By Courtney Campbell
The sun and heat are beaming down as 11-year-old Max Van Fleet kicks a soccer ball to his mentor outside of Koury Gym at Elon University. He’s beaming, too. Later Max will run through an exercise circuit complete with lunges, ladders and sit-ups and he and his coach will discuss the importance of physical activity while munching on celery and hummus.
CHAMPS (Coaching Health and Mentoring Positive Students) is a mentoring program created by Elizabeth Bailey, a professor of human health and performance at Elon, and Elon alumnus T.J. Douglas ’10 in 2010. It encourages children to enjoy physical activity with a college role model and teaches a healthy lifestyle along the way.
This is Max’s third year participating in CHAMPS. Although he says he loves playing sports, he’s still working on adopting a healthy lifestyle.
“He doesn’t always eat his vegetables,” said his mother, Beth Van Fleet. “But he’s been educated and knows when he’s making poor choices and know how important activity can be. It’s one little bit at a time.”
Although the program does not specifically combat obesity, it does help with self-esteem and body image, which can lead to better health.
“It is a potent model because how else will kids, boys especially, learn about exercise and how to exercise?” Bailey said. “They don’t get enough health education, and they are more open to it in a setting like this. There are other kids around them and they have a cool college mentor.”
Bailey said she can’t track significant changes because CHAMPS is only a four-week program, but she does see good feedback and some happy participants return each year.
“I’ve gotten several anecdotal reports from parents who say their kids are more aware of what they are eating and more interested in being physically active,” she said. “People want to come back. I have lots of repeat kids. The program fills up quickly each year.”
Bailey said parents and children sometimes have misconceptions regarding healthy eating and physical activity and some parents don’t know what to do to motivate healthy habits.
Obesity is a growing problem for children nationwide
Childhood obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile of children of the same age and sex.
According to Svetlana Nepocatych, an assistant professor of exercise science at Elon, North Carolina is ranked 23rd among states with the highest childhood obesity rates with 31.4 percent of children who are overweight or obese. Nearly 30 percent of North Carolina adults are obese. Overall, 17 percent of people in the United States are considered to be obese.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity contributes to a variety of health risks, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, breathing problems, joint problems, heartburn and social and psychological problems that can continue into adulthood.
Obese children are also more likely to become obese adults, especially if their parents are obese as well.
There are many causes behind the growing obesity problem including aggressive marketing campaigns promoting less-healthy foods, the lack of requirements for physical activity in schools, fewer safe places to play or be active, limited access to healthy and affordable foods and increased sitting due to digital entertainment options.
Children park themselves in front of screens many hours of the day, playing video games, watching television and using the Internet. They eat fewer home-cooked meals, dine on unhealthy fast-food options, snack more, consume larger portion sizes and take in far more calories, fats, oils, sugars and sweeteners than folks did 40 years ago.
“The big thing is the physical activity that has changed since the past,” Nepocatych said. “Schools’ recess and physical education classes have been cut to devote more time to doing English and math.” In addition, few children are found at play outdoors after school and on weekends. That time is now screen time.
Nepocatych also notices that America is a society that socializes around food. When people spend time together it is usually over a meal and most celebrations tend to be centered around consumption of unhealthy food and drink.
Michael Calhoun, a professor of health and human performance at Elon, said obesity tends to be tied strongly to a person’s socioeconomic status. Those with a low income find far fewer healthy food choices to fit their lifestyles.
“They make due with the foods they can afford,” he said.
In most families both parents work. When these “latchkey kids” arrive home from school their parents want them to immediately lock the doors. Required to be inside on their own they often choose to watch television or play video games, leaving healthy activity behind.
“Some parents cannot afford to enroll them in after school sports,” Calhoun said. “They cost money and take time. For this group of kids the only outlet is whatever exercise they get in school. It’s huge.”
Taking the right steps to combat a dangerous epidemic
Calhoun said the first step to combating the childhood obesity epidemic is to strategize ways in which to best utilize the time children spend in schools, offering health education, physical activity and healthy foods.
“We need to reinstitute physical education with daily, organized physical activity,” Calhoun said. “It can have a profound impact. If they get their exercise they will also want to play in the future.”
He said there should be more emphasis on funding and operating afterschool sports and activities for all students, not just those who are the best athletes. He suggests a club sports model would work as long as it is affordable for everyone.
Some local schools have begun initiatives to promote healthy eating and physical activity. According to Christina McCormick, food service supervisor for the Alamance-Burlington School System, schools in the region can apply for grants that will allow them to serve healthier foods to low-income children.
“What determines obesity is that there are more calories taken in than calories burned out,” McCormick said. “The bottom line is that they are not consuming healthy foods and not doing physical activity.”
The Fresh Fruits and Vegetables project delivers healthy snacks to kids in the Alamance-Burlington schools three times a week along with a discussion and education about the benefits of health eating. It gives students whose families don’t buy fruit and vegetables an introduction to their tastiness and benefits. McCormick said more individual schools should develop health councils to see to it that positive changes take place.
Getting the education at school is just one part of encouraging behaviors that will become permanent.
“It’s really hard taking on a lifestyle change,” McCormick said. “It takes time to start feeling better and start feeling successful. It’s not an overnight situation. It takes one step at a time.”
However, Nepocatych said informing children alone is not enough to make a change. They need the support of a positive environment. It’s best when parents also receive education about health and wellness as most children model themselves after their home environment.
“Educating kids is one thing but it has to be a parent- and community-based,” Nepocatych said. “They spend a lot of time in schools but if they come home and sit on the couch it’s not going to do anything.”
Calhoun said communities play a vital role.
“It’s about getting people into a situation where they have time and access,” he said. “It has to be in their community. Take programs to them at the church or community center. It’s just not extensive enough right now.”
He said people need to find healthy influences in an environment that is accessible and natural to them – in their personal comfort zone and in close distance.
Calhoun sees this in the programs offered Catholic churches and among the Hispanic communities in Burlington, North Carolina. They are providing health-education classes and offering ideas for improving the health of their families easily and economically.
“They offer classes for Hispanic mothers on how to cook in a healthy way,” he said. “The church found an avenue to educate people that they will accept.”
The First Lady is working toward a national model
First Lady Michelle Obama has been addressing the issues behind childhood obesity for several years. Her campaign, Let’s Move! works with a variety of programs to bring education, foster healthy environments, provide healthier foods in schools, give access to good food and encourage children to be more physically active.
Let’s Move operates on the idea that all aspects of society, from families to communities to health care and educational institutions to government officials, have a role to play in reducing childhood obesity.
One of the programs is Action for Healthy Kids, an intuitive that does not directly interact with schools and families, but gives them the information and plans to make a change. It works to give schools Breakfast Grants to allow access to healthy foods and Healthy Grants to provide physical activity.
“Our full purpose is to target the schools,” said Jacqueline Perlman, marketing specialist for Action for Healthy Kids. “Outside of their homes, children spend the most time in their schools. Schools must create healthy environments that foster physical activity and nutrition.”
Their primary program is called Game On. It provides an assessment of individual schools’ programs and teaches them how to create a wellness team that analyzes the school’s wellness and recommends how to implement changes.
So far Game On has had a positive impact at more than 29,000 schools, reaching 12.9 million students.
“We have a crazy-wide reach,” Perlman said. “Studies show it has created an average increase of 60 minutes of physical activity added to each day and a 50 percent increase in the number of students getting breakfast.”
Solving the problem locally
Although national initiatives set up plans to follow, they don’t always work for each community. This is where local, specialized plans are more useful.
Kohl’s Bull City Fit, located in Durham, North Carolina, provides a space and planned activities for children, and it allows their parents to have access to exercise and healthy foods. The catch is that those that attend must make an appointment at Duke’s Healthy Lifestyle Clinic and have their health assessed before participating. This is difficult for some because of the cost.
The program seems to work well for those who can afford it. The first step involves an entire family comes in to be educated together about necessary lifestyle changes for good health. Kiah Gaskin, Bull City director, said the program was developed to meet families halfway and give them opportunities to stick to their weight-loss goals.
“The community approach is very important, to meet them halfway and get them the access that they need,” Gaskin said. “It’s not telling people what to do but educating them on what they need to do in terms of their lifestyles.”
She said the model Bull City established makes people aware of what they can do to improve their health and gives them additional access.
“It’s meeting the families where they are,” Gaskin said. “If we don’t recognize the barriers that they are facing were not going to be done in terms of health.”
Still too few options available and too little participation
Not every community has the Bull City opportunity and too few schools are implementing strategic approaches to encouraging healthy lifestyles among their students.
“Current initiatives can work, the problem is that there’s not enough,” Calhoun said. “The outreach is too small. There must be more programs that are accessible to everyone. Right now it’s not practical.”
No matter what initiatives are put into place, it is ultimately up to the individual to make the right choices for a healthy life. McCormick of Alamance-Burlington schools points out that, really, everyone has the opportunity to go outside and exercise or buy fruits and vegetables that are often only a little more expensive than fast foods.
“If you choose healthy foods and only have small amounts of unhealthy ones, it’s a good balance,” she said. “Your day-by-day choices affect what later diseases you have. The number-one thing you have control over yourself is your physical activity and intake.”
Calhoun believes health promoters who follow good health practices and are motivators are necessary to make a difference in these kids’ lives.
“Liz Bailey is a classic example of a health promoter,” he said. “She’s helping children to be healthy and motivating them to change their habits to be physically active. She’s not just educating and motivating, but she’s also a good role model and she is healthy herself.”
Bringing the information home, with hopes for a healthy life
Max sits in a circle with his fellow CHAMPS mentees and mentor, holding a packet of information about the nutritional value of various snacks.
He can work to earn a shirt that matches his mentor’s by choosing an apple over chips, being active or even standing up to a bully. The points can be earned inside or outside of CHAMPS. It’s a piece of encouragement meant to incorporate a healthy mentality in all aspects of his life.
“The opportunity to be with a college guys is amazing for Max,” his mom Beth said. “Having that one-on-one attention really makes a difference for him.”
Courtney Campbell 