages parents and children to get up and dance. Not only can you learn valuable moves on the dance floor, but merely dancing around for an hour can burn upwards of 200 calories! Take a leaf out of Michelle’s book: turn on some holiday music and dance around the house.
• Active Video Games: Traditional video games, albeit fun and endlessly entertaining, are extremely sedentary activities and should be limited to just an hour or two a week. The new, active video games incorporate fitness, coordination, and even dance skills! Consider Dance Dance Revolution, Wii Bowling, Playstation Move or Xbox Kinect next time your kids want to spend hours in front of the television on a cold or rainy day.
• The Gift that Keeps Giving: Give gifts that encourage physical activity, like active games or sporting equipment. Santa knows that even the simplest presents, like a ball or hula hoop, help support activity and leave open endless possibilities for fun family games.

Holiday Pudding Cups

A light delicious treat which is fruitful, festive, and requires very little work. Plus it is in its own dish, so less clean up after a holiday party.

Ingredients:

• 1pkg Philo dough (thawed)
• 1pkg JELLO instant vanilla pudding (regular or sugar free)
• Milk (for pudding)
• ¼ cup Pomegranate
• ¼ cup Strawberry (sliced)
• ¼ cup Blueberry
• ¼ cup Kiwi (diced)
• Powder Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Lightly spray muffin pan with cooking spray (for appetizer style use the miniature cup cake pans)
3. Roll Philo dough into 1/8 inch thick sheets
4. Cut dough into squares, so that when it’s laid into the muffin pan it will hangover ½ inch
5. Gently press squares into muffin pan, shaping edges to form rims ¼ inch high
6. Bake for 18 minutes or until pastry has a golden color. (Tip – for a glossy shine on the pastry cup lightly glaze beaten egg onto the top)
7. Let cool
8. Mix up the vanilla pudding per the JELLO package instructions
9. Once the pastry cups have cooled, spoon pudding into each cup.
10. Then top with a piece of each fruit and lightly dust with powder sugar.
11. Serve chilled.
12. ENJOY!

Stuffing with Sage and Chives

Ingredients:

• 1 spray(s) cooking spray
• 12 slice(s) whole-wheat bread, cubed*
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 tsp light butter
• 1 cup(s) onion(s), diced
• 3 stalk(s) (medium) celery, diced
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
• 2 cup(s) canned chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp chives, fresh, chopped

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 4-quart shallow baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Arrange bread cubes on a large ungreased baking sheet in a single layer (use 2 baking sheets if there’s not enough room). Bake until lightly toasted, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove bread from oven and set aside; leave oven set to 350ºF.
3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil and butter together for 1 to 2 minutes. Add onion and celery; sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Add thyme, sage, salt and pepper; stir to coat. Cook until herbs are fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Transfer onion mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add bread, broth and chives; toss to combine. Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish and cover with foil; bake 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Divide into 8 pieces and serve. Yields 1 piece per serving.

Notes:

• Leave the bread bag open and somewhat uncovered for 1 to 2 days (at room temperature) before making the recipe.
• Feel free to substitute your favorite bread, such as whole grain, sourdough or a light variety..
• For added flavor, you can also add about 1 cup of diced Granny Smith or McIntosh apples to the stuffing
• You can make this stuffing in advance and bake it just before serving. The stuffing will last up to 3 days in the refrigerator or 3 months in the freezer. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before baking as directed.

Servings:  8

Preparation Time:  15 min

Cooking Time:  45 min

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Enjoy!

One disturbing piece of information continues to hamper physical education successfully moving forward. The terms “physical activity” and “physical education” are often used interchangeably, yet they differ in important ways. Understanding the difference between the two is critical to understanding why both contribute to the development of healthy, active children. Think of this: Physical Activity is a behavior. Physical Education (PE) is a core subject area with a curriculum that includes physical activity.

Here is NASPE’s definition of physical activity vs. physical education: http://tinyurl.com/27j2pcv

To those of us at SPARK, and certainly to the researchers, active classes is a hallmark of quality Physical Education. A PE class in which students are standing or sitting most of the time cannot be a good PE class. PE is about teaching through the physical. The goal is to teach movement skills, teamwork, and positive social interactions, as well as improve fitness and promote the joy of movement by getting students active. Right?

What are your thoughts??

-Kymm Ballard, Ed.D

The report, titled Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation, includes Early Childhood Education, Physical Education and Physical Activity recommendations. SPARK is already well aligned with the recommendations in this report!

Early Childhood Education

“Young children need opportunities to be physically active through play and other activities. Physical activity assists children in obtaining and improving fine and gross motor skill development, coordina¬tion, balance and control, hand-eye coordination, strength, dexterity, and flexibility—all of which are necessary for children to reach developmental milestones.
Preschool years, in particular, are crucial for obesity prevention due to the timing of the development of fat tissue, which typically occurs from ages 3-7…. Features of the child care center environment, including policies regarding activity and provider training, as well as the presence of portable and fixed play equipment, influence the amount of physical activity children engage in while at child care.”

• SPARK Early Childhood is designed specially for children ages 3-5 years to increase physical activity and development
• SPARK EC was one of the first large-scale, urban efforts to evaluate a comprehensive physical activity program for the 3-5 age group. The project concluded in winter 2004, and showed the SPARK EC program was very well received by the Head Start teachers, increased students’ moderate to vigorous activity levels to over 50% of class time, and improved the number of minutes children engaged in activity throughout the day.

School-Based Approaches to Increasing Physical Activity

“Schools are a key setting to focus on, given the significant portion of time children spend there. Schools can undertake a combination of strategies and approaches to help children be more active including:
- Creating infrastructure and policies that increase access to and encourage physical activity for all students;
- Collecting valid and reliable data and using analytical tools and systems to understand student needs and fitness levels, and promoting approaches that are effective in changing physical activity behaviors and, ultimately, health outcomes;
- Maintaining strong physical education (PE) programs that engage students in moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least 50% of PE class time;
- Providing a variety of activities and specific skills so that students can be physically active not just during class but throughout the day and year; and
- Providing qualified school professionals who are trained in teaching methods to engage stu¬dents in PE, including for students who face greater barriers to activity.”

• SPARK physical education and activity programs have been proven to increase levels of MVPA, physical fitness, motor skill development, student enjoyment of the program and academic achievement
• SPARK was recently identified as a successful model for combating childhood obesity in the report, “Fighting Obesity: What Works, What’s Promising” by the HSC Foundation. The report speaks of SPARK’s history, practice, and methods. SPARK was the ONLY program recommended for physical education AND physical activity.
• SPARK is the ONLY National Institute of Health (NIH) researched program available providing coordinated curriculum, training, follow up support, and equipment for Pre-K through 12th grade teachers.
• A Child Trends report titled “What Works for the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity Among Children”, highlights SPARK as a program that has proven to increase physical activity among students.

Physical Education

“Physical Education (PE) is considered the cornerstone of a school-based comprehensive physical activity program. It provides the basis and opportunity for young people to gain the knowledge and skills needed to maintain physically active lifestyles throughout childhood and into adulthood. A quality PE program can increase student participation in physical activity, increase their physical fitness, and enhance their understanding about the purpose and methods of physical activity. Participation in daily PE is associated with an increased likelihood of participating regularly in moderate to vigorous physical activity.”

• SPARK Physical Education is an award-winning, research-based program that has been proven to increase activity levels, knowledge, skills, and fitness. SPARK elementary physical education is the ONLY nationally-disseminated program that positively affects ALL of these student outcomes:
  • Academic Achievement
  • Activity levels (moderate to vigorous surpasses 50% of class time)
  • Fitness achievement
  • Sport Skills development
  • Enjoyment of PE

• SPARK’s the only PE program that has data to show students statistically significantly increase their Fitness gram scores.
• SPARK activities can be integrated throughout the school day to help your school provide physical education daily

Nutrition Education

“More, and better, nutrition education is needed in many schools. While approximately 75% of schools require nutrition education as part of health curriculum requirements, the time spent on nutrition and dietary behavior has declined in recent years, and funding has been limited. Many teachers are not equipped with the skills and knowledge to integrate and promote nutrition education into their classroom curricula. Research has shown that nutrition education interventions, if well designed and effectively implemented can improve dietary behaviors.”

• SPARK has teamed up with Healthy Kids Challenge and Healthy Lifestyle Choices to provide nutrition and health education curriculum and training programs
• Healthy Kids Challenge is a nationally recognized non-profit led by an exemplary team of registered, licensed dietitians with many years of school, program, and community wellness experience
• Healthy Lifestyle Choices curriculum is flexible and provides a variety of scheduling and implementation options for busy elementary teachers

The real action came at the press conference after the summit. The Governor announced new bills and executive actions that again place California at the forefront of public health efforts to improve physical activity, eating, and obesity. There were several important policy initiatives introduced, as explained in a press release: http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/14519/. Most of the policies were designed to increase children’s physical activity! This focus on getting California kids active is very welcome. The policies cover a wide range of issues, including simplifying funding for joint use agreements, targeting Safe Routes to Schools funding to disadvantaged communities, and requiring 30 minutes of daily physical activity in after-school programs.

Of particular interest is the proposed law to require 50% of PE classes to be spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) by 2013. This has been a public health objective for decades, but has never been adopted by a state. If passed, this bill could start a national trend to align public health and education goals. The goal of PE has always been to “teach through the physical” so I expect this law to help PE meet its multiple goals. Requiring 50% MVPA will stimulate teachers to find ways of teaching skills and knowledge through activity, in a way that will meet the current health needs of children.

Even when the bill passes, there is a long way to go to effective implementation. Between now and 2013, the PE community and public health advocates will need to work hard, work smart, and work together to obtain the funding needed to train teachers, adopt curricula, and develop practical accountability systems required to bring highly active PE classes to all California students. We will have to be sure that improvements are made in the low-resource schools that have the poorest quality PE now. But the effort will be worth it. More-active PE will be great for California children’s health and academic performance. This will be a big step toward defeating childhood obesity. I believe that highly-active PE classes will be seen as an improvement in quality by school administrators, parents, and legislators. Improving quality is a strong foundation for increasing PE minutes per week and bringing PE to all high school students.

Please write to the Governor and your representatives in Sacramento expressing your support for these bills that will help California children become more active and healthy. Make sure the professional and civic organizations you belong to support these bills. This is a great opportunity for California physical activity and physical education advocates, so let’s make sure the bills are passed, then work for the funding and support to implement them throughout the State. If you are not in California, then recommend your state’s leaders adopt the same, or even better, measures to improve children’s physical activity. Let’s see which state will win!

Jim Sallis
www.drjamessallis.sdsu.edu

This is a one-two punch of focus and power. The spotlight will now be strong. This is our best chance in a long time to make great progress on our shared vision of active healthy kids.

If, like me, you have been working for a long time to help children be active and healthy, we have been waiting for our concerns to be at the top of the national agenda. We can be proud that we have been on the right path and pursued a noble cause. But movement and change have been too slow. That is likely to change now. People in power want to listen to us now. They have joined our quest.

But progress will not be easy. Many Americans don’t think the country needs to change to provide more opportunities for kids to be active and to remove barriers to safe physical activity. Many people have a “just do it” mentality—it is a parent’s job to serve good food and tell the child to be active. But when good food is not in your neighborhood, no parks are in your neighborhood, traffic is too fast, and PE has been cut from the school day, what is a parent going to do? All Americans face barriers to being active, and it should be our goal to make it more convenient, safer, and more enjoyable to be active every day.

But the place to start is PE. This is the one program that can affect every child every day. PE needs to be active, and it needs to be taught by well-trained teachers. We know this works, and we can improve PE quickly. SPARK has been helping schools deliver activity-promoting PE for over 15 years. SPARK is ready and able to do more. Today, it was announced that the state of Florida received about $2 million to provide SPARK PE to every middle school in the state! One of the four goals of Let’s Move is to provide more opportunities for physical activity, and SPARK will help achieve it.

Our jobs are not finished. We cannot sit back and think the President and First Lady will make sure excellent PE is in every school; they will not eliminate childhood obesity on their own. We need to work harder, but our work is likely to have more of an effect now. It is up to us as educators, experts in PE and physical activity, parents, and members of our communities to support Let’s Move. We need to speak up. We need to keep information, good ideas, success stories, and good news about PE, physical activity, and solutions to childhood obesity visible in every communication channel all around the country. Please do your part. Sign on at http://www.letsmove.gov/ and send your thoughts to the First Lady.

Make 2/9/10 the day that you became a more vocal advocate for active healthy kids.

Jim Sallis
www.drjamessallis.sdsu.edu