Initiative for a Healthy Weight

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

NUTRITION

Sedentary Pastimes

Video games, TV, movies are today’s pastimes of choice. In fact, children spend more time in front of a screen than they do in school. Televisions, computers, and video games make being sedentary much easier than ever before!

Fast food

People are eating out at fast food restaurants more often, so they have less control over how much fat, sugar, and salt is in their food. Fast food restaurants also encourage super-sizing of meals, adding unnecessary calories.

Transportation

People are walking and biking less because driving is often the easiest option. Communities are built in ways that require people to use cars to get around, instead of creating ways that make it easy and safe for residents to walk or bike to do simple errands .

Growing Portion Sizes

Portions in restaurants and fast food establishments are growing. Even the packaging of foods in markets has increased. In the 1950’s, a standard size coke was 6.5 ounces. Now, it is 20 ounces. That’s three times the size!

Technological Advances

Things like computers, escalators, cell phones, and dishwashers all reduce the need for physical activity.

Soda and Junk Food

Soda has increasingly replaced milk and water in children’s diets.

Jobs

Most people have relatively sedentary jobs. This, in combination with longer work hours, has made it difficult for many people to be active during the day.

Unhealthy School Environments

School lunch programs often don’t have a wide selection of healthy eating options.

Safety

In many communities, people do not feel safe walking outside or letting their children play outside. Sidewalks may not be lit up at night or there may not be any sidewalks at all!

Advertisements

Unhealthy foods and drinks are aggressively advertised and sold to adults and children. Fast food and junk food advertisers purposely target children whom they know have increasing purchasing power.

Green Space

Some communities don’t have many areas to allow for outdoor activities, like parks and trails.

Access

Many low-income communities do not have access to healthy food options. Even if there are options, healthy foods are usually more expensive than their processed competitors.

Access

There is a common belief that physical activity is limited to sports or health club exercise. This idea may prevent people from becoming more active because of the cost of health clubs and the skills associated with sports. Some physically active hobbies also have a cost to them, like skiing, biking, and golfing, which may leave people feeling like they have limited options for activity.