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Join the Mayor's
and Supervisor's
Challenge
About the Mayor's and Supervisor's Challenge for a healthy community
(pdf)
Pound
Ridge accepts the county's 'healthy community' challenge (pdf)
(Journal News article, Nov 23)
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Recipes for
Healthy Snacks |
Healthy Snacks for Schools
(pdf)
Healthy Snacks
(pdf)
| Nutritional
Nuggets Newsletters |
Bone
up on Calcium (pdf)
Life
in the Fast Lane - Nutrition & Fast Food (pdf)
Trans
Fat and
Your Health (pdf)
What's
All the Buzz About Phytochemicals
(pdf)
Protecting
Our Food Supply
(pdf)
Fit
Kids Walking Programs
Ossining School District, Westchester County
Arthur S. May School, Arlington School District, Dutchess County
Dutchess
County
New York State
RJ
Bailey School
Orange County
New
Food Guide Pyramid for Kids
(USDA)
Body and Mind (BAM)
Kidnetic
Nutrition
Explorations
Smart-Mouth
Tips
to Keep
Kids Healthy |
Healthy eating
can help beat diabetes
10
Steps Towards Healthy Eating at School
(pdf)
Food
Guide Pyramid for Young Children (pdf)
Take
the Portion Distortion Quiz!
Healthy
Snack Suggestions (pdf)
Nutrient
Content of Fast Foods
10
Best and Worst Children's Foods
| Services
from Other County Departments |
Westchester
Kids Website
Westchester
County Parks Department
Food Guide
Pyramid
(USDA)
Center for Nutrition
Policy and Promotion
Food
and Nutrition Information Center
Archived
Press Releases
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Turn off Your TV and Turn on Life!
Did you know that according to
TV-Turnoff Network, the average American child spends more time
per year watching TV (1,023 hours) than in school (900 hours)?
Americans, on average, watch 4 hours of television each day.
Center for Disease Control data indicates that 61.5% of children
age 9-13 years do not participate in any organized physical
activity during their non-school hours and that 22.6% do not
engage in any free-time physical activity at all. Watching too
much television increases the likelihood that children will not
get 60 minutes of physical activity per day as recommended by
the U.S. Surgeon General. At the same time, childhood obesity is
now epidemic in the United States due in large part to a
combination of poor diet and inadequate physical activity.
Each year, during the last week in April, millions of children
and adults turn off their televisions and discover that life
without TV can be rewarding and fun! Since 1995, more than 24
million people have participated in TV-Turnoff Week. The 2008
campaign is scheduled for the week of April 21 to April 27. Your
school may already have plans to participate so encourage your
child to take part in the event.
Turning off the TV is a great way to take a small step towards
improving the health of your children and family. Find time to
play outside, take a walk or try a new sport instead.
Learn about ideas for other activities your children and family
can enjoy.
 Click
here to read
County Executive Andy Spano's letter.
Click
here
for suggested play and learning activities
(English) and here for Spanish.
Print
a TV Cover
to remind you to participate in TV-Turnoff
Week.
Resource:
TV-Turnoff Network - TV-Turnoff Network is a national nonprofit
organization that encourages children and adults to watch much
less television in order to promote healthier lives and
communities.
http://www.tvturnoff.org/
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More
than 16 percent of children are overweight - that's more than double what it was in
1980. Not only is this unhealthy, but it can result in more serious
health problems at younger ages as well as when they become adults.
Poor eating habits are established during childhood. Along with
physical inactivity, poor diet accounts for at least 365,000 deaths among
US adults each year, second only to tobacco use which causes 435,000
preventable deaths. Overweight
and obesity are now recognized to be at epidemic proportions.
To
try to reach kids before they turn into coach-potato adults with
high-cholesterol and diabetes, Westchester County Department of Health and
County Executive Spano launched the "Fit Kids" campaign in March
2003.
As
part of the campaign, Westchester County Health Department and the
Communications Office have developed a step-by-step guide to help schools
develop programs and plan activities in their schools that encourage kids
to eat healthier and exercise more. The guide was distributed to the
county's 47 school districts in the hopes that they will develop programs
that are appropriate for their communities.
The guide instructs schools on how to improve the
quality of foods offered in their cafeterias and how to start a Healthy
Heart Committee made up of school staff, parents or any interested adult
as well as plan activities that will raise awareness among young
people. Schools can hold "No Junk Food Days," in which
vending machines are turned off or filled with healthy snacks.
Another popular event is a "10,000-Step A Day" challenge, in
which kids are given pedometers to chart how many miles they can
walk.
Public
health activities now need to focus attention on overweight, obesity and
physical inactivity among our children. Fit Kids will enable the
health department to work cooperatively with our schools and park system
to this address public health issue.
To
help stop childhood obesity, click here to get the
Fit
Kids Resource Guide 2006
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