LiveWell eLetter
November 2009
Fostering Healthy People and Places - The Power of All of Us

The Challenge to Live Well

Hopefully you’ve seen our billboards and television ads, and maybe you even participated in one of our flash mobs. Each of these elements is an important part of LiveWell Colorado’s branding campaign, which encourages Coloradoans to challenge each other to live well.

Today, I invite you to join the movement and participate in the LiveWell Challenge in the places you live, learn, work and play. You can challenge yourself. You can challenge your friends and family. And you can even challenge your community. The challenge to live well means taking steps, large or small, to promote healthy eating and active living throughout Colorado.

The challenge can be as simple as asking a colleague to join you on a lunchtime walk around the building. It can be as significant as taking a stance on a public policy initiative and urging your elected official to do the same.

Here are a few ideas:

  • Recruit your neighbors to increase the walkability of your community this winter by removing snow and ice from sidewalks.

  • Add an extra piece of fruit to your diet.

  • Park a little farther away from your destination.

  • Encourage your network of contacts to join our Grassroots Advocacy Power Program , a powerful, yet easy, tool that enables advocates to stay informed about key obesity prevention issues at state and federal levels, and empowers them to take an active role in influencing the legislative process.

  • Engage in active family time one day a week; play basketball at a nearby gym, host a family Wii Fit tournament or head out to the local sledding hill.

  • If your workplace does not already have a wellness program in place, convince your executives to develop one or volunteer to head a workplace wellness committee. Visit livewellcolorado.org’s worksites and businesses section for resources that will help you get started.

  • Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Healthy eating and active living can be contagious when we encourage, support, and challenge each other to live well.

Together, we can make a tremendous impact in Colorado.

Live Well!
Maren Stewart
President and CEO, LiveWell Colorado

Join the Grassroots Advocacy Power Program
Not only does the Grassroots Advocacy Power Program (GAPP) enable users to stay informed about key obesity prevention issues at both state and federal levels, it also empowers them to take an active role in influencing the process.

Targeted e-mail action alerts, background information, sample messaging and other resources allow advocates to identify their state and federal representatives and directly send them messages urging support or opposition to proposed legislation.

Join GAPP by visiting http://www.livewellcolorado.org/advocacy - it’s easy and will take just a few minutes! Together, we can make a tremendous impact.

The Colorado Health Foundation and The Food Trust Release Reports Focused on Colorado’s Food Access Environment

  • The Need for More Supermarkets in Colorado: This new report from The Food Trust uses geographic mapping to identify Colorado communities that are experiencing issues with food access, contributing to poor health outcomes.
  • Food Access in Colorado: This new report from The Colorado Health Foundation examines how the inaccessibility of healthy, fresh and affordable food negatively impacts health.

View the reports: http://www.coloradohealth.org/studies.aspx.

LiveWell Colorado Communities

School Districts in LiveWell Colorado Communities Honored by Colorado Legacy Foundation
Across Colorado, school districts and schools are working hard to improve nutrition, get students moving and provide more comprehensive health services. They are putting in place effective workplace wellness programs that are getting results. And what’s not a surprise is that many of these districts are located in LiveWell Colorado communities. Read More

Early Childhood Education

Rudd Center: The Least Healthy Breakfast Cereals are Those Most Aggressively Marketed to Young Children
The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University recently published its report, "Cereal FACTS: Evaluating the Nutrition Quality and Marketing of Children’s Cereals." According to Cereal FACTS, this research was conducted because "extensive marketing to children for foods of poor nutritional quality has been identified as a contributor to the obesity crisis." Read More

K-12 Education

Working Out Where You Work: Teacher Boot Camp
Average days are busier than ever, but the fact remains - exercise and physical activity are vital. Therefore, people are taking the extra efforts to include some sort of physical activity in their daily activities. Whether you park further from the front door of the grocery store, take the stairs instead of an elevator, or walk the dog just a few blocks further than usual, each day can be capped off with a little extra physical activity that goes a long way. The lucky teachers at Greenwood Elementary in Cherry Creek School District now have the opportunity to include some physical activity on location, and directly after school in a Teacher Boot Camp. Read More

Higher Education

Five Healthy Indoor Activities Your Campus Can Provide Students When Snow Starts Falling
Whether they prefer to ski, snowshoe, mountain bike, rock-climb or enjoy any of a wide array of other outdoor sports, students in Colorado have easy access to world-renowned athletic adventure. But, while many eagerly await the first snowflakes, cold and snow can keep even the most active student indoors and bundled up. Decreased mobility combined with the distracting pressures of final exams and the temptations of pizza delivery makes for a season that may require students to make an extra to make healthy choices. Read More

Worksites & Businesses

Breastfeeding Support in the Workplace in Summit County
The Colorado Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act went into effect on August 7, 2008. The act requires that Colorado employers provide reasonable break time, make reasonable efforts to provide suitable, private space for mothers to express breast milk in the workplace, and not discriminate against them for doing so. LiveWell Summit County worked closely with several local businesses to raise awareness of the new law and assist them in their efforts to accommodate breastfeeding employees. Read More

Healthcare

Health Care Costs for Employees with Cardiac Risk Factors Reduced by Web-Based Nutrition Program
In response to burdens caused by rising health insurance premiums, researchers recently launched a study to determine whether an employer sponsored diet and exercise program would have an effect on health care costs. Read More

Local Health Agencies

LiveWell Colorado White Paper Addresses Building and Sustaining Community Coalitions
LiveWell Colorado today released a white paper, "Understanding Your Community: The Key to Building an Impactful, Sustainable Coalition." The white paper, which complements LiveWell Colorado's October webinar, focuses on the importance of understanding a community’s population and circumstances when building a coalition to implement healthy eating, active living strategies. Read More

Community Planning, Recreation & Transportation

Department of Transportation Passes Bike/Pedestrian Policy
With a title such as, "Bike and Pedestrian Number 1602.0," it doesn’t sound very thrilling; but in reality, this is one of the most exciting and important policies for bicycling and walking in the Department of Transportation. Read More

Food Systems & Retailers

Healthy Lifestyle La Plata Collaborates on Farm-to-School Grant
Healthy Lifestyle La Plata serves as the LiveWell Colorado community in Durango, Colo., and La Plata County. The community is highly involved with moving healthy foods from local producers to the schools with a down-home branch of the National Farm to School Network. Twenty schools in two school districts across the state of Colorado take part in this program. Read More

Legislators & Policymakers

LiveWell Colorado Webinar, "Access to Healthy Foods: Addressing the Complex Issue of Food Access in the State of Colorado," Available Online
"Access to Healthy Foods: Addressing the Complex Issue of Food Access in the State of Colorado" features a discussion about the ways different organizations are partnering together to build a blueprint for food policy efforts statewide, methods to ensure access to healthy foods, techniques for leveraging food assistance programs and other related issues and solutions. Read More

In This Issue

Webinar: CDOT's Bicycle and Pedestrian Program
Wednesday, December 16, 1 to 2 p.m.
More information

*Not all events are sponsored by LiveWell Colorado, and inclusion in the newsletter does not constitute an endorsement by LiveWell Colorado.

LiveWell Colorado
is a non-profit committed to reducing obesity in Colorado by promoting healthy eating and active living. For more information, please visit livewellcolorado.org.

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November 2009

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