Obesity challenge begins
Key points
- The national campaign to reduce the childhood obesity rate that's tripled in size during the past 30 years has inspired a local challenge that starts Saturday and involves prizes.
- Between this Saturday, which is Kidz Day in Port Orange, and May 28, individuals, businesses, civic organizations and faith-based communities are being challenged to take 10,000 steps a day in order to figuratively reach Bonanza, Ga., and achieve a bonanza of health benefits from the exercise.
- The effort, partly inspired by first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign, is the result of a multifaceted collaboration between Port Orange Family Days, Halifax Health, the Volusia County Health Department and others.
- Visitors can go to the Lakeside Community Center to pick up a pedometer between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The national campaign to reduce the childhood obesity rate that's tripled in size during the past 30 years has inspired a local challenge that starts Saturday and involves prizes.
Between this Saturday, which is Kidz Day in Port Orange, and May 28, individuals, businesses, civic organizations and faith-based communities are being challenged to take 10,000 steps a day in order to figuratively reach Bonanza, Ga., and achieve a bonanza of health benefits from the exercise.
The effort, partly inspired by first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign, is the result of a multifaceted collaboration between Port Orange Family Days, Halifax Health, the Volusia County Health Department and others. John E. Evans, co-chair of the initiative, said every effort will be made to recognize everyone hoofing it with a prize of some sort.
Visitors can go to the Lakeside Community Center to pick up a pedometer between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday. Information will be available on how to keep track of daily progress and other activities that can be converted into steps to reach the goal.
Other shipshaping activities include:
A children's fun run for those between 1 and 12 years old. Registration is 5 to 9 p.m. Friday at the Movie Under the Stars, at the Parker Amphitheater, 1999 City Center Circle.
· Healthy Kidz Screening featuring free screening for blood pressure, glucose levels, body-mass index and vision.
--
By ANNE GEGGIS , Staff writer
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
anne.geggis @news-jrnl.com
Written and revised by
Gerald Hurowitz, M.D.
Our doctors write and review articles for accuracy and keep them up to date.
health.am provides general information, not medical advice. Always consult a qualified health professional about your own health.
Explore health topics
More in this topic
Children's Health →
NewsKids movies send mixed messages about eating habits and obesity
In a world where animals often take the place of humans, sugar-sweetened beverages, exaggerated portion sizes and unhealthy snacks are common. So is TV watching, computer use and video games. But this world is not kind…
10 December 2013
NewsFocus on developmental approach to obesity in children and adolescents
New studies of factors affecting the risk of obesity in children and adolescents—as well as promising approaches to prevention and treatment—are assembled in the special October Journal of Developmental & Behavioral…
23 October 2013
NewsMom's weight gain during pregnancy tied to childhood obesity
A study of 41,133 mothers and their children in Arkansas shows that high pregnancy weight gain increases the risk of obesity in those children through age 12. The findings, published Oct. 1 in PLoS Medicine by Princeton…
