LiveWell Colorado Blog

Due to recent Congressional action, LiveWell Colorado is concerned about the future of Colorado’s bike and pedestrian infrastructure, such as safe sidewalks, bike paths and cross walks. These opportunities for physical activity not only affect the health of our citizens, but also the very fabric of Coloradans’ way of life. I am asking you to join our Grassroots Advocacy Power Program (GAPP) now to help make our voices heard.

The Issue and What’s at Stake

LiveWell Colorado is extremely disappointed that last week measures were taken with the proposed House Transportation Bill that, if approved, would repeal the Safe Routes to School program ($3.2 million annually), eliminate funding for Transportation Enhancements ($6.2 million annually) and make other policy changes that take away funding for bicycling, walking and public transit.

Dedicated funding for these programs is critical to developing and maintaining walking and bicycling infrastructure. These community resources and infrastructure are crucial to ensuring Colorado residents can be safe and physically active.

There are countless benefits that these funds have brought to Colorado and our LiveWell Colorado Communities, including projects such as Denver Westwood’s Munroe Elementary Walking Audit and Safety Plan, the installation of the Wheat Ridge Wadsworth Multi-Use Path, Salida’s Ride Right Cycle Safe bicycle safety program for 4th grade students, Loveland’s Walk to School Day, and many more.

How You Can Help

Over the next couple of weeks, LiveWell Colorado will continue to advocate for bicycle and pedestrian funding as the House Bill moves to the floor for full approval and as the Senate restarts consideration of its transportation bill, potentially as early as this week. If you share our concern about losing funding that would support bicycling, walking and active transportation, please join GAPP today.
 
By joining GAPP – our advocacy network – you will receive alerts about important legislation as well as letter/email templates that will allow you to quickly and easily ask your legislators to take action on important matters such as this.

LiveWell Colorado got a blast of recognition when we all – staff and communities –converged on the Capitol in Denver last Thursday. Our goal was to discuss healthy eating and active living with our local legislators in order to keep this a priority in the upcoming legislative session. We also discussed the importance of school wellness and the role Farm to School initiatives can play in bringing healthy food to schools.

This was LiveWell Alamosa’s third year at this prestigious event. The first year we went with conviction and terror only to realize that contrary to the intimidating figures portrayed in the media, our Colorado legislators are quite human. The building itself is quite formidable with security at either end. This rural cowgirl had her Buck knife confiscated at the door in year one. By year three, myself and Megan (my local coalition nutrition activist) breezed up the ornate stairs – right to the House Chambers to be greeted by our old friend Ed from House District 62.

Instructed to call him Representative Vigil, we were eager to share our collective hopes for a healthier and slimmer Colorado and give him the cherry red apple provided by LWC for all legislators. Megan and I were seated on the floor sidelines in the spot reserved for us by our conscientious political servant. The session began with a mighty bang from Speaker Frank McNulty as to my delight, Representative Vigil hungrily munched on his Red Delicious. Others popped their patented LiveWell Colorado water bottles meant to encourage worksite wellness at the Capitol.

Representative Sue Schafer from House District 24, an active leader in LiveWell Wheat Ridge obesity prevention initiatives, was chosen to read a LiveWell Colorado Tribute to the House. I felt like blowing a whistle… people were so noisy… it was like an unruly third grade classroom. Then after a hasty consultation – Democrat Schafer was fined $2 for reading her tribute without permission from the Republican Speaker. “We have to have a little fun,” she shared with me after with a chuckle. 

A highlight of the day was our LiveWell Colorado luncheon, which could be considered a big worksite wellness kickoff for the Capitol and its employees. Even though we were competing with the Ski and Snowboard Extravaganza luncheon which was also free to legislators, several legislators showed up to get their healthy lunch and learn a few easy exercises from the tall and handsome Aussie Prez of Bonzo Bodies, Jamie Atlas.
 
My State Senator Gail Schwartz squeezed this luncheon into her extremely busy day and then we had a walking meeting to her next gig at the Senate Ag Committee. LiveWell Colorado signs – sprinkled throughout the Capitol that day – touted wellness messages like the following: Make Your Meeting Move – You can burn about 75 calories in a 30-minute walking meeting.

All in all a great and productive day was had by all – and don’t be surprised if you see a few red apple munchers walking and talking at the Capitol! 

(Liza Marron, pictured far left, with fellow LiveWell Colorado Community Coordinators and Senator Gail Schwartz)

From the Eastern Plains to the West Slope, Colorado’s rural communities and towns face common challenges to promoting and supporting healthy eating and active living (HEAL): significant health disparities, limited resources and a lack of tools to address barriers to HEAL.

In fact, some of Colorado’s highest rates of obesity and related diseases occur in rural Colorado, in addition to some of the lowest rates of physical activity and considerable challenges with access to fresh, healthy foods. Compared to Colorado’s overall adult population obesity rate of nearly 20%, the prevalence of obesity in rural and frontier Colorado is notably higher – ranging from 20 – 27%.

While there are numerous contributing factors, the built environment (which includes the human made surroundings in which we live) impacts access to healthy foods and physical activity. We know that the absence of sidewalks, lack of parks and trails, or too many fast food outlets and not enough grocery stores offering fresh fruits and vegetables can limit an individual’s ability to engage in physical activity or to eat healthy foods.

I am very excited to announce that LiveWell Colorado developed – and just released – our Guide to Integrating Healthy Eating and Active Living into Colorado’s Rural and Small Town Communities, which addresses these issues.

Providing action strategies and ideas around healthy food access, physical activity, and mobility, the Guide serves as a helpful resource that we hope will spark interest and action across our state. It also highlights numerous successful initiatives already occurring throughout Colorado, including several in our LiveWell Colorado Communities:

• Showing the strength of collaboration, Bent County and the City of Las Animas recently updated their 2002 Comprehensive Plan – a leading policy document that helps guide development and growth decisions – to include principles of healthy eating and active living.


• Durango rebuilt one of its busiest city-maintained streets as a Complete Street to better accommodate a variety of users and modes of transportation, including pedestrians, cyclists, buses, the disabled and cars. Now designated as a Safe Route to School, the corridor includes clearly designated five-foot wide bike lanes, a 10-foot wide multi-use sidewalk, new pedestrian crossings and more.

I encourage you to learn more about these exciting initiatives and how you can get involved by watching our recent Rural HEAL Guide webinar.

I’d also like to thank the numerous local, state and national partners that helped make the development of our Guide possible. Together, we can ensure that everyone in Colorado can benefit from built environments that are conducive to healthy living.

This holiday season, I encourage you to give your family, friends and colleagues the gift of health.

As we partake in a plethora of holiday parties and run last-minute errands, it’s often easy to lose sight of the importance of staying active and eating healthy. Of course we’re all going to indulge in scrumptious treats here and there, but we can also find opportunities to incorporate healthy (yet delicious!) eating and physical activity into our holiday merriment.

Here are a few fun ideas to get you started:

Healthy Giving and Party Ideas for Kids

• Create an “indoor fun toolkit” that encourages active indoor play—hula hoops, jump ropes, foam balls, active charade cards, dance music, etc…
  
  
• Get creative with the holiday treats, and have everyone help. Great options include red and green apple slices in low-fat caramel, fruit, yogurt and granola parfaits, cherry tomatoes and red bell pepper slices in low-fat ranch dressing, festive fruit smoothies.

Healthy Holidays at Work

• Give fresh produce baskets—they look festive, taste great. Consider a “fruit or veggie of the month club” membership to continue trying fresh new options.
  
  
• Consider giving a trial membership at a gym, gift certificates to a sporting goods store, or try an interesting class like yoga, dance, kick boxing or other activity to do together as a team.

Please visit our website’s healthy holidays feature for more great ideas.

I hope you have a healthy and happy holiday season!