According to the Centers for Disease Control, youth obesity has more than tripled in the past thirty years. As a result, many children are increasing their risk for heart disease, diabetes and a host of other ailments. Community Health Charities interviewed Alliance for a Healthier Generation (AHG) that was founded by the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association to combat this problem and to encourage children and their parents to make healthier life choices.
In this episode of the Health Matters at Work video podcast series, our host Jerry Franz met with Scotie Conner. Scotie, an 18-year-old youth advocate for AHG, was an overweight child who began to develop high cholesterol. Through a healthier diet and an increase in physical activity, Scotie was able to lose forty pounds at only ten years old.
Scotie’s success led him to become an advocate for childhood obesity prevention. Through AHG, Scotie is able to educate children and parents of the dangers of being overweight and how to get on the path to a healthier life. AHG advises parents that one of the best ways to improve the health of their children is to set a good example themselves by exercising and eating the right foods. When kids see their parents living a healthy lifestyle, they will feel empowered to do the same.
However parents aren’t the only effective example – it is AHG’s goal to have healthy kids become advocates for other kids. AHG offers many programs for peer-to-peer advocacy among children, including a youth-hosted forum to help kids make good health choices such as cutting out junk food and replacing it with fruits. One event even held a “mini” Zumba class to get kids moving. The idea is to teach children to make small choices, one step at a time, to replace unhealthy habits with healthy ones.
Please listen to this empowering podcast to discover what else Scotie and AHG are doing to eliminate childhood obesity across the country.
About Alliance for a Healthier Generation
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation works to address one of the nation’s leading public
health threats — childhood obesity. The goal of the Alliance is to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity by 2015, and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices. Founded in 2005 by the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation, the Alliance works to positively affect the places that can make a difference in a child’s health: homes, schools, doctor’s offices and communities.
The Health Matters at Work health and wellness program developed by Community Health Charities brings employers and employees together, making it easier for both to benefit from the combined strength of the nation’s most trusted health charities. Follow us on Twitter @healthcharities and connect to the credible health information, local volunteer opportunities, and charitable giving that make it easier to support the health causes important to you and your family.
