Eat Right. Play Hard. Live Well
The Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council invites youth to live a healthy lifestyle.
5-2-1-0+10 is a health and wellness campaign promoted by the Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative to combat childhood and youth obesity that was derived from the 5-2-1-0 Let’s Go!, a national childhood obesity prevention campaign. It was adopted last year by the East Baton Rouge Parish School System through its Wellness Policy. It has also been adopted by Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, as well as by other cities throughout the state of Louisiana, including Shreveport and New Orleans. Baton Rouge added “10” because of the growing body of research showing how lack of sleep is linked to obesity and other behavioral health issues in children.
Click the 5, 2, 1, 0, or 10 tab for more information on how you can incorporate these changes into your daily routine.
The 5210+10 curriculum promotes eating at least 5 fruit and vegetable servings per day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables provides numerous health benefits, including a reduced risk of cancer and other chronic diseases such as heart disease and kidney stones. Fruits and vegetables are also a great source for essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and other substances that are important for good health. Most fruits and vegetables are low in fat and calories; therefore, serve as a filling snack to help control your appetite. Click here to learn more about the importance of fruits and vegetables and ways to increase your daily intake.
In America, we spend half of our free time watching TV. Half! Behind work and sleep it’s the most time-consuming thing we do. In fact, the average American household has more TVs (2.73) than people (2.55)! And that doesn’t even take into account computers, smart phones, and video games. It’s been said for a long time that the less active we are, the less healthy we are, and spending time in front of screens is one of the biggest contributors to keeping us from a more active lifestyle. A lack of physical activity causes an increase in obesity and BMI (body mass index). Excessive amounts of television usage hinder the development of abstract thinking and social and language skills. Other types of activities, such as riding a bike, joining a sports team or jumping rope should be encouraged. Click here for more tips from Let’s Go! on how to decrease your daily screen time.
Regular physical activity can produce long term benefits and is necessary for weight maintenance. Being active increases the amount of calories burned, improves cognitive function, and prevents weight gain. It also improves bone and muscle structure. Those who are physically fit sleep better and are better able to handle physically and emotionally demanding situations. Endurance is developed when kids regularly engage in physical activity. During physical exercise, the heart beats faster and a person breathes harder. When done regularly, it strengthens the heart and improves the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to all its cells.
Soda, sports drink, orange juice, and an energy drink. Which of those do you think is healthy for you? A sweetened drink is any drink that is flavored by calories or sugars with little to no nutritional value. Sugars may be sweet but the health effects of sugary drinks are not. Such health effects include diabetes, obesity, heart disease and other chronic conditions. Many sweetened drinks yield no nutritional value and over-consumption leads to a rise in blood sugars. Non-sweetened drinks produce a better overall health, more energy, stronger bones and a healthy weight. Non-sweetened drinks include, water, skim milk, and 100% unsweetened juice.
So why is sleep so important? Sleep makes us happy: it’s basically a “reset” button for your body and helps control neurotransmitter levels that affect depression. Sleep makes you smarter: when you sleep your body stores the day’s memories and knowledge, making room for more the next day. Without enough sleep, your brain has a hard time retaining what it learned over the last day. Sleep also improves one’s metabolism, weight, blood pressure and cardiovascular health. Sleep is also necessary to help regulate hormones and body processes. A lack of sleep is unhealthy and leads to insomnia, hypertension, emotional disorders and obesity. Your body can’t keep going without time to rest and recharge. In extreme sleep deprivation cases, the brain can shut down, causing death. No matter how you draw it up, sleep is good for your health, so have an extra hour or two a night for you! So how much sleep do you really need? Click here to learn more.
