State
Conference attendees call youth obesity in Maine a crisis
Rep. Brian Bolduc of Auburn speaks during a panel discussion on the children's obesity problem in Maine during the 8th annual Hanley Leadership Forum in Auburn on Wednesday.
AUBURN – Health advocates, lawmakers, educators, business representatives and outdoor leaders gathered for a one-day conference in Auburn aimed at reducing youth obesity in Maine.
The 8th annual event was sponsored by the Daniel Hanley Center for Health Leadership, a Maine-based health care leadership group established in 2002.
Conference organizers sought to highlight both the monetary and societal cost of obesity, which has risen exponentially in Americans over the past couple of decades. One in three children in America are overweight or obese, according to a recent study sponsored by Growing Up Healthy, from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation.
“These issues of overweight and obesity and the diseases that will result will kill far more of (our children) than the wars of the last decade and are really the greatest threat to them,” said Dr. Erik Steele, chief medical officer of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems and co-chair of the Maine Governor's Council on Physical Activity.
“The fear that we ought to have ultimately shouldn't be al Qaeda and the Taliban, it needs to be overeating and under activity; they are much more subtle and much more deadly to our children,” he said.
Youth obesity leads to costs for their future employers, conference organizers said. According to a survey of 17 Maine employers, 31 percent of workers were obese and 31 percent were overweight, compared with 38 percent being healthy, using the body mass index as a measure. The total costs associated with overweight and obese employees in 2010 was $6.1 million — $3.8 million in health related costs and $2.3 million in lost-work time costs — according to the research. By 2018, the total related costs are expected to be more than $10 million.
During a series of roundtable discussions, conferees came up with ideas trying to address hurdles such as establishing effective obesity-curbing programs and finding funding for them.
Common themes that emerged were developing a central database for studies and information relating to the issue, increasing community engagement and raising the overall profile of childhood obesity as a legitimate health risk and cost.
Lawmakers who participated in a panel discussion said grassroots support for specific initiatives would aid advocates' efforts to enact legislation aimed at curbing youth obesity.
“It's clear that there's a problem here,” said state Rep. Charlie Priest, D-Brunswick. “Obviously there are a number of solutions, but I don't think they are easy solutions. The one thing I think is most important, frankly, is to get public support for these changes, whatever these changes are going to be.”
State Rep. Pat Flood, R-Winthrop, said Maine lawmakers generally listen very carefully to farmers and doctors.
“If you're very focused and very specific on the activities that you're encouraging us to do, that's very helpful to us,” he said.
Healthy Policy Partners of Maine, a coalition of organizations and individuals that advocates for improved health in Mainers, presented conference attendees with their top three policy initiatives for the next Maine Legislature. Their goals are to increase the amount of physical education available to children in school, improve the nutrition standards for all foods available in schools and adding physical activity and nutrition standards to licensing and certification standards for child care facilities.
rmetzler@sunjournal.com
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For lunch the attendees
For lunch the attendees ordered supersized take out from McDonalds. (but with diet sodas)
I am in line at Hanaford
I am in line at Hanaford waiting to pay for my groceries. The kid in front of me has snack cakes, soda, frozen pizza, hamburg and two steaks. His bill is $67 dollars and he pays with an EBT card. My hard earned tax dollars at work making someone fat and then my tax dollars go toward study after study telling us that obesity is an epidemic. I go to Rite Aid and buy a card and some Juinor Mints. On the receipt is an * near the Junior Mint price. What does it mean? Food stamp eligible. Our system is broken and I am tired of paying for it.
Most kids
will eat 15% of their meals in a year at school. (175 days/175 lunches) Realizing that some kids also eat breakfast there, it is impossible to expect schools to try to solve this issue. Kids are fat because their parents are. Poor choices in diet and in what to do with free time are the only causes. If a kid has only healthy choices at school, yet goes home to find processed junk, then the kid's gonna stay fat, regardless of what he eats/hears at school. Schools today are already being asked to "cure" a number of societal ills... and what has happened? The only thing that goes down is American public schools' test scores. Let the teachers teach and leave the parenting to the parents. Rather than outlawing McDonalds maybe the libs should outlaw video game consoles. They give middle schoolers laptops for crying out loud. What do the kids do with those when they bring them home? Facebook and Youtube! That'll help cure the obesity epidemic!
I agree it needs to be
I agree it needs to be addressed in the schools also! But, in their 'semi' defence, they are required to provide a percentage of 'fat' in the meals. However, they can do that in a more nutritious way. I have seen the monthy menus, they still serve donuts, poptarts, sugar cereals, sticky buns, and donut sticks for breakfasts, and every other day is pasta of some sort, and hamburg is definatly the meat of choice, pizza is at least once a week, sloppy joes, hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries...it just goes on and on..and for 'deserts' they still have cookies and cakes etc. I Do realize the school lunch progrmas are on a budget, as most households are. They also have to chose between kids actually eating the food, or throwing it away. So, instead of pepperoni/sausage pizza, offer just plain, or with veggies on it, use turkey/chicken burger instead of beef burger, use whole wheat pasta instead of white..have a varity of apples/bananas/oranges etc for 'dessert..let the child chose which one they wat...there ARE ways they can make improvements...
verified Start in the schools
Start in the schools and get rid of all the junk food kids can get there. There is no need for pizza on the lunch menue. Offer only healthy nutritious food. Teach kids how to prepare a good tasting healthy meal and they will go home and hopefully educate their parents. Another problem is all those ready to eat frozen meals. They are expensive and unhealthy compared to meals from scratch. I still enjoy once in a while fast food but it is never the first choice for me or my kids.
Drive buy food
Most Drive by food is the cause of childhood obesity FEW PEOPLE COOK HOME ANYMORE FAST FOOD = FAST DEATH
No Brainer
This is nothing new. A lot of money has been poured into studies and programs and the numbers keep getting worse year after year. We all know what the causes are, poor food choices and too much food, too much time in front of the tv, computer and nintendo type games and not enough physical activity. People have to.wont to change their behavior and they dont so lets spend the money where it will make a difference.
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