What Communities Can Do?

According to The Surgeon General's Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity, “families and communities lie at the foundation of the solution to the problems of overweight and obesity.” The report states that “communities consist of multiple components, including individuals, faith-based and other community organizations, worksites, and governments.” All can work together to raise awareness about the childhood obesity epidemic and shape a community-wide environment that promotes healthy choices. Why not start a health action council or coalition made up of health educators and representatives from schools, organizations, and employers in your community? Following are some of the suggestions for community coalitions from the Surgeon General’s Call to Action.

Communication

1. Raise consumer awareness about the effect of being overweight on overall health.
2. Inform community leaders about the importance of developing healthy communities.
3. Highlight programs that support healthful food and physical activity choices to community decision makers.
4. Raise policy makers’ awareness of the need to develop social and environmental policy that would help communities and families be more physically active and consume a healthier diet.
5. Educate individuals, families, and communities about healthy dietary patterns and regular physical activity, based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
6. Educate parents about the need to serve as good role models by practicing healthy eating habits and engaging in regular physical activity in order to instill lifelong healthy habits in their children.
7. Raise consumer awareness about reasonable food and beverage portion sizes.
8. Educate expectant parents and other community members about the potentially protective effect of breastfeeding against the development of obesity.

Action

1. Form community coalitions to support the development of increased opportunities to engage in leisure time physical activity and to encourage food outlets to increase availability of low-calorie, nutritious food items.
2. Encourage the food industry to provide reasonable food and beverage portion sizes.
3. Increase availability of nutrition information for foods eaten and prepared away from home.
4. Create more community-based obesity prevention and treatment programs for children and adults.
5. Empower families to manage weight and health through skill building in parenting, meal planning, and behavioral management.
6. Expand efforts to encourage healthy eating patterns, consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, by nutrition assistance recipients.
7. Provide demonstration grants to address the lack of access to and availability of healthy affordable foods in inner cities.
8. Promote healthful dietary patterns, including consumption of at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
9. Create community environments that promote and support breastfeeding.
10. Decrease time spent watching television and in similar sedentary behaviors by children and their families.
11. Provide demonstration grants to address the lack of public access to safe and supervised physical activity.
12. Create and implement public policy related to the provision of safe and accessible sidewalks, walking and bicycle paths, and stairs.