Fruit & Vegetable Consumption Related to Greater Happiness

Jefferson County Public Health believes it is important to highlight the direct correlation between our diet and our health.  While proper handling and preparation steps are crucial to food safety, creating a healthy and balanced diet is equally as important to our health.  

While it is no secret that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables keeps us healthy, new research findings suggest that this same diet may also make us happier.  Preliminary evidence has shown that eating fruits and vegetables is related to greater self-reported curiosity, creativity, happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect. Consumption of fruits and vegetables is believed to promote a general, overall more positive state of well-being.

Be sure to combine health and happiness this fall with a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and consider adding an extra apple or handful of carrots to lunch!

For more information on healthy eating, visit Jefferson County Public Health’s Healthy Eating, Active Living web page.

The study, published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, is available on PubMed. Science Daily online news published a report on the study: Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Could be as Good for Your Mental as Your Physical Health. 

2012 Public Health Champion - Tara Jahn

Jefferson County, Colorado--Public Health is what we as a society do collectively to prevent illness and premature death and promote health in our communities. Each year, during National Public Health Week, April 1-7, 2013, Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) honors some of the many people it works with throughout the year that help to make our county healthy. While they may not have made public health their profession, the work they do, the partnerships they provide and their enthusiasm for protecting the health of Jefferson County residents makes them the 2012 Public Health Champions of the Year.

• Advocating for Healthy Eating and Active Living, Tara Jahn 

As a resident of Wheat Ridge, Tara Jahn is deeply invested in a range of community building activities through her ongoing involvement with Live Local (Wheat Ridge), a grassroots initiative of Wheat Ridge 2020 started by Ms. Jahn and other Wheat Ridge partners in 2012. Tara’s work advocating for active living and sustainable, local food systems has provided leadership, compassion, and energy while making Wheat Ridge a more vibrant community.

Wheat Ridge Mayor, Jerry DiTullio had this to say about this 2012 Public Health Champion of the Year, “Tara Jahn is a relatively new face in Wheat Ridge, but she has jumped in with both feet to promote a healthy life style and to promote her new hometown of Wheat Ridge. As the Mayor of Wheat Ridge and as a longtime resident, I congratulate Tara on this well-deserved recognition. Live Local is a unique approach to support healthy communities AND local businesses at the same time. This is the type of community building of the future."

Tara understands how making physical activity fun can get more people moving. Through Live Local Active, Tara helped organize a run club that meets regularly, a variety of active and social summertime events, and most recently, a Winter Fitness Challenge that involves yoga, pilates, and group runs. She also hosted a family yoga event in a public park and organized group bike rides. Several of the events include stops at and patronage of local businesses. Community members gain exposure to local restaurants, shops, and studios they might never have visited before and businesses have a chance to build up their clientele.

She also truly understands how to encourage healthy eating and sustainable, local food systems. Through her work with Live Local Harvest, she helped organize a produce exchange last summer among local growers and most recently a Food and Film potluck series. The first dinner and film event brought together over 60 people from within and around the Wheat Ridge community to learn more about its growing local food system. The second event hosted nearly 100 participants, many of them attending for the first time.

In addition, as a member of the Wheat Ridge 38th Avenue Leadership Committee, Tara has worked to support a more economically vibrant and healthy downtown through a variety of strategies. She has played a leadership role in supporting the roadway redesign of 38th Avenue that fosters a safer and more pedestrian-friendly environment while supporting patronage of local businesses.

Tara’s work supporting a more livable, healthy and economically vibrant sector of Wheat Ridge makes her a 2012 Public Health Champion of the year. Congratulations and thank you Tara Jahn.

Raising a Generation of Healthy Eaters

The news in health lately has focused on the growing issue of obesity in our country. This has many people concerned about their families, especially their children. The CDC states that childhood obesity can cause heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea and social discrimination. But, the question is, how do we raise healthy eaters? Here are a few tips:

• Encourage healthy eating habits. 
• Look for ways to make favorite dishes healthier 
• Remove calorie-rich temptations 

JCPH reminds everyone that parents and caregivers set the examples for children when it comes to eating. Getting your kids to eat healthier now will help to set a high standard for eating as they get older. Enjoy this fun video by Turn the Tide Foundation!

Childhood Obesity

It is no secret that obesity rates in the United States are soaring, especially in our children. According to the National Childhood Obesity Month website, more than 23 million children and teenagers in the United States ages 2 to 19 are obese or overweight.  This is a statistic that health and medical experts consider an epidemic.  And this epidemic puts nearly one third of America’s children at early risk for Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and even heart disease.

The causes of obesity are complex. They include genetic, metabolic, behavioral, environmental, cultural and socioeconomic factors.  Colorado communities with the highest rates of obesity face limited access to healthy and affordable foods, recreational facilities, safe neighborhoods and preventive health care.  These conditions make it difficult for healthy eating and physical activity to be easy choices for all Coloradans in the places where they live, learn, work and play. 

Families can help prevent Childhood Obesity by:

·         Breastfeeding- The risk of childhood obesity is one-third greater for children who never have been breastfed compared to children who have been breastfed.

• Make healthy personal food choices and be a positive role model for your children.

·         Practice healthy eating habits early, including at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily and 6 servings of grains daily (including whole grains).  Avoid keeping high-fat foods, such as sweetened drinks and high-calorie snacks in the house.

·         Require at least one hour of physical activity each day.

·         Reduce time engaged in sedentary activities.  Limit screen time (computer or TV) to less than two hours per day.

Jefferson County PublicHealth, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and its public health partners are supporting proven and promising strategies to fight the obesity battle including: 

• Promoting best practices for schools to provide daily physical activity for students, adopt nutrition guidelines and partner with local farmers to serve fresh produce in school meals
• Encouraging health care professionals to adopt Colorado Adult and Childhood Obesity Guidelines to provide healthy lifestyle advice to their patients
• Partnering with communities to design streets and neighborhoods to include bike paths and sidewalks and convenient linkages to parks, schools, grocery stores and community gathering places

• Supporting communities in developing community gardens, sponsoring affordable healthy-cooking and exercise classes, and offering team sports opportunities for people of all ages
• Providing businesses with tools for creating incentives and welcoming environments for employees to be healthy and physically active

Resources:

·         The 2011 Colorado Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Report

·         Livewell Colorado

·         Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

·         Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment