Intervention Form Tea: Fill & Download for Free

To reverse the childhood obesity epidemic the Institute of Medicine (IOM) stands behind these 5 goals[1]:Integrate physical activity into people’s daily lives.Make healthy food and beverage options available everywhere.Transform marketing and messages about nutrition and activity.Make schools a gateway to healthy weights.Galvanize employers and health care professionals to support healthy lifestyles.I'm proud of my city, Philadelphia, for being one of the first cities to have its rates of childhood obesity actually decline. Furthermore, the City of Brotherly Love might serve as a good model for other cities that have high rates of obesity. Some efforts of Get Healthy Philly, a cross-sector public health initiative that has helped in the decline of the city's obesity rates, are[1]:integrated healthy living and health impact assessments into Philadelphia 2035, the city’s new comprehensive plan;increased access to healthy foods for 220,000 residents of low-income neighborhoods;installed nearly 30 miles of bicycle lanes;increased parents’ awareness about the sugar content of beverages like soda, fruit drinks, and sweet teas through a media-education initiative that was seen or heard more than 40 million times;established active School Wellness Councils in 171 public schools serving more than 100,000 students to incorporate physical activity into the school day and remove junk foods from classrooms, school stores, and fundraisers;implemented nutrition and physical activity standards for more than 300 afterschool and recreation programs that serve 20,000 children annually; andpartnered with local businesses to increase worksite wellness.Part of the ongoing efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic should target the disparity-gap. The data clearly shows that Hispanic males and Black, non-Hispanic females are disproportionately affected by obesity.[2] Implementing interventions and effective policies that target these subgroups and make optimal behavior the default will have a dramatic impact on obesity.On a positive note, other cities like NY and LA are also headed towards the decline in childhood obesity rates. Other cities will surely follow suit afterwards.References:1. Philadelphia Freedom2. Obesity Screening

Getting OldI was a very active as a child, what with my riding bicycles, horses and becoming a car mechanic so I could drive my pre WW II jalopy, all the adventure stuff camping and canoeing exploits in the deep woods and like keeping in shape with rock climbing, boxing in Golden Gloves and scuba diving at Devil's Lake. Every day of my adolescence I worked out on a speed bag and a heavy bag hung in my basement, doing 100 pushups and several hundred sit ups. I was a workout freak! And I loved to fight, got into many with street gangs and bullies in school.As a young man, it was very common for me to survive on 3–4 hours of sleep, drink copious amounts of coffee and have multiple hangovers from booze. I think I kept a Miller Light factory in Milwaukee in business for years. Oh so young, strong and adventurous! I had ten horses, deep woods camped all over Wisconsin, canoed and portaged many lakes, rode my hot rod and got into motorcycles. In the Navy I rode a WW II destroyer through countless storm and hurricanes, marched miles in the desert with a 90-pound pack on my back carrying a Thompson Machine Gun on Recon with the Marines, was a really good street fighter, did Military Police and Shore Patrol all over the western world, survived countless fights and rough seas, traveled the world, and fought the Russians. In fact on an average, I used to sleep only five hours a night.When I was in my mid- 20s, I experimented a lot. Learning new skills is still a kind of hobby to me. I even burned my asshole out eating hot Mexican food, and worked in a rambunctious Manhattan most of my life where I earned appreciations from my social affiliations and family, the motivation from self and surrounding drove me to strive to excellence. Computers, photography, guns, hunting and fishing, writing, trekking, camping, Harley hog motorcycles, car repair, house building, I acquired them all and got quite far. A jack of all trades you may say but couldn’t master any and it really didn’t matter then as I enjoyed the process of learning or doing. Even in my work place, the expectations to my complex problem solving capabilities in projects have grown many folds.When I turned 40 a few incidents happened that made me suddenly realize I was getting old. First, I was chewing on a hard pretzel when one of my molars shattered. I went to the dentist and was told that I needed a crown; or as I like to call them; an old person tooth! The dentist proceeded to tell me that the tooth that broke was a 6 yr molar and mine had the old silver fillings in them. Antiquated technology! He put on a temporary crown and exactly one week later, while eating pizza, the molar on the opposite side of my mouth broke in half as well! What is going on? Another visit and another old person tooth. If that isn’t bad enough, about 2 months later I needed a root canal in one of those crappy worn out molars. Just as I was getting over the whole,” my teeth suck balls and are failing me” phase, I went to the eye doctor and was told I needed bifocals! Old people eyeballs!? How can this be?!At this point I was pretty frustrated and it dawned on me, that as much as I denied it, my body was getting old. I realized I couldn’t lose weight like I used to. And I couldn’t build muscle as quickly either. My skin was losing its elasticity and was becoming reptile-like and my once gorgeous head of hair was, for some reason, retreating from the face part of my head. It was at that point that I realized that if I lived to be 65 like my life-long plan had always been, I only had 25 years left! Fuck! 25 years ain’t shit. I decided I needed to do something about it - NOW. I needed to get into shape, so I immediately started exercising. But tragically I threw my back out and spent a week laying in bed.They say that men only really mature at 50, and maybe there is some truth in that. One of the most positive things about getting older is that you don't give a shit about what other people think about what you do - although I do care about that very restricted group close to me. That gives me a freedom to do and pursue things that I didn't have the patience or perseverance to do as a youngster. Not one of my friends is a biker, yet I developed a true passion for motorcycling in my 20´s and still today it is one of the true pleasures of my life. Done several trips throughout the south and I'm planning to do the longest one this year, driving all the way up to Colorado. Alone of course.Then I was 55 and taking an Early Retirement because the high technology sector was downsizing. I worked 30 yrs in Manhattan, and the City is not a car town. People walk, take taxis, or the subway or bus, so we are always in each others’ faces. You learn to be friendly and respectful because you cannot easily avoid other people in NYC, like you can in the world of cars, where you can beep your horn in frustration and drive from home to wherever you are going sealed in your automobile. After a 30 yr career in NYC, technology companies were downsizing, and all my terrific accomplishments didn't matter any more, and I took an early retirement at age 55. I moved from the corporate world in Manhattan to the rural world of Route Sales in Upstate New York.I wanted to be “that guy” who retired from his place of employment with a nice farewell party after a life of service, and spent his retirement babysitting his multiple grandchildren in the same house where he raised their parents. I wanted a permanency and sense of belonging!The most frustrating thing about getting older - past 55 where you can't get a decent job anymore - is the feeling of being invisible and vulnerable. I didn’t plan for an early retirement from Manhattan corporate sales and had to continue work to pay bills. It was almost impossible to land a decent job in Manhattan after I turned 55. I was lucky to get into Route Sales in Upstate New York. I loved it! The small towns, lakes and mountains captivated me. It was a new life! I found that while I loved the job, I really didn’t have enough to do, so I got into politics for fifteen years. Planning board and School board. I loved being with younger people.I did notice things changed dramatically . . . and for the better. Turn-back-the-clock, life changing, “who knew” kind of better. I was more relaxed having getting away from the stressful and often agonizing City. Upstate NY is so beautiful and glorious what with its never ending small towns, mountains and lakes. Bettie and I had bought a small lake cottage in the Poconos on Lake Wallenpaupack, I rebuilt it, added rooms and decks and now we had a 1,200 sq ft cottage with 800 ft of decks. We also bought a 30ft Winnebago RV and took several trips upstate to the 1000 Islands, Niagara Falls and Lake Winnebago camp grounds. We also took the grandchildren to several Jelly Stone camps.Without the Manhattan stress keeping me sharp and walking 3 to 5 miles every day the bustling city streets, I was getting overweight and some aliments over came me. My life long smoking bad habits dearly paid me back medically. I can't kick ass anymore. It is a bit frustrating that I can now brag about my two heart surgeries, STENTS, and my COPD condition, but I am good after that. But I take load of pills every day. No nasty gallbladder surgery, hemorrhoid removal or tooth problems. I just am missing two teeth fixed by a bridge and I still have all my wits about myself. Other than my weakened heart and lung damage, my body is actually in pristine condition.At 59 1/2, I’m speaking a little early. But I can only emphasize and reiterate the importance of looking after your health at a early age. I’m not talking extreme exercise or sports or an addictive mindset about working out. Not at all. That in itself can be detrimental, and sometimes fatal. I’m talking about paying attention to your body . . . what it can tolerate and what it can’t, how weight levels or agility are shifting . . . at 20, at 30 , at 40, etc. Overweight, stiff joints, inability to move with agility generally don’t happen overnight. In my 50s and 60s I was far too busy to bother about noticing changes. Now, I am a bit more careful. I exercise regularly walking at the mall, or for exercise for its own sake, but in the past there was plenty of fieldwork and hiking.Looking around I found most men in their 50sw are on three or four medications and have one or more pre-existing conditions. In your fifties you’re not thinking too much about your physicality but your starting to feel differentiations in certain areas of your body. Old harm you’ve done to yourself, smoking, drinking, lack of exercise, past sprains and strains all start to sneak up on you. Then one day you look into the mirror and your in your sixties and you now know that on the calendar of life, you’re in December. Very sobering. I think going from 59 to 60 feels like a big deal. I’m sure it was the same when you went from 29 to 30 and then from 39 to 40. As you get older each decade seems to go faster and faster, almost like you can’t catch up with yourself.The best thing to do when you’re about to turn 60 is to tell yourself OK, I’m still 60 and I have 10 more years before I turn 70. When you turn 70 you say to yourself it’s good to be 70 because 70 is the new 60. You just keep rationalizing. Everybody ages. Time passing is unstoppable. Best to just go with the flow and don’t stress about it. Besides which, think about the fact that in five years you’ll be eligible for Medicare and if you choose your Social Security benefits. That’s not a bad thing. Sixty is the new forty. I find this easy to believe. Humans are expected to reach age 150 in the near future. In fact, that person has already been born. Hey. It could be ME.I don’t feel much different at 62 than I did at 32. I don’t believe in Botox or other surgical interventions and I have been happy to age naturally. I realize that in 50 years I won’t be here, but for me life is a just a part of my existence. Death is just another passage. To age well you eat decently your entire life, get exercise, go to the doctor yearly and the dentist regularly. You keep having sex, you maintain your friendships and stay close to your family. You find things you like to do. And stay happy.As it turned out, some of the best years of my life have been after 60. Not that the earlier years haven’t been bad - indeed at times just as great.I moved lazy man's south at age 68 and immediately gained more weight, it's peaceful and quiet but just not as physically active here as in the north. I am about 40 pounds overweight based on Manhattan physical standards but considered skinny here in the south where fatness reins. Gods . . . there are a lot of really fat people here. And I have no arthritis, my hair isn't getting wispy and my voice is still strong and not changing. My skin isn't covered in weird little warts and brown shapes. Only a few wrinkles here and there. People say I look like I am in my late 50s or early 60s. Even my two heart bypass operations in my 50s didn't slow me down. I walk regularly at Fleckers (an exercise gymnasium). If you remain engaged and have passions and curiosity about life, nothing much changes. I have taken good care of physical myself and kept my mind in constant learning mode, whether with books or classes or experiences my whole life.I can't vote here, all candidates are ultra conservative Republicans, not a thinking man in the bunch. I can't go to church either, its a different political world than my very diverse and critical thinking New York, here it's Trump country preached from the pulpit and in the meandered in the Fellowship hall, no homosexuals, nor any of the brown skinned immigrants allowed, and what's wrong with Trump's name calling and indecency.As the years go by, I find myself, more and more, disappointed in how far askew the younger generation’s goals and desires are from my own goals and desires when I was their age. When I was a teen, I yearned for adventure and daring do. I wanted to join the Navy and fight for my country and see the world. I wanted a lifelong career with the same company. I wanted a career. wanted a house. I wanted kids.But kids today actually show an open contempt for anything that connotes permanence or settling down. They are frivolous being caught up in Social Media. They know more about Face Book then the world. History is an anathema to them. They don't know anything about our constitution much less WW II, Communism, Civil Rights Battles, Martin Luther King, They want careers that will allow them to jump from company to company.They don’t want to own a normal house. That’s too much of a commitment. They want something temporary, like an apartment, or something small, like a tiny house on wheels. A house that doesn’t move, with a mortgage that lasts more than a year? No thanks. They see marriages as temporary things. They don’t see the role a marriage plays in raising a family. To them, those are two separate things: being married and raising children. And they don’t want children. Don’t get me wrong - there are a LOT of really nice and responsible, respectful people of all generations out there and I love that.So life goes on . . . Every time you enter a new decade it feels like you’ve gotten so much older. It’s the 9’s of each decade that gives you a whole year to anticipate falling into the next decade. And once you actually have a birthday, it just doesn’t seem as bad as you anticipated.I’ve always been rather proud of the fact that I tend to bounce back quickly when I get hurt. That’s a good thing, because I tend to do more than my fair share of stupid shit, so I wind up getting banged up more than the average. I never felt old, until my body started giving me hell. For me, it wasn’t an all of a sudden, light bulb going off epiphany. It was gradual. I used to walk a lot, had to give that up because I couldn't climb the hill i my development. Swimming was easier. I’ll admit I’m no spring chicken. I’ve done a few laps around the sun (which is just an expression obviously, everyone knows the sun revolves around the earth…which is also flat). So when I arrived to see this band play I felt like my usual self.There are of course drawbacks. One of the first things you notice is that younger people start to address you as “sir”. The problem about feeling younger than your real age is that you don't realize how your image impacts on others. When I was in my teens, I found it ridiculous when I watched what I called “old people” (many of them younger than I am now) do “hip” things, and desperately searching for a lost youth. Although I do some stuff that may not be perceived as “typical” to my age (whatever that means), I somewhat still feel that way. But I also know that my generation is different than the people that were 50 when I was young. More liberated, more informed, more accepting, more confident.Another thing is that you become “invisible” to younger people, specially to the opposite sex, and it doesn't even have to mean that you have some interest in them. This is one of the first things I had to come to terms with, as a man. You look at women your age and somehow they look older than you, because you “feel” young. The sentiment is probably mutual. But then you realize that you have much more in common with (some) women your age, and you get over it. By the way does anyone experience the same as I do when I look at my reflection in the mirror and when I look at a picture of myself? Why do I always look older in the photo - even if it is recent - than when I look at my reflection?Another thing is that I always find it surprising when I find out that people I haven't met for ages do not look as they did when I last saw them. For some reason I retain the image of people as I knew them at a young age, and absurdly, on a subconscious level expect them, on a first impact, to never grow out of that image. I of course lie politely to them, “you haven't aged a day!” and they reply in the same fashion. But all in all, I have to say the experience of growing older has been way better than I imagined in my teens.And lastly, I'm very fortunate to live in a country with incredible food and a long-lasting culture of eating and drinking well, way, way before it was made fashionable, so a lot came to me at a late age. Listen, I am talking about Pepperoni Pizza and Cheeseburgers with onions and pickles. These are, along with the self-confidence that seeing and having been through a lot of varied experiences brings to anyone, some of the most positive aspect I experienced as I grew old.When I was 72 and saw an attractive young woman I only appreciated them as the most wonderful creatures God placed on the face of this earth and the experience is gratitude for their existence and the impulse is to be protective of them and for nothing at all from them.And about the need for excitement, life is much too precious to have any need to take such risk as doing dangerous thing, but on this point, that is something i miss and if I had to do it over, I would in fact take even more risk, but it would all be carefully calculated risks worth taking.I must admit I was slow to learn from my experiences and it has now become clear enough to me, that it was in a way which is difficult to explain, that it was from my worst mistakes that I learned what I most desperately needed to learn, and rising above my most painful experiences proved to be the most rewarding. What proved to be my greatest personal accomplishment in term of achieving a greater degree of freedom was to effectively rid myself of my own anger.I would say 70 would be a better marker; 60 for me was OK, but now that I am over 80 I notice more change. Memory could be a lot better. My strength has taken a battering. I used to be really strong and now, well, not so much. Stamina has dropped a lot. I last about an hour weeding the garden, whereas I could triple that a few years ago.Now I’m only 82, but, other than wanting the extra 40 pounds to melt away, every single part of my life is content, better than it was ten and even twenty and oh yeah thirty years ago. There is great peace of mind to be had when you are older, and not because you’ve “given up.” Nobody can tell me anything about me that I don’t already know. Nobody can shame me, because I’ve taken care of those issues, and I have a great relationship with myself. I look much younger, people generally put me in the early-mid fifties, and frankly, on a physical and psychological level that is how I feel. Doctor-related activities eat up most of our social security checks. I enjoy reading old magazines in sub-zero temperatures in the waiting room, so I don't mind. One thing we enjoy is comparing our test results with each other at the Community Center. Lately, we are posting "winners" and "losers" on the bulletin board. It doesn't seem to matter much when we compare the obituaries to the board - everyone passes and it's all in God's hands.My mind is still young. The body is not. I can't walk much anymore and I get worn out easily. You hear so much about mind over matter, the will being strong, you can do it, just will it . . . but I can't. Maybe it's just me, but even if I wanted to walk a marathon to save my life, I won't be able to. But I have my computer for writing in my house man cave and my garage man cave filled with tools so I can build or fix things in my work shop. I still have all my wood working and mechanic skills to keep me busy. Yeah, one of the frustrating things about growing older is a young mind trapped in a growing-old body. Because I am, as you can see, one lucky bastard, I never even thought about preparing for later years with any kind of regime.So when did I realized I was old, well, I never saw it coming and it seams that it just crept up on me just recently, and I am not even sure if I even bothered accepting it. Just last week, I couldn't resist lying to a younger woman who smiled at me and I told her I was only 45 and the only reason I look old and worn out is because I was very badly abused, but she just laugh at me. I then try to impress on her that I had high moral standard and I told her that i hated that when women saw me as nothing more than cheap toy boy, but she laughed even more. I then tried to stop her from laughing at me and I told her that I was very delicate and I very easily get a little bit hurt and she laughed even more, so no matter how romantic I am, I can't even get an ounce of sympathy.It seams to me that they only liked me when I was a bad boy, and I am too near the time when I am to meet up with the Big Guy to risk being bad, but I am thinking about that a lot these days. It was a time when I got a lot of what I wanted, and I had a lot of fun, even though I was tormented, as I could and did use my anger to mostly escape being aware that I was tormented and well enough to convince myself I could get away with it all, but it appears to me that I became so increasingly reckless that a time came when it became no longer possible for me to escape responsibility and I was forced to face the truth and that was how a window into reality was finally opened, and that maybe the greatest luck I ever had.One of the things we do often is revisit the best times of our life, our children, our accomplishments, maybe even things like military experiences, our world travel, most interesting people we have met, and our existential understanding of mankind. But we don’t think too much about the worst times, why the hell would one want to remember them anyway?But we all have those sour notes in our lives and discarded them into that secret heap of smelly garbage in the back of our minds lest we forget, lessons learned, we don’t want to go there again! In other words, we all suffer from some form of PTSD.How about regrets. Any serious issues there. As I look back I do have some regrets, although I am sure, given a chance to do it over again, I would do the same things, but perhaps not get so involved and committed to some of them. For example, I would not have stayed in the South for ten years during the socially volatile 1950s - 1960s. I had learned in the Navy that New York City was my spiritual, intellectual and emotional home and I should have gone there sooner instead of suffering in the regressive and segregated South for so many years. Not that I didn’t have good times in the South, there were five years of enjoyable ‘Hunting in Dismal Swamp,’ ‘Fishing on Chesapeake Bay’ and working at my home, the Norfolk Naval Base for IBM. I just stayed too long and it wore me out and embittered me. Then I stayed 30 years in Manhattan and really got worn out, and you might say, warped to the real “Thing” that makes life so wonderfully glorious. Manhattan has a way of absorbing one into frivolousness and joy riding through life and evading those simple truths that really count.How about my values. I supported the 1960s Civil Rights Struggle and have always been a ‘social liberal.’ But this last year my values were put to the test again what with the disgruntled Republican presidential election primaries and “the 47 per cent or 1 per cent” election putting on a three-ring circus of hate and discontent. I thought I was a Republican having supported that cause for fifty some odd years, then those barbarous Tea Party types crawled out of the wood work and the “My way or the highway” class separating crackpots were having their field day. It was back to bigotry, forget modern civil rights, revert to the social equilibrium of the 19th century, as ‘political and religious extremism’ were now the new calling cards for Republicans. I wondered what in the hell happened to my old gentle - private sector orientation - Republican party of my fathers and I am asking, “Have people in this country gone that acrimonious and uncaring?” That is a question going unanswered!So what is the quintessence of life? A degree of cynicism helps! The ability to laugh loudly, see the funny side. The ability to accept the bumps in the road. To live in the moment. To have a range of emotions, to feel freely and deeply. To think and learn, grow and develop, to enquire and discover. To have links, connection and deep bonds with other people. Enough "money" to live on, to have your basic needs met, somewhere to live etc. Having something to do, someone to love and something to live for.Bottom line, finding your place in the world and being completely content with it is the key to happiness. What makes life worth while? There are many things and many persons that make life worthwhile. Whether it be knowing that you've affected even just one person for the better in your life, it's your mark. As you get older you learn to really appreciate the little things, after turmoil, struggling and stress you appreciate a sense of calm and "normality." It’s like you have to lose things, then find them again to appreciate what you've got. Bad times and struggles enable you to appreciate the good. And never forget, hope makes life worthwhile and there will always be hope so long as one can have a positive outlook towards the uncertain future . . . hence all we need to do is to inculcate a positive outlook.I feel the cold much more. My temper is worse and my patience is less. I get riled up easily, especially over politics. My sight is slightly worse, but I can still drive safely without glasses, and can read a newspaper without glasses if the light is good. It takes me a bit longer to do serious brainwork. But I see no signs of real mental deterioration. Stuff I write gets published. My stamina has decreased. So far, no chronic aches and pains. Yes, minor injuries take a bit longer to heal, but nothing dramatic. The annoying feature is the need to pee more often: I carry around a rather precise mental map of public toilets or concealed spots when in urban areas.What I find particularly frustrating about getting into the third period of my life (3 times 27 years plus 1 makes 82, the average life expectancy of a Swiss male) is that society thinks that I am getting old and avoids me. Nevertheless, some of my original equipment starts to break down. Here are some of the things that happen: