Obesity Prevention

• Nutrition: Ensure all foods and beverages available in schools meet national nutrition guidelines and are fully funded;
  • Advocate for policies requiring that all competitive foods and beverages offered in school meet national nutritional guidelines; Advocate for policies identified to reduce exposure to marketing and advertising of unhealthy foods in schools.
  • Support the implementation of national nutrition standards for state government vending machines; Advocate for policies identified to reduce exposure to marketing and advertising of unhealthy foods in state government buildings;
  • Support menu labeling for the Legislative Building cafeteria and/or snack bar.

• Physical Activity/Physical Education: Promote the implementation of quality, comprehensive Physical Education (PE) statewide according to national PE standards set by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE).
  • Work with local coalitions to advocate for comprehensive PE before local school boards and use resulting processes and policies as models for future statewide policy change.

• Built Environments: Promote the ability of local communities to support routine physical activity and healthy eating through built environment supports, including multi-modal transportation infrastructure (eg. mass transit, sidewalks, bike lanes), recreation opportunities (eg. parks, trails greenways), and food venues (eg. grocery stores, farmers' markets, community gardens). Support the integration of healthy land use (“sustainable communities”) and multi-modal transportation options (“complete streets” policies)
  • Monitor & support the development of Depart. of Transportation’s Complete Streets Initiative;
  • Monitor and support the work of the Sustainability Task Force.

• Support funding for evidence-based obesity prevention programs.

Legislative Childhood Obesity Task Force Report
Click here to view Task Force Recommendations