OBESITY PREVENTION

OBESITY PREVENTION A COMMUNITY APPROACH

Simple Messages That Influence Complex Behaviors • Increase physical activity • Eat more nutritious food and smaller portions • Stop smoking

We all have influence in some spheres – or on many spheres. Individual – your family’s decisions Social/Organizational– church or organization leadership Public Policy - serving on a school/health board or on a state committee. Spheres of Influence INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL NETWORKS ORGANIZATIONS COMMUNITIES PUBLIC POLICY

Get More Physical Activity If you had a drug that would improve your mood, decrease your stress, help you lose weight, improve almost any health problem that you already had – would you take it?

Physical Activity: • Doesn’t have to be hard • Should make your heart beat faster • Should make you breathe deeper • You could talk but not sing • Should be sustained over a period of time – 10 minutes (or more) at a time is the GOAL • Something is better than nothing • Surgeon General’s Recommendations Adults – 30 min. a day, Children – 60 min. a day

Eat More Fruits and Vegetables • Studies show that people who eat a higher number of fruits and vegetables have lower overall body fat • People on low carb diets can eat vegetables (vs. fruits) • Fruits and vegetables are nutrient rich foods that have lower calories and fiber

The benefits of stopping smoking are immediate: After 20 minutes your heart rate drops. After 12 hours, the CO level in your blood drops to normal. After 2 weeks to 3 months, your heart attack risk begins to drop and your lung function begins to improve. After 1 to 9 months your coughing and shortness of breath decrease. After 1 year, your added risk of coronary heart disease is ½ that of a smoker’s. Support efforts to stop smoking and eliminate secondhand smoke

Support efforts to stop smoking and eliminate secondhand smoke The benefits of stopping smoking are immediate: After 5 years, your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker’s 5-15 years after quitting. After 10 years, your lung cancer death rate is about ½ that of a smoker’s and your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases. After 15 years, your risk of coronary heart disease is back to that of a nonsmoker’s.

Individual Sphere • Use non-sedentary ways to be with your family – Frisbee, walking, play games. • Be physically active on a regular basis. The goal is 30 minutes a day, 5 days per week • Incorporate “active behaviors,” always take the stairs instead of elevator, park further away, take opportunities to move, take short walks in between meeting. It benefits you – but also influences other people.

Individual Sphere • Start by replacing snacks with vegetables and fruits – think “nutrient rich” • Buy fast food like potatoes, salad, grilled chicken – that supports an economy of healthier foods • Fresh fruits and vegetables are best but frozen or canned are almost equally beneficial • The more convenient they are to eat, the more we eat them. Prepackaged and salad bar items are more expensive but an easier way to get vegetables and fruits

Quit Smoking – Help Others to Quit 1-800-QUIT-NOW Free, statewide, telephone-based, one-on-one proactive counseling program For smokers and non-smokers who’d like to help For more information email or call RaeAnne Davis at the KY Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program RaeAnne.Davis@ky.gov (502) 564-7996 ext. 3858 Individual Sphere

Smoking outside of your car, house, and other buildings: increases a smoker’s chances of stopping smoking when they do decide to quit Improves the indoor air quality of the air people breath every day Improves health of family and friends around you. Smoke outside – Encourage others to smoke outside

Community and Policy Sphere • Support local school policies that promote physical activity. School can make decisions on a local level to increase the PE requirement. • Ask legislators to mandate PE back into Kentucky School Program of Studies (State requires only 1 PE class PER WEEK for elementary students). • Don’t withhold recess as a punishment strategy. • Incorporate physically active parent/ student programs such as Safe Routes to School.

Community and Policy Sphere • Encourage the use of the Safe Routes to School $$$ in school districts • Plan sidewalks into new development, especially around schools and shopping areas. • Do not support “exemptions” from building sidewalks into new developments. It is much cheaper to build them up front then to retrofit

Community and Policy Level • New state legislation will require schools to change vending items to lower fat, lower sugar and higher fiber items. • Advocate for school fund raisers that follow the same guidelines or do not involve food. • Offer healthy options at concessions and school cafeteria.

Times are changing… At one point in time, smoking was allowed in such places as airplanes and no one thought twice about it. Doctors were even portrayed in advertisements to encourage patients to smoke for their health. Not anymore. Everyday, more cities, states, and countries are creating 100% smoke-free environments. The social norms surrounding smoking are changing. Support Clean Indoor Air Ordinances

Secondhand smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds and at least 60 are known carcinogens. U.S. EPA labels secondhand smoke as a Class A carcinogen (the same as asbestos). When Lexington, KY became 100% smoke-free it was written by the Supreme Court of Kentucky that, “…the protection of public health is uniformly recognized as a most important municipal function. ‘It is not only a right but a manifest duty of a city.’” Community and Policy Sphere

Not only does smoking result in loss of health, it contributes to the economic loss of Kentucky. Every year, more than 8,000 Kentuckians die from tobacco-related diseases. Each year, $1.2 billion in Medicaid and Medicare funds is being spent treating Kentuckians for illnesses worsened or caused by tobacco use. In other words, $300 is coming out of the pockets of each of the 4 million people living in KY due to tobacco use. Tackling Tobacco Makes Sense on an Economic Basis

Every 10% increase in the price of cigarettes, reduces youth smoking by close to 7% and reduces overall consumption by 3%-5%. A $0.75 increase in Kentucky’s cigarette excise tax would have significantly decreased youth smoking. Although a $0.27 increase is a step in the right direction, it is not enough. Community and Policy Sphere

“First, in addition to reducing tobacco use, we must advocate for public health in other areas, such as obesity…The ball is in your court. The future of health care is in your hands. The question is... Are you ready?” – John C. Nelson, MD, MPH, President, AMA (West Virginia State Medical Association Healthcare Summit 2004) Spheres of Influence INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL NETWORKS ORGANIZATIONS COMMUNITIES PUBLIC POLICY

Available Through the Kentucky Department of Public Health and KMA Web sitesExercise Prescription Brochures

Available Through the Kentucky Department of Public Health and KMA Web sites Exercise Fact Sheets for People With Chronic Disease and sedentary individuals Asthma Diabetes Arthritis High Blood Pressure Obesity

Available Through the Kentucky Department of Public Health and/or local Health Department • Find your local health department tobacco coordinator on the handout • The Cooper/Clayton Method to Stop Smoking • 13-week support group that meets one-hour per week in MOST Kentucky communities • No cost or low-cost (unless nicotine replacement products are used) • School research-based programs • Your local health department can tell you if youth cessation programs are available

Available Through the Kentucky Department of Public Health • Kentucky’s Tobacco Quit Line • 1-800-QUIT-NOW • Free, statewide, telephone-based, one-on-one proactive counseling program • For smokers and non-smokers who’d like to help • For more information email or call RaeAnne Davis at the KY Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program • RaeAnne.Davis@ky.gov • (502) 564-7996 ext. 3858

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OBESITY PREVENTION