Ideas to Promote Healthy Eating and Living
Prevention Institute Report Lists Strategies Revealed by Study
It’s no surprise that where people live, work, and play significantly impacts their health. People thrive in communities with parks and playgrounds, access to nutritious food, and caring neighbors. Without these forms of support people are more likely to suffer from obesity or chronic diseases, including diabetes, asthma, and heart disease.
Creating healthy eating and active living environments requires coordinated efforts among those involved in creating policy and programs. The Prevention Institute and Convergence Partnership report distilled from their research study a list of options that policymakers and planners should consider.
Safety First
When neighborhoods, communities, and buildings are safe, individuals are more likely to include more physical activity in everyday life. Therefore, the maintenance of parks, playgrounds, and recreation facilities is important, especially in underserved population areas. Quality programming should be developed to encourage use.
Complete streets with roads, sidewalks, and bike paths enable people to travel safely. Where there are complete streets, more people will walk and bicycle. Safe trails that connect roadways and neighborhoods are also key.
Renovated school buildings in neighborhoods with sidewalks and new smart growth clustered developments inspire walking and bicycling.
Food and Community
Regional food production guarantees that healthy foods are close at hand, however it must be linked to stores, schools, hospital systems, food banks, childcare, and afterschool programs. Incentives may be necessary. Grant, loans, and other incentives may attract retail grocery stores, improve food offerings at small stores, start and sustain farmers’ markets, and otherwise improve access to high-quality fresh affordable fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods in underserved communities. Healthy foods and beverages should be promoted in community stores, restaurants, and entertainment venues.
Role of Schools
In healthy environments, schools promote only healthy foods and beverages to students. The use of foods as a reward or punishment should be prohibited.
Schools can also promote at least 30 to 60 minutes of healthy physical activity. Other active projects can be devised and the use of television, video, video games, and computers for non-educational purposes limited.
Activity at Work
Employers can offer and promote access to healthy foods and beverages and opportunities for physical activity. They can also allow flex time and breaks for employees to engage in physical activity. Incorporate breaks in meetings that will last longer than one hour.
Employers can encourage transit use and walking and bicycling to the office. They can build or support nearby walking paths, facilities to safely store bicycles during the workday, showers, and gyms or provide incentives or partial reimbursement to employees for fitness club memberships.
Healthcare Providers
Health care organizations and providers can promote healthy eating and active living in their institutional policies and in clinical practices. Heathcare facilities can model healthy behaviors by ensuring that healthy foods and beverages are available and promoted in cafeterias, vending machines, coffee carts, and other concessions.
Government and the Private Sector
Government and business insure that policies, regulatory incentives, and funding support strategies listed. They can also link funding and regulations to greenhouse gas reduction strategies that are emerging at state and local levels.
Partnerships, coalitions, and advisory boards across multiple agencies and organizations support of healthy communities.
The report also notes that entertainment and communications industries influence the demand for healthy eating and living environments.
Active Living Environment
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