Fighting child obesity through nutrition

TUCSON, Ariz. — With acres of growing corn and veggies, bright colorful signs, tractors and child-size gardening equipment, it is not a surprise that this place stands as a staple for school field trips, summer camps and toddler play dates.

“I was out here on my own with a shovel on MLK day in 2010, starting to get things moving. Everything was a blank slate, just dirt everywhere,” said Leza Carter, founder and program coordinator of Tucson Village Farm, a hands-on working farm with educational programs for 2 years old all the way up to high school seniors, “Now I look back on our growth and see it as a true testament to the need there was for a place like this in Tucson.”

The substantial growth Carter talks about is not an understatement. In the year 2011, approximately 1,200 individuals took part in a program at Tucson Village Farm, but in 2014, the number totaled 22,300.

The farm, located at Campbell and Roger, is so much more than an escape from the desert landscape; it is a place where children comprehend where their foods come from, why healthy food is important for their bodies and how to make basic food dishes in the kitchen, according to Carter.

Each child visits six to eight stations at the farm. These activities can be the veggie identifications station, a physical activity where they get their bodies moving, taste-testing different foods grown on the farm, feeding the chickens, having a story time with a children’s book based on nutrition and milking the life-size mechanical cow.

“Kids so rarely see food in its natural state, so when they pick that carrot from the ground, their eyes light up and the connection is made,” said Carter, who reported that 2,700 carrots were picked by children this past school year.

For those who are in fourth grade or older, more complex nutrition lessons are explained.

“We have a big bucket of sugar and measure out exactly how much sugar is in their soda or we scoop fat to show how much is in their hamburgers,” Carter said.

It is apparent that the lessons learned are truly clicking with the children just by looking at the packed farm calendar.

“All schools have access to our farm, and once a teacher comes, it turns into something they do with their classes every year,” said Carter, who hosts an average of 12 schools per month, “It’s a unique experience, and it’s in a central place in Tucson.”

The Tucson Village Farm is just one of the ways the ciy of Tucson is fighting childhood obesity, an epidemic that has been on the rise since the late 90s. When the nation realized how serious the problem had become, states and communities across the nation began to look for solutions.

Haile Thomas, 14-year-old founder of the Happy Organization, recognized the need for change when she was only 9 years old.

“I learned that for the first time in two centuries, children were predicted to live shorter life-spans than the adults in their lives. This horrible prediction is due mainly to the rise in the number of children affected by health issues like obesity, heart disease and diabetes. I also learned that the root causes are that young people aren’t being nourished by most of the foods we consume, and even worse, some of the foods are even making us sick,” said Thomas, an eighth-grader at Tucson’s The Gregory School, “Despite these alarming statistics, nutrition education, cooking lessons and even physical activities, was not being offered in all schools, or as affordable programs in the community.  This fueled my desire to establish the Happy Organization, and our programs are offered to address these issues.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a child’s body mass index, often referred to as BMI, must be at or above 95 percent of other children that are their same age and sex to be classified as obese. If a child’s BMI is at or above 85 percent than the child is considered to be overweight and at risk of becoming obese.

With these high percentiles, many people may not recognize just how common it is to fall into this category despite the young age.

According to the 2011 State Obesity Profiles from the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health, Arizona had 16.9 percent of children from ages 10 to 17 who were within the overweight BMI percentile. A total of 19.8 percent of the children from ages 10 to 17 in Arizona had a BMI at or above the obese percentile of 95 percent.

As a comparison, only Oregon and New Jersey had the lowest number of obese children. Twenty-seven states, including Colorado, New York and Florida held a percent of 10.1 to 15 percent of children who were obese. Arizona’s numbers were within the same range of 15 other states such as Georgia, Nevada and North Dakota. The four states that held the highest percentages of 20.1 percent of obese children or more included Louisiana and South Carolina. The District of Columbia was also within the highest percentages.

The harsh reality of the issue has  become a platform for much-needed change in both the school and the  home.

In July of 2006, the Arizona Department of Education released a revision of the Arizona Statue 15-242, most commonly referred to as the Arizona Nutritional Standards. According to the revision, the changes were made to better ensure that the food that children are obtaining in school will properly contribute to a healthy lifestyle. This not only applied to food provided in school lunches, but to every food that was available during the normal school day, including vending machines, snack bars, and school fund-raisers, according to the Arizona Nutrition Standards.

Followed by the state revision in 2006, the USDA created the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. Under this new federal law, schools must reach specific nutrition standards in the meals they provide and will in return receive a 6 cent meal reimbursement increase for each lunch or breakfast they serve, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Crystal Kalahar, director of food services for the Marana Unified School District and former school nutrition specialist for the Arizona Department of Education, knows firsthand the great lengths that the school district has to go through in order to provide the best food options for its students.

“It is important to provide students with options. These options are not required by law; it only requires that food itself be healthy as set by the nutrient standards. To entice children to eat at school and receive a healthy meal they must be given a variety of choices, particularly in regards to the entrée option,” said Kalahar, who has been with the school district since 2013.