First Family Encourages Healthy Changes in Nutrition, Exercise and Tobacco Use

COLUMBIA, SC – March 6, 2009 – The Healthy SC Challenge is the Sanford family’s effort to get all South Carolinians to do just a little more to live a healthier lifestyle. The tips are designed to encourage individuals and communities to live healthier lifestyles in three categories – nutrition, exercise and help to quit smoking. The tips can also be found on the challenge’s website, www.healthysc.gov.

Healthy Tips

Nutrition
The road to health is often bumpy with lots of fast food restaurants beckoning you to pull over.  But with your child’s health you can’t afford to keep falling into the potholes of poor nutrition.  Below is a quick reference list for nutrition traps to avoid.  Some of them should be rather obvious, however some may surprise you.

* Being home alone – When left home alone kids have free range of whatever is in the kitchen and no one there to approve of what they’re eating.

* School Vending Machines

* Food portions that are too big – pay attention to how much your child is actually consuming and the portion sizes that are given on food packing.

* TV in the bedroom

* Rewarding them with treats

* Overly strict diets: both clean your plate and limit what you eat methods – You should never go to the extremes with your child’s diet.  This isn’t teaching them healthy habits, in fact it’s negatively affecting their mental connection with food.  To curb this problem you shouldn’t prohibit all sweets or likewise require a child to eat everything on their plate if they’re full.

* Unhealthy habits of parents – You’re the one setting an example so it should be a good one.

* Not involving kids in the food buying and preparing processes – Getting kids involved with buying groceries and making meals will expose them to the choices they will have to make when they are adults and also serve as hands on learning to make healthy nutrition not only make more sense but be more enjoyable.
– www.getkidsinaction.org 

Physical Activity
Although bouts of activity 30-45 minutes long, are recommended, several bouts as short as 10 minutes each may substitute for one 30- to 45-minute bout. Short bouts fit into daily schedules more easily. They are also often preferred by older adults who may have symptoms of conditions that limit exercise, such as arthritis pain.

Even low amounts of activity have important health benefits and are better than an inactive life style. For example, in the Nurses Health Study, about 10 minutes of moderate activity a day reduced the risk of cardiovascular events by over 20%. About 22 minutes of moderate activity a day reduced the risk by about 35%. The generally recommended activity level of about 30-45 minutes a day reduced the risk by more than 50%.

Also, function improved and disability lessened in exercise programs that result in only small improvements in fitness. In the Fitness, Arthritis, and Seniors Trial (FAST), 2%-4% improvements in aerobic fitness and leg strength resulted in 8%-10% improvements in functional limitations and disability. In another study of falls prevention in women 80 years and older, 90 minutes of walking per week combined with low-intensity weight training and balance training reduced falls by 50%.
-American Geriatrics Society, www.healthinaging.org

Tobacco
When lung cancer first develops, there may be no symptoms at all. But as the cancer grows, it can cause changes that people should watch for. Common signs and symptoms of lung cancer include: a cough that doesn’t go away and gets worse over time, constant chest pain, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, wheezing, or hoarseness, repeated problems with pneumonia or bronchitis, swelling of the neck and face, loss of appetite or weight loss, or fatigue. These symptoms may be caused by lung cancer or by other conditions. It is important to check with a doctor if you have symptoms because only a doctor can make a diagnosis. Don’t wait to feel pain. Early cancer usually doesn’t cause pain.
-NIH Senior Health, http://nihseniorhealth.gov

The Healthy SC Challenge is an outcome-based, cooperative effort aimed at encouraging individuals, communities and organizations across the state to show shared responsibility in developing innovative ways to improve the health of South Carolina’s citizens. For more information about the Healthy SC Challenge, please visit www.healthysc.gov, or call 803-737-4772.