Healthy People Objective
Healthy People 2010 Objective: Reducing childhood obesity in poor communitiesOne of the stated goals of "Healthy People 2010" is to eliminate health disparities between different socioeconomic groups. Promoting a healthy weight and increasing physical activity must be the cornerstones of any health promotion policy, particularly in light of America's burgeoning obesity epidemic. Everyone in America, poor and rich, is growing fatter-however, the epidemic seems to be suffered by the poor in greater numbers, and the poor have fewer resources to treat the causes of obesity. The 1994-1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes of Individuals (CSFII) survey showed significantly higher Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores for wealthier respondents (Martin 2005:2). Most of the currently existing literature suggests that poverty and obesity is causal as well as correlational. The poor have less access to lower-calorie, nutritious food and safe places to exercise. "Poverty and disease can participate in a vicious cycle wherein each one perpetuates the other. Deprived living conditions, malnutrition, and poor access to health care can advance the progression from poverty to disease. The resultant disease can lead to more pove
study of 371 low-income women "found that a $10-20 per month decrease in family food expenditures correlated with a net increase of 300 kcal/day in daily energy intakes" (Martin 2005:1). , increased funding for community and school-based recreational programs might be necessary to address the deficit. Even if student-based programs are not the only solution, neither is allowing physical education to constantly be shifted to the 'back burner' of our childrens' education and allowing poorer children to derive up to 2/3rds of their major meals from low-quality subsidized breakfasts and lunches. If No Child Left Behind continues to be the law of the land and encourages schools for financial reasons to eliminate or curtail P. "a community level, the city's Recreation Department has increased its intramural sports offerings for children"(Cluggish & Kinder 2008:4). Finally, added cost will increase food insecurity, which may lead to overeating rather than eating healthier foods. Also, ease of preparation may be another reason for poor food choices and a poor person who is working several jobs and feels highly stressed may see the added time burden of cooking as taking time away better spent in employment, commuting to the next job, or leisure and have other reasons besides cost to choose poorer quality foods. A second study, of more than 5,000 students undertaken at about the same time, came to similar conclusions" (Belkin 2006:1). The public schools serve nearly 5,000 students in grades pre-K through 12 and 64 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals (Cluggish & Kinder 2008:1) Because students were falling asleep at their desks because of low energy and their high-sugar diet, the school decided to introduce nutrition education at every grade level, reform the school cafeteria offerings so students had more healthy options, and implemented a walk or bike to school campaign, for students who could do so. Anecdotally, the Shape Up Somerville program "reduced approximately one pound of excess weight gain over eight months for an 8-year-old child. However, implementing such initiatives as the Somerville program can prove difficult, when corporate sponsorship of school activities and sports teams often means stocking the vending machines with an unhealthy products in exchange for financing, when the demands of feeding large numbers of students through the school lunch and breakfast program can prove daunting, and when there are few funds and fewer hours in the day for physical movement and education. rty via the association of disease with limited employ-ability, high health care expenses, and losses of skills and ability. Schools, increasingly concerned about meeting federal benchmarks for achievement, have often been pressed to cut back on physical activity and education in lieu of greater basic skills training. However, "the smattering of controlled prevention studies in the scientific literature have decidedly mixed findings.
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Acceptance Essays
