The North Branch of Amarillo’s YMCA recently acquired a grant to develop a campaign geared toward educating area children and their parents about healthy lifestyle choices and the dangers of obesity.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the incidence for children 19 years old and younger to be obese has risen to almost 17 percent. Factors lending to that number include intake of high-calorie foods with low nutritional value, heavily sweetened carbonated drinks, larger portions and a lack of physical activity.
The dangers of obesity at a young age include Type 2 diabetes, decreased social skills, asthma, high blood pressure and sleep apnea. Becoming overweight at an early age also leads to a likelihood of obesity as an adult.
Taking those issues into consideration, a group of eight teenagers meets weekly at then North Branch of the YMCA to formulate a campaign of specialized presentations. The presentations work to help educate area school children in making healthier food selections and physical activity requirements.
“The kids in our group are working on a program that they can take and present to local elementary schools,” said Jenna Hodges, program director of the North YMCA’s art department and the teen and family department. “They’re focusing on children ages 5 to 11, and they’re also working on complementary informational packets to provide for the parents as well.”
The group, called Global Youth Services, is in the process of developing a packet complete with a DVD, print material and verbal presentations tailored to appeal to the younger audiences – employing spinoffs of popular cartoon figures and color association to identify the benefits of particular fruits and vegetables. They will address issues such as portion control, nutrition values and eating disorders.
A press release shows that they will be modifying the campaign to reach the types of diverse audiences found in Amarillo such as multiracial, gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender and single-parent households.
While an official campus partnership between the YMCA and Amarillo College is unconfirmed, KACV-TV and several college departments are involved with the North Branch on a volunteer basis, according to Jackie Smith, program operations director of KACV.
“The objective is to teach nutrition and good eating habits, along with personal hygiene, to kids who will use that information to make better choices regarding what they eat,” Smith said. “KACV is lending a hand to help inform the kids and their peers using the television technology they respond to on a daily basis. It’s a major undertaking. There are personal costs to the participants, but the rewards appear to be significant.”
Local parents such as 23-year-old Lyndsy Seymour already show signs of taking action to prevent childhood obesity in their own children.
“We play outside, we ride bikes and go crazy,” Seymour said.
“I also make sure that his diet is balanced. He likes oranges and tomatoes a lot, so it’s not that hard to give him healthy snacks.
He’s a very active 3-year-old, and we plan to keep it that way.”
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