Editors’ Note: This week, we’re pleased to welcome a guest blogger, Amy Barone from HealthCorps®. Read more to find out about HealthCorps’ mission to fight childhood obesity in high schools through their health curriculum.
At high schools around the country where HealthCorps has a presence, cafeteria lunches are getting a makeover. Lunch is getting tastier, more colorful and a whole lot healthier.
Credit for this work goes to HealthCorps’ passionate Health Coordinators, who teach and mentor full time in high schools, leading interactive classes and after school clubs in cooking and fitness, and taking curious teens on field trips to organic farms and healthy food shopping expeditions.
For healthy fun at lunch, HealthCorps Coordinators have introduced “Café O’ Yea” where they lead interactive discussions on sugar content in drinks, fat in fast food, and the benefits of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, dark chocolate, and laughter. Some Coordinators offer mini fitness competitions during Café O’ Yea and cheer on students who do the most pushups or crunches. The instructive sessions are typically held once a week and open to the entire student body.
HealthCorps® is a proactive health movement founded by heart surgeon and nationally syndicated talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz, who found himself operating on younger and younger patients whose poor lifestyle choices, especially bad nutritional choices and inadequate exercise, were leading to chronic heart disease.
Dr. Oz’s foundation is fighting the obesity and mental resilience crises by getting American students and communities across the country to take charge of their health and help the country reach the tipping point towards wellness now and for the future of our children. (more…)
Okay, so this is cool. We read a news story by the Associated Press about a new web site that lets you compare the relative health of your county with others in your state. The site’s data, from a report by the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “paints a picture” of areas for improvement.
