Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation

Washington, DC –U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) today commended the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation - a national, multi-year effort to try to help reduce obesity, especially childhood obesity, by 2015 - for its efforts to raise awareness and increase the understanding of balancing a healthy diet with physical activity, particularly among children and their parents and caregivers.

 

“Initiatives like those of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation can help us battle childhood obesity,” said Rep. Kind, co-chair of the Congressional Fitness Caucus. “As I made clear with introduction of the FIT Kids Act, to impact this issue we must increase opportunities for children to engage in physical activity throughout the school day. I am pleased that one of the major components of the Healthy Weight Commitment is the Healthy Schools Partnership – a unique school curriculum that brings together nutrition and physical fitness education. As health care concerns plague our country, one of the most important things we can do is instill in our children healthy eating and physical activity habits. Education now will help our kids grow up to lead healthy, active adult lifestyles.”

 

Childhood obesity in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. The childhood obesity rate has tripled since 1980 resulting in 25 million children in America who are currently obese. It is estimated that by 2010, 20 percent of children in the U.S. will be obese.

 

The Healthy Schools Partnership curriculum mirrors Rep. Kind’s FIT Kids Act. The legislation, introduced earlier this year, would engage parents and the public by requiring all schools, districts and states to report on students’ physical activity, including the amount of time spent in required physical education in relation to the recommended national standard. The Act would further ensure appropriate professional development for health and physical education teachers, fund research to examine the link between children’s health and their academic achievement, and recommend effective ways to combat childhood obesity and improve healthy living and physical activity.