Halloween means there will be plenty of WHOA foods consumed the next 24 hours or so. This year instead of that "candy hangover" many kids experience, think about making this Halloween a teaching moment for your kids. Kids are attracted to sweets but if you teach them at a young age to respect Halloween you will be doing them a favor. 

 

First, have a snack before you go out trick or treating. It's always better to have a little food in your stomach so you can keep the aches away later. Next, instead of that huge pillow case we see many kids lugging around think about a smaller container. One of those pumpkin containers will do just fine. Another great tip is to stay close to home, you don't need to visit every neighborhood in town. That way you can get in a walk, enjoy the neighbors and cut down on the amount of candy haul that can sometimes happen.

 

There is nothing wrong with enjoying a little candy this time of year, or anytime of year. It's when the kids have lots of sweets available that they start to crave the sugar and the excess amount of calories found in them. Boo!

 

Creating a healthy environment and setting new expectations for the health of children is an urgent priority.  Change does not happen overnight, but it can if the entire campus makes a commitment to CATCH.

If you have a CATCH Coordination Kit your second six weeks has begun and we have posted some suggestions below from the kit. Also, please consider taking the "My Health Booster Challenge" which is located after your star tasks in the kit.  

• Use the CATCH Team Coordination Guide to see the big picture of campus-wide implementation. Utilize the Big Picture document and Theme II checklist as the agenda for your Team meeting;
• Invite your stakeholders (cafeteria manager, principal/asst. principal(s), parent leader, physical education, specialized and support staff, etc.) to your team meeting;
• Email the faculty and staff their star tasks and resources; and
• Please remind the individuals on your team to review their star tasks (found on pg. 9 of the CATCH Team Coordination Guide and pg. 6 in their Component Folder) for Theme II and distribute to the other staff in their discipline. 

This month we highlight our friends in Las Vegas and Clark County because they have started something special that they intend to sustain. Supervisor Nicole Bungum gives us an update and our new friend Donna Newman tells us how it's done in North Las Vegas!

Be sure to CATCH our next webinar on November 14th at 11:30 AM (CST) with our special guest Nicole Bungum of the Southern Nevada Health Department.  

In 2010, The Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) received a Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant to address obesity in our community by facilitating policy, systems and environmental changes. One of our objectives was to work with local jurisdictions and other organizations to develop and implement physical activity and nutrition policies for their after-school programs. After-school programs are an ideal setting to provide youth with opportunities for physical activity and access to healthy foods and beverages.

We were able to work with a number of key partners including City of Las Vegas, City of Henderson, City of North Las Vegas (see Donna Newman's report below), Boulder City and the YMCA of Southern Nevada to provide training, equipment and resources to implement the CATCH Kids Club program into their ongoing Safe Key and other after-school programs. Many of these same partners went on to adopt physical activity and nutrition policies for their after-school and Safe Key programs
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In 2012, through a partnership with the Clark County School District, SNHD was able to use funding from the Community Transformation Grant to provide additional support and training for this project.  All of our original partners are on board, and over the next year, we'll be working to ensure each partner has the training, resources and supplies they need to continue CATCH Kids Club at their local Safe Key and after-school sites

Our investment will help to ensure long-term program sustainability. Each month, thousands of local kids participate in Safe Key and other after-school programs around the valley. Ensuring that these kids have opportunities to be physical active and have access to healthy foods and beverages will make a significant contribution to our long term efforts to combat childhood obesity in our community.  

 

Letters to CATCH
This comes from our good friend Sue Cornell with the Healthy U Project in New Jersey.

Peter,

Attached are pictures from the Stony Brook Elementary school cafeteria.  What a wonderful salad bar selection as well as a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables! 

 Sue Cornell

Healthy U Director
New Jersey YMCA Alliance 

 

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