More are eating under new program

By Barbara O’BrienNEWS STAFF REPORTER

It’s a simple thing, really.

Make it easy for children to get healthy food in the morning, and they’ll eat.

That’s what happens at about 8 a. m. at John F. Kennedy Middle School in the Cheektowaga-Sloan School District, and teachers are seeing the benefits throughout the day.

Instead of pupils going to breakfast in the cafeteria, the cafeteria comes to the children.

Through a program that recently received national recognition, workers bring several carts of food, supplies and a cash register to the sixth-grade wing. Children “grab and go,” picking out their bagel or breakfast pizza, muffin and milk or juice, paying their 75 cents and eating with their friends in their classroom.

“They can eat in the hall or next to their locker if they choose,” Food Service Director Sandy Cocca said.

“It seems like more and more are eating,” said sixth-grade teacher Megan Zoladz. “It’s good for the kids to have breakfast first thing in the day.”

She sees her pupils, like Kylie Urbanczyk and Anthony Moczydlowski, enjoying their bagel and breakfast pizza as they get ready to start the day. Anthony said his father drives him to school then goes to work, so eating at school is convenient.

Kylie doesn’t eat at school every day, and some days she eats two breakfasts.

“Only when I’m really hungry do I eat at home. Then I come to school and eat,” she said.

Sixth-and seventh-graders eat lunch at 12:04 p. m., and seventh- graders have to wait until 12:44 p. m., so eating something at about 8 a. m. helps get them through to lunch.

“If their parents work, it’s a good option for parents,” Zoladz said.

Cocca said more and more children are eating the breakfasts this year. Last year, they were served in a classroom.

Last Wednesday, 188 children bought breakfast. That rose to 192 by Thursday.

“We have them bring down a lot [of food],” Cocca said. “I don’t want anyone going away unhappy.”

The program has been recognized for innovation in breakfast service by the American Dairy Association, which gave the school $1,000 Thursday. Cocca is using the money to buy another cash register to cut down on the wait in line.

Children swipe their identification cards, and the computer in the register identifies any food allergies they have, how much money is left in their account, and whether mom and dad want them to have a snack that day. The breakfast crunch is over in 15 minutes.

By 8:15 a. m., all the children have gone through the line and are in their classrooms, listening to morning announcements.

bobrien@buffnews.com

By David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding

Men’s Health

 While the old cliché about breakfast being the most important meal of the day still holds true—because you’ll consume fewer calories over the course of the day, have stronger cognitive skills and be 30 percent less likely to become overweight or obese—new studies reveal something of a surprise for most diners: that breakfast may also be the most fattening.

According to a recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity, basing your breakfast on the wrong nutrients can sabotage your weight-loss efforts. People who began their day with high-quality protein over refined carbohydrates were able to lose 65 percent more weight, and also reported higher levels of energy throughout the day.

Unfortunately, the carb conundrum coincides with a push by the food industry to populate restaurant menus and supermarket shelves with breakfasts based on refined grains and added sugars. Look no further than McDonald’s and Burger King’s new line of hash brown-stuffed wraps and Jimmy Dean’s popular breakfast bowls for proof that our food supply is setting us up for failure.

Over the years spent scouring restaurant menus and grocery store aisles for Eat This, Not That!, bestselling authors Dave Zinczenko and Matt Goulding came across some pretty scary ways to start your day. To help you avoid the morning mishaps, we searched out the good, the bad, and the greasy, and uncovered some of the worst breakfast foods in America.

We’ve presented a sampling of the worst offenders below (and replaced them with healthy, tasty options that will stoke your metabolism, satisfy your appetite, and keep you burning calories all day long). It’s like a lineup down at the local police station, except in this case, they’re all guilty as charged.

Worst side dish

Burger King Hash Browns (large)

·  620 calories

·  40 g fat (11 g saturated; 13 g trans)

·  1,200 mg sodium

·  60 g carbs

Calorie equilavent: 12 chicken wings

Yes, you’re ingesting more than a meal’s worth of calories from a side dish, but the real cause for concern here is that these little potato cakes pack seven times more trans fats than you’re supposed to eat all day! Until BK learns to cut out the partially hydrogenated oils, avoid encounters with potatoes of any kind at that fatty food joint.

Eat this instead!

Burger King Egg & Cheese Croissan’wich

·  300 calories

·  17 g fat (6 g saturated; 2 g trans)

·  740 mg sodium

·  26 g carbs

Worst breakfast sandwich

Hardee’s Monster Biscuit

·  710 calories

·  51 g fat (17 g saturated)

·  2,250 mg sodium

·  37 g carbohydrates

Sodium equivalent: six large orders of french fries

When they say “Monster,” they mean it. This 700-calorie behemoth should be enough to scare anyone: It contains nearly a full day’s worth of sodium and saturated fat. Instead try the Sunrise Croissant with Bacon. It’s not exactly diet-friendly, but if you’re stuck at Hardee’s, it’s a way to escape without too much damage.

Eat this instead!

Hardee’s Sunrise Croissant with Bacon

·  450 calories

·  29 g fat (12 g saturated)

·  900 mg sodium

·  28 g carbs

Worst kids’ meal

Denny’s Big Dipper French Toastix with margarine and syrup

·  770 calories

·  71 g fat (13 g saturated)

·  107 g carbs

Fat Equivalent: 23 chicken McNuggets

As important as it is for mom and dad to eat a good breakfast each morning, it’s even more critical that their kids do. After all, breakfast affects their energy levels, metabolism, and performance in school. We highlight a lot of breakfast blunders in our new book Eat This, Not That! For Kids!—none worse than these dubious little sticks.

Eat this instead!

Kid’s D-Zone Smiley Alien Hotcakes

·  340 calories

·  12 g fat (5 g saturated)

·  49 g carbs

Worst pastry

Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll

·  813 calories

·  32 g fat (5 g trans fat)

·  117 g carbs

Calorie equivalent: Seven bowls of Froot Loops

You wouldn’t start your day with three brownies, would you? As far as your body knows, that’s exactly what you’ll be doing if you wake up with this cinnamon-swirled disaster area. In fact, because Cinnabon offers no healthy alternatives, you’ll have to  invite friends (or enemies?) to share the risky roll, or steer clear of Cinnabon altogether.

Worst smoothie

Smoothie King Grape Expectations II (40 oz.)

·  1,102 calories

·  256 g sugars

·  740 mg sodium

Sugar equivalent: 12 Haagen Dazs ice cream bars

Why Smoothie King would even offer a 40-ounce serving size is beyond us. With more than half the calories you need in a day and the sugar equivalent of 12 Haagen Dazs ice cream bars, few beverages better underscore the importance of drinking responsibly. Luckily, Smoothie King provides plenty of ways to do just that. 

Drink this instead!

Smoothie King Low Carb Strawberry Smoothie (20 oz.)

·  268 calories

·  3 g sugars

·  176 mg sodium

Worst combo meal

McDonald’s Deluxe Breakfast

·  1,360 calories

·  64 g fat (22 g saturated)

·  2,325 mg sodium

·  160 g carbs

·  49 g sugars

Saturated fat equivalent: 22 strips of bacon

With four vehicles for refined carbohydrates (biscuit, hash browns, hotcakes, syrup), this “deluxe” disaster will send your blood sugar soaring. Why blow nearly an entire day’s calories under the arches, when a perfectly satisfying Egg McMuffin will save you more than 1,000 calories?

Eat this instead!

McDonald’s Egg McMuffin with coffee

·  310 calories

·  12 g fat (5 g saturated)

·  820 mg sodium

·  30 g carbs

·  3 g sugars

Worst omelet

IHOP Big Steak Omelet

·  1,490 calories

·  (No additional nutrition information available)

Calorie equivalent: Mor than seven glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts

IHOP doesn’t provide nutritional information aside from calorie counts, but with a boatload of steak, a bucket of cheese, and handfuls of hash browns, this omelet’s fat and sodium numbers are surely just as appalling.

Eat this instead!

IHOP for Me Garden Scramble

·  440 calories

The worst breakfast in America

Bob Evans Stacked and Stuffed Caramel Banana Pecan Hotcakes

·  1,543 calories

·  77 g fat (26 g saturated; 9 g trans)

·  2,259 mg sodium

·  198 g carbs

·  109 g sugars

Saturated fat equivalent: 26 strips of bacon

Sugar equivalent: 12 chocolate chip cookies

Sodium equivalent: 12 small bags of potato chips

It’s not a good sign when it takes you nearly five seconds to spit out the name of your breakfast. This bad boy packs in more than 75 percent of your calories for the day, along with more sugar and fat than nine glazed Dunkin’ Donuts, and nearly as much sodium as five Bloody Marys.

Eat this instead!

3 Scrambled Egg Beaters with 2 slices of bacon and fresh fruit

·  314 calories

·  19.5 g fat (5 g saturated)

·  700 mg sodium

·  21 g carbs

·  18 g sugars

By LAUREN SHEPHERD, AP Business Writer

Burger King Corp. said Thursday it is now cooking with trans fat free cooking oils at all of its restaurants nationwide.

The No. 2 hamburger chain also said all of its menu ingredients, including its baked goods, will contain zero grams of trans fat by Nov. 1.

Trans fats are partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. They can raise bad cholesterol and lower healthy cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease, according to doctors. Trans fats are used to increase the shelf life of foods and preserve flavor.

Many of Burger King’s restaurants have already been using trans fat free oil for months. Burger King first announced in July 2007 that it would switch to trans fat free oil in all of its U.S. restaurants by the end of 2008.

“Our suppliers were able to manufacture enough quantity to get us there sooner than our committed deadline,” said Chief Executive and Chairman John Chidsey.

Chidsey did not offer any details about the new oils being used at Burger King restaurants, saying the information is “proprietary.”

He said customers who have tried the trans fat free foods either do not notice any difference in taste or told the company they tasted better. Eliminating trans fat can change the flavor of foods — a side effect that has made extensive testing of new oils a necessity.

Burger King has been criticized for not switching all of its U.S. restaurants to trans-fat free oil as fast as its competitors.

Yum Brands Inc.’s KFC and Taco Bell switched in 2007 and Wendy’s International Inc., the No. 3 burger chain, cut out trans fat oil a year earlier.

Chidsey said given the scale of its restaurant system — the company operates 11,500 restaurants worldwide — the timeline for making the switch nationwide was mostly up to suppliers particularly since there is some overlap in the oils used by other companies.

“We’re at the mercy of our suppliers,” he said.

McDonald’s Corp., the leader in the fast food business, has also lagged behind in switching its oils and in making its baked goods trans fat free.

It began using trans fat free oil to make its french fries in all its restaurants in May and said it would use the oil in its baked goods, pies and cookies in all locations by the end of the year.

Calls for Federal Legislation To Establish Uniform Menu Board Labeling

LOUISVILLE, KY, October 1, 2008 – Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) today announced that its U.S. divisions, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver’s and A&W All-American Food, will become the first national restaurant chains to begin voluntarily placing product calorie information on their respective menu boards in company-owned restaurants nationwide.  Franchisees will be encouraged to provide the same information on their menu boards.  Calorie information will be based on individual serving sizes and will be phased onto menu boards beginning this year and completed by January 1, 2011.  The Company also will call for federal legislation using the recently-enacted legislation in California as a model to establish uniform guidelines for menu board labeling with calorie information.

Each of the Company’s brands currently offers lower calorie “Better For You” menu options (see attached list).  Its Taco Bell restaurants offer a Fresco Menu, including nine items with nine grams of fat or less, many of which are lower calorie options.  KFC currently offers lower calorie Sandwiches, Snackers, side items, salads and Tender Roast Chicken, and plans to introduce Kentucky Grilled Chicken early next year. Pizza Hut currently offers a number of lower calorie menu options, including Fit ‘N Delicious lower fat pizzas, and will begin offering The Natural in December, a pizza made with all natural ingredients, including a multigrain crust, all natural old world sauce, all natural mozzarella cheese and natural toppings free from artificial colors, flavors or preservatives such as naturally-preserved Italian sausage, pepperoni without added nitrates and nitrites and 100% real beef with no fillers. Long John Silver’s will begin offering a new Freshside Grille menu next month, which features grilled shrimp, salmon and tilapia, along with mixed vegetables and rice.

As part of a broader Health and Wellness effort across the United States, the Company also announced a new policy not to advertise its products on television programs specifically aimed at children under 12 years old.  It also will continue to provide full nutritional information on its Web sites and in brochures, available upon request, at its restaurant drive-thru windows and in-store ordering counters.  Additionally, the Company will launch national on-line exercise programs, featuring renowned University of Louisville men’s basketball Coach Rick Pitino, to help educate consumers about maintaining a balanced lifestyle.  In early 2007, both Taco Bell and KFC were pioneers in switching to cooking oils with zero grams trans fat per serving.  Each of the company’s brands is looking at ways to reduce sodium and making continuous improvements to the nutritional profile of its products.

“We believe we have a continued responsibility to offer “Better For You” options, educate consumers about the foods they eat, and promote exercise so they can maintain a balanced lifestyle,” said Jonathan Blum, Yum! Brands chief public affairs officer.  “Our customers have told us they would find calorie information useful, along with other nutritional information we make accessible in restaurant brochures and on our Web sites.  We now call on the U.S. Congress to enact federal legislation that would create uniform menu board guidelines for all who sell prepared food so there is a consistent way to educate the public about the nutritional value of the food they eat.”

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) praised Yum! Brands for adding calorie counts to its menu boards.  “Yum! Brands groundbreaking announcement that it will add calorie counts to the menu boards at KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell is fabulous news for health-conscious consumers.  Yum! is leaping ahead of all its competitors by providing the one piece of nutrition information that consumers most want.  We applaud this move and encourage other major chains to follow this bold example.  Yum! has gone an important step further by voicing its support for legislation that would require restaurants to list calories on menus and menu boards,” added Michael Jacobson, CSPI executive director.
“This announcement that calories will be displayed on menu boards deserves loud applause,” said Walter Willett, chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University’s School of Public Health. “Yum! Brand’s call for national legislation to create uniform menu board guidelines on nutrition is greatly appreciated.  It is exactly the kind of industry leadership that we need.”

By TARA PARKER-POPE, NY Times

HARRIET WOROBEY, a childhood nutrition instructor, knows firsthand that children can be picky eaters, but even she was surprised by a preschooler last year who ate a mostly chocolate diet.

“Chocolate milk, chocolate chip muffins, chocolate chip pancakes — it was unbelievable,” said Ms. Worobey, director of the Rutgers University Nutritional Sciences Preschool in New Brunswick, N.J. “His mother just thought, ‘That’s what he wants, so that’s what I’m going to do.’ ”

While most parents haven’t resorted to the chocolate diet, they can relate to the daily challenge of finding foods that children will eat. Although obesity dominates the national discussion on childhood health, many parents are also worried that their child’s preferred diet of nuggets and noodles could lead to a nutritional deficit.

Fussiness about food is a normal part of a child’s development. Young children are naturally neophobic — they have a distrust of the new. Even the most determined parents can be cowed by a child’s resolve to eat nothing rather than try something new. As a result, parents often give in, deciding that a bowl of Cocoa Puffs or a Pop-Tart, while not ideal, must be better than no food at all.

“I think parents feel like it’s their job to just make their children eat something,” Ms. Worobey said. “But it’s really their job to serve a variety of healthy foods and get their children exposed to foods.”

A series of simple meal-time strategies can help even the pickiest eater learn to like a more varied diet. Here’s a look at six common mistakes parents make when feeding their children.

Sending children out of the kitchen With hot stoves, boiling water and sharp knives at hand, it is understandable that parents don’t want children in the kitchen when they’re making dinner. But studies suggest that involving children in meal preparation is an important first step in getting them to try new foods.

Researchers at Teachers College at Columbia University studied how cooking with a child affects the child’s eating habits. In one study, nearly 600 children from kindergarten to sixth grade took part in a nutrition curriculum intended to get them to eat more vegetables and whole grains. Some children, in addition to having lessons about healthful eating, took part in cooking workshops. The researchers found that children who had cooked their own foods were more likely to eat those foods in the cafeteria, and even ask for seconds, than children who had not had the cooking class.

When children are involved in meal preparation, “they come to at least try the food,” said Isobel Contento, professor of nutrition education at Teachers College and a co-author of the study. “Kids don’t usually like radishes, but we found that if kids cut up radishes and put them in the salad, they love the radishes.”

Pressuring them to take a bite Demanding that a child eat at least one bite of everything seems reasonable, but it’s likely to backfire.

Studies show that children react negatively when parents pressure them to eat foods, even if the pressure offers a reward. In one study at Pennsylvania State University, researchers asked children to eat vegetables and drink milk, offering them stickers and television time if they did. Later in the study, the children expressed dislike for the foods they had been rewarded for eating.

“Parents say things like ‘eat your vegetables and you can watch TV,’ but we know that kind of thing doesn’t work either,” said Leann L. Birch, director of Penn State’s childhood obesity research center and a co-author of the study. “In the short run, you might be able to coerce a child to eat, but in the long run, they will be less likely to eat those foods.”

The better approach is to put the food on the table and encourage a child to try it. But don’t complain if she refuses, and don’t offer praise if she tastes it. Just ask her if she wants some more or take seconds yourself, but try to stay neutral.

Keeping ‘good stuff’ out of reach Parents worry that children will binge on treats, so they often put them out of sight or on a high shelf. But a large body of research shows that if a parent restricts a food, children just want it more.

In another Penn State study, researchers experimented to determine whether forbidden foods were more desirable. Children were seated at tables and given unlimited access to plates of apple or peach cookie bars — two foods the youngsters had rated as “just O.K.” in earlier taste tests. With another group, some bars were served on plates, while some were placed in a clear cookie jar in the middle of the table. The children were told that after 10 minutes, they could snack on cookies from the jar.

The researchers found that restricting the cookies had a profound effect: consumption more than tripled compared with when the cookies were served on plates.

Other studies show that children whose food is highly restricted at home are far more likely to binge when they have access to forbidden foods.

The lesson for parents? Don’t bring foods that you feel the need to restrict into the house. Instead, buy healthful snacks and give children free access to the food cabinets.

Dieting in front of your children Kids are tuned into their parents’ eating preferences and are far more likely to try foods if they see their mother or father eating them. A Rutgers study of parent and child food preferences found that preschoolers tended to like or reject the same fruits and vegetables their parents liked or didn’t like. And other research has shown girls are more likely to be picky eaters if their mothers don’t like vegetables.

Given this powerful effect, parents who are trying to lose weight should be aware of how their dieting habits can influence a child’s perceptions about food and healthful eating. In one study of 5-year-old girls, one child noted that dieting involved drinking chocolate milkshakes — her mother was using Slim-Fast drinks. Another child said dieting meant “you fix food but you don’t eat it.”

A 2005 report in the journal Health Psychology found that mothers who were preoccupied with their weight and eating were more likely to restrict foods for their daughters or encourage them to lose weight. Daughters of dieters were also more likely to try diets as well. The problem is, restrictive diets don’t work for most people and often lead to binge eating and weight gain. By exposing young children to erratic dieting habits, parents may be putting them at risk for eating disorders or a lifetime of chronic dieting. “Most mothers don’t think their kids are soaking up this information, but they are,” Dr. Birch said. “They’re teaching it to their daughters even though it doesn’t work for them.”

Serving boring vegetables Calorie-counting parents often serve plain steamed vegetables, so it’s no wonder children are reluctant to eat them. Nutritionists say parents shouldn’t be afraid to dress up the vegetables. Adding a little butter, ranch dressing, cheese sauce or brown sugar to a vegetable dish can significantly improve its kid appeal. And adding a little fat to vegetables helps unlock their fat-soluble nutrients. The few extra calories you’re adding are a worthwhile tradeoff for the nutritional boost and the chance to introduce a child to a vegetable.

Giving up too soon Ms. Worobey said she has often heard parents say, “My kid would never eat that.” While it may be true right now, she noted that eating preferences often change. So parents should keep preparing a variety of healthful foods and putting them on the table, even if a child refuses to take a bite. In young children, it may take 10 or more attempts over several months to introduce a food.

Sibling dynamics and friendships can also change a child’s eating habits. Dr. Birch of Penn State noted that her first child was always willing to try new foods, but that her second child was not. “Part of it was just him defining his place in the family,” she said. By the age of 10 or 11, he didn’t want to be outdone by his sister and was far more willing to try new foods.

Susan B. Roberts, a Tufts University nutritionist and co-author of the book “Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health,” suggested a “rule of 15” — putting a food on the table at least 15 times to see if a child will accept it. Once a food is accepted, parents should use “food bridges,” finding similarly colored or flavored foods to expand the variety of foods a child will eat. If a child likes pumpkin pie, for instance, try mashed sweet potatoes and then mashed carrots. If a child loves corn, try mixing in a few peas or carrots. Even if a child picks them out, the exposure to the new food is what counts.

“As parents, you’re going to make decisions as to what you want to serve,” Ms. Worobey said. “But then you just have to relax and realize children are different from day to day.”

Adult obesity rates increased in 37 states in the past year, according to the fifth annual F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2008 report from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Rates rose for a second consecutive year in 24 states and for a third consecutive year in 19 states. No state saw a decrease. Though many promising policies have emerged to promote physical activity and good nutrition in communities, the report concludes that they are not being adopted or implemented at levels needed to turn around this health crisis.

More than 25 percent of adults are obese in 28 states, which is an increase from 19 states last year. More than 20 percent of adults are obese in every state except Colorado. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. In 1980, the national average of obese adults was 15 percent. Now, an estimated two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, and an estimated 23 million children are either overweight or obese (the report does not include new state-level data for children this year).

The F as in Fat report finds that rates of type 2 diabetes, a disease typically associated with obesity, grew in 26 states last year. Four states now have diabetes rates that are above 10 percent, and all 10 states with the highest rates of diabetes and hypertension are in the South. The report also found a relationship between poverty and obesity levels. Seven of the 10 states with the highest obesity rates are also in the top 10 for highest poverty rates.

“America’s future depends on the health of our country. The obesity epidemic is lowering our productivity and dramatically increasing our health care costs. Our analysis shows that we’re not treating the obesity epidemic with the urgency it deserves,” said Jeff Levi, Ph.D., executive director of TFAH. “Even though communities have started taking action, considering the scope of the problem, the country’s response has been severely limited. For significant change to happen, combating obesity must become a national priority.”

The F as in Fat report is a follow-up analysis of the annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The latest survey results showed Mississippi with the highest rate of obesity and Colorado with the lowest rate. Eleven of the 15 states with the highest obesity rates are in the South. Northeastern and Western states continue to have the lowest obesity rates. F as in Fat provides a trend analysis of the BRFSS data using a methodology recommended by the CDC. Rankings are based on three years of data (2005-07) that are averaged for each state’s obesity rate. This methodology reflects a truer representation of the data for comparative purposes in order to rank states and examine changes over time.

The report also provides an annual review of state and federal policies aimed at reducing or preventing obesity in children and adults.It shows that many policies are missing critical components or require a more comprehensive approach to be truly effective. Among the examples highlighted:

• While all 50 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws related to physical education and/or physical activity in schools, only 13 states include enforceability language. Of these states, only four have sanctions or penalties if the laws are not implemented.
• While the Dietary Guidelines for Americans were updated in 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) school meal program has yet to adopt the recommendations.
• Eighteen states have enacted legislation requiring school meals to exceed USDA nutrition standards. However, only seven of these laws have specific enforcement provisions, and only two state laws include sanctions if its requirements are not met.
• Ten states do not include specific coverage for nutrition assessment and counseling for obese or overweight children in their Medicaid programs (Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) benefits).
• Twenty states explicitly do not cover nutritional assessment and consultation for obese adults under Medicaid.
• Only Georgia and Vermont have specific guidelines for treating obese adults in their Medicaid programs. In Nebraska and South Carolina, the Medicaid programs specifically state that obesity is not an illness and is therefore not covered.
• Forty-five states allow using obesity or health status as a risk factor to deny coverage or raise premiums. Only five states do not allow using obesity or health status to deny coverage or raise premiums.

“Despite widespread acknowledgement that obesity is endangering the health of millions of Americans, the country is still failing to respond clearly or comprehensively,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., RWJF president and C.E.O. “We must work together, governments, schools and communities, to improve nutrition and increase physical activity for all ages. We must ensure that strong policies are implemented and enforced in every state, not only to help reverse existing obesity rates, but to prevent obesity among our nation’s children—and generations to come.”

“The report shows the serious impact that the obesity crisis is having on our country’s health and economic well-being,” said former President Bill Clinton, who co-leads the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a partnership between the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association that works to advance innovative approaches combating childhood obesity and helping children live healthier lives. “We need to continue to work to create a real push towards reversing the obesity epidemic. It is time we make it a national priority,” President Clinton added.

The F as in Fat report concludes with a recommendation that the country set a national goal of reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. To help achieve that goal, the report’s top recommendation calls on the federal government to convene partners from state and local governments, businesses, communities, and schools to create and implement a realistic, comprehensive National Strategy to Combat Obesity. Some key policy recommendations include:

• Investing in effective community-based disease-prevention programs that promote increased physical activity and good nutrition;
• Improving the nutritional quality of foods available in schools and childcare programs;
• Increasing the amount and quality of physical education and activity in schools and childcare programs;
• Increasing access to safe, accessible places for physical activity in communities. Examples include creating and maintaining parks, sidewalks and bike lanes and providing incentives for smart growth designs that make communities more livable and walkable;
• Improving access to affordable nutritious foods by providing incentives for grocery stores and farmers’ markets to locate in underserved communities;
• Encouraging limits on screen time for children through school-based curricula and media literacy resources;
• Eliminatingthe marketing of junk food to kids;
• Encouraging employers to provide workplace wellness programs;
• Requiring public and private insurers to provide preventive services, including nutrition counseling for children and adults; and
• Providing people with the information they need about nutrition and activity to make educated decisions, including point-of-purchase information about the nutrition and calorie content of foods.

The full report with state rankings in all categories is available on TFAH’s Web site at www.healthyamericans.org and RWJF’s Web site at www.rwjf.org. The report was supported by a grant from RWJF.

State-By-State Adult Obesity RankingsNote: 1 = Highest rate of adult obesity, 51 = lowest rate of adult obesity. Rankings are based on combining three years of data (2005-2007) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to “stabilize” data for comparison purposes. This methodology, recommended by the CDC, compensates for any potential anomalies or usual changes due to the specific sample in any given year in any given state. States with statistically significant (p<0.05) increases for one year are noted with an asterisk (*), states with statistically significant increases for two years in a row are noted with two asterisks (**), states with statistically significant increases for three years in a row are noted with three asterisks (***). Additional information about methodologies and confidence intervals are available in the report. Individuals with a body mass index (BMI) (a calculation based on weight and height ratios) of 30 or higher are considered obese.

1.Mississippi*** (31.7%); 2. West Virginia** (30.6%); 3. Alabama (30.1%); 4. Louisiana* (29.5%); 5. South Carolina*** (29.2%); 6. Tennessee** (29%); 7. Kentucky*** (28.4%); 8. (tie) Arkansas* (28.1%) and Oklahoma*** (28.1%); 10. Michigan** (27.7%); 11. (tie) Georgia* (27.5%) and Indiana (27.5%); 13. Missouri*** (27.4%); 14. Alaska (27.3%); 15. Texas* (27.2%); 16. North Carolina*** (27.1%); 17. Ohio (26.9%); 18. Nebraska*** (26.5%); 19. Iowa* (26.3%); 20. South Dakota*** (26.1%); 21. (tie) Delaware*** (25.9%) and North Dakota (25.9%); 23. Kansas** (25.8%); 24. Pennsylvania* (25.7%); 25. Wisconsin (25.5%); 26. Illinois* (25.3%); 27. (tie) Maryland*** (25.2%) and Virginia (25.2%); 29. Oregon*** (25%); 30. Minnesota* (24.8%); 31. Idaho* (24.6%); 32. Washington*** (24.5%); 33. Wyoming*** (24%); 34. Maine (23.7%); 35. (tie) Nevada (23.6%) and New Hampshire*** (23.6%); 37. New York* (23.5%); 38. (tie) Arizona* (23.3%) and Florida (23.3%) and New Mexico*** (23.3%); 41. California (23.1%); 42. New Jersey*** (22.9%); 43. Washington, D.C. (22.1%); 44. Utah (21.8%); 45. Montana* (21.7%); 46. Rhode Island*** (21.4%); 47. Vermont* (21.1%); 48. Massachusetts*** (20.9%); 49. Connecticut*** (20.8%); 50. Hawaii (20.7%); 51. Colorado** (18.4%)

Trust for America’s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority. www.healthyamericans.org

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. Helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need—the Foundation expects to make a difference in our lifetime.

New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and the Community Health Network (CHN) introduced a citywide effort to prevent childhood obesity on Monday, the Epoch Times reports. During visits in each of the city’s five boroughs, the Healthy Kids Summer Wellness Tour will educate parents about the importance of early preventive health screenings for children, provide information about improving nutrition and increasing physical activity, and encourage healthy eating habits. The program, which is slated to run through early September, also will offer free body mass index screenings for children and raffle off toys and activity invitations that promote fitness. Catherine M. Abate, president and chief executive officer of CHN, notes that “by helping families gain access to health care and health education, we are not only improving the health of the community, we are creating a generation of healthy children.” (Philipp/Wang, Epoch Times, 7/14/08; Public Advocate’s office release, 7/14/08)

In an effort to engage more students in physical activity, New York City school officials have sanctioned double Dutch as an official sport in their high schools, the Associated Press reports. The game, which historically has been popular in inner-city neighborhoods, requires participants to jump between two ropes twirled simultaneously. While most children jump rope simply for recreation, double Dutch has been a competitive sport in New York since the 1970s, with rules, scoring and credit awarded for compulsory, speed and freestyle components. School officials will launch double Dutch as a co-ed spring sport in 2009 and expect to establish 10 to 15 double Dutch teams across the city’s five boroughs. They hope that adding double Dutch to the official sports roster will draw hundreds of students. Eric Goldstein, chief executive of the Public School Athletic League, praised the effort, the first of its kind in the country. School officials are always thinking “what do we need to do to get more kids playing?” Goldstein said (Matthews, AP/Yahoo! News, 7/26/08).

By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer

Parents looking for healthy meal choices for their children are likely to find slim pickings on the menus of the nation’s top restaurant chains, according to a report released Monday by a nonprofit public health group.

Nearly every possible combination of the children’s meals at Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Sonic, Jack in the Box, and Chick-fil-A are too high in calories, the report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest said.

The report looked into the nutritional quality of kids’ meals at 13 major restaurant chains. The center found 93 percent of 1,474 possible choices at the 13 chains exceed 430 calories — an amount that is one-third of what the National Institute of Medicine recommends that children ages 4 through 8 should consume in a day.

For example, Chili’s Bar and Grill has 700 possible kids’ meal combinations, but 658, or 94 percent, of those are too high in calories. One Chili’s meal consisted of country-fried chicken crispers, cinnamon apples and chocolate milk contained 1,020 calories, while another comprised of cheese pizza, homestyle fries, and lemonade contained 1,000 calories. Burger King has a “Big Kids” meal with a double cheeseburger, fries, and chocolate milk at 910 calories, and Sonic has a “Wacky Pack” with 830 calories worth of grilled cheese, fries, and a slushie.

While there are some healthy choices on restaurant menus, “parents have to navigate a minefield of calories, fat and salt to find them,” the report said.

Subway’s kids’ meals came out the best among the chains examined in the report. Only 6 of 18 “Fresh Fit for Kids” meals — which include a mini-sub, juice box, and one of several healthful side items such as apple slices, raisins or yogurt — exceed the 430-calorie threshold. But Subway is the only chain that doesn’t offer soft drinks with kids’ meals, which helped lower the calorie count.

The report notes that eating out now accounts for a third of children’s daily caloric intake, twice the amount consumed away from home 30 years ago.

“Parents want to feed their children healthy meals, but America’s chain restaurants are setting parents up to fail,” CSPI nutrition policy director Margo G. Wootan said in a statement. “McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, and other chains are conditioning kids to expect burgers, fried chicken, pizza, French fries, macaroni and cheese, and soda in various combination at almost every lunch and dinner.”

The National Restaurant Association, a business group of about 945,000 restaurants and food outlets, said the trend in the industry was to provide “more detailed nutritional information and choice in menu options for consumers.”

But the group stressed that “exercising parental responsibility is key to childhood nutrition.” The report, it said, “fails to acknowledge the essential role of nutrition education, physical activity and parental responsibility in childhood nutrition — good eating habits and healthy living must be established in the home.”

The report found that 45 percent of children’s meals exceed recommendations for saturated and trans fat, which can raise blood cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease, and 86 percent of children’s meals are high in sodium.

Christi Woodworth, a spokeswoman for Sonic, said the chain is looking into adding a variety of healthy side items, and plans to introduce string cheese at 90 calories each in September.

KFC released a statement saying the chain is “proud to offer a variety of kids meals for those looking for lower calorie, lower fat options.” The statement noted that the report’s calculations include baked Cheetos and a biscuit, sides that are no longer offered.

Jack in the Box spokeswoman Kathleen Anthony said while kids meals are not a “significant part of our business,” parents do have several healthy items they can select for their children, such as applesauce and reduced fat milk.

Calls over the weekend to other restaurant chains in the report were not immediately returned.

The report recommends restaurants:

• Reformulate their menu items to reduce calories, saturated and trans fat, and salt, and add more healthy items like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

• Make fruit or vegetables and low-fat milk or water the default sides instead of French fries and soda for children’s meals.

• Provide nutrition on menus and menu boards. New York and San Francisco are among the cities and localities that have adopted menu labeling policies.

Other restaurant chains included in the report are Wendy’s, Dairy Queen, Arby’s and Denny’s.

Six leading restaurant chains — Applebee’s, TGIFriday’s, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster and IHOP (International House of Pancakes) — weren’t included in the report because they do not disclose nutrition information about their meals even when asked, the center said.

 By KIM SEVERSON

A NEW weapon in the battle against obesity was rolled out last month when the Los Angeles City Council decided to stop new fast food restaurants from opening in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

Even in a country where a third of the schoolchildren are overweight or obese, the yearlong moratorium raises questions about when eating one style of food stops being a personal choice and becomes a public health concern.

The Sisyphean struggle against poor diets has included booting soda from schools, banning trans fat and, more recently, sending New Yorkers into dietary sticker shock with a law that requires calorie counts be posted on menus, right next to the prices.

But this appears to be the first time a government has prohibited a specific style of restaurant for health, rather than aesthetic, reasons.

Jonathan Gold, the LA Weekly food critic who won a Pulitzer Prize last year, said he understands the spirit of the freeze, which is an urban planning measure meant to keep the neighborhood, South Los Angeles, from being swallowed up by drive-though fast food restaurants. (A separate measure by the city provides economic incentives for new grocery stores and restaurants with table service.)

Fast food chains, he said, are like jellyfish in the ocean: with too many in one area, nothing else can thrive.

But he worries that the law could keep out places of more culinary interest. South Los Angeles has the best barbecue in the city, he said, and it has a growing number of cooks from Mexico and Central America making lamb barbacoa and pupusas. “Anytime you try to ban something, there’s a lot of bycatch,” he said.

The moratorium’s definition of a fast food business is any stand-alone restaurant that dispenses food, to stay or to go, and that has “a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders, and food served in disposable wrapping or containers.” It is up to the city’s director of planning to decide which places fit that definition.

That could keep out people like Sue Moore, who sells a high-quality hot dog from cattle raised on pasture, served with fresh grilled onions on top. She was invited to park her Let’s Be Frank truck at the premiere of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” this week at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood.

She and her partner, Larry Bain, who runs two hot dog carts in San Francisco, say that there’s nothing wrong with fast food if it’s made with good ingredients. They worry that their dogs will be shunned along with dogs made from lesser ingredients.

“Our policy makers abhor nuance and the subtle but distinct qualities that differentiate fast food from food that can be served fast,” said Mr. Bain.

The councilwoman behind the moratorium, Jan Perry, says its intent is not to crush food choices, but to encourage variety and give residents more nutritious options. Making healthy decisions about food is difficult when people have small incomes, the grocery store is five miles away and a $1 cheeseburger is right around the corner, she and supporters of the ban say.

The moratorium doesn’t mean that people who live within the affected 32-square-mile zone will be cut off from the pleasures of an inexpensive cheeseburger and hot fries. More than 45 percent of the 900 restaurants there — the highest concentration in the city — are fast food chains.

The idea is to bring new eating options to the city’s food deserts, the term now in vogue to describe poor neighborhoods whose residents have few places to buy fresh groceries.

“People do not understand what happens in a disenfranchised community,” said Councilwoman Perry, who represents neighborhoods in the area. “The fact remains, there are not a lot of food choices in South L.A.”

Since there is not much land left to develop in the area, the moratorium will allow city planners time to determine what kinds of businesses would be best in an area where rates of obesity and diseases related to it are disproportionately high.

“Anybody who believes fast food is the source of all dietary evil is, of course, being naïve,” she said. Other facets of modern life contribute to obesity. People drive more than they walk. Children play video games more often than stickball. And daily life has become saturated with opportunities to eat.

Almost three-fourths of the advertising aimed at children is for candy, snacks, sugary cereals or fast food. Portions at restaurants have been steadily growing since the 1970s. During that period, people have been eating at home less and at restaurants more. And the majority of those restaurants are chains.

“What we’re beginning to see is almost the monopolization of our dietary intake by a handful of corporations,” said David Zinczenko, editor in chief of Men’s Health magazine and the author of several diet books, including “Eat This, Not That! for Kids!” (Rodale, 2008).

“Add to that the financial reality of feeding ourselves today, where a single grapefruit from a corner fruit stand costs two or more times as much as a few Chicken Mc