Childhood Obesity: My Pledge + Progress

OBESITY.

Childhood Obesity. 

An alarming reality that is sweeping the nation. 

In America? 

One child in five is 'officially' overweight by the time they reach kindergarten.

[Source]

As I travel and present at conferences around the country, I am occasionally able to sit in on the presentations of others. While in Georgia for GAYC, I was able to listen in recently and SEE the slides shared via the CDC on the growing trend in America toward the ever-expanding rise of obesity across this country. 

Take a look for yourself. These maps are truly disturbing.

Take a look at where the stats begin in 1985.

Then compare the stats every 5 years. 

Alarming. Disturbing. Downright distressing. 

You can go directly to the CDC to see each map closely. 

Now look at this century.

Believe it or not -- it gets worse. 

A LOT WORSE! 

2005. 

AND YET STILL WORSE! 

2010. 

After 'seeing' these maps at GAYC, I developed those two slides above to include in my own powerpoint presentation a week later in Richmond Virginia. I am a visual learner. SEEING all of this visual 'evidence' was a game changer for me. 

For at least the last three years I have been GIVING workshops entitled: 

"Stemming the Tide to Childhood Obesity: Let's Get Moving!" 

I have been inciting my participants to get up and get moving. To get heart rates up. To drink more water. To dance throughout the day. I have even included poignant stories as illustration to bring home the need for more 'active' lesson plans. 

[Spoiler alert: I am on the verge of securing my very first, real, blog sponsor! I'm so excited, because it is a product that will directly connect to this issue of obesity and contribute to getting kids moving. STAY TUNED. I will insert the link just as soon as the ink-is-dry! Hopefully I can get all of my ducks in a row by NAEYC. Come visit me in booth #1213 to see for yourself!] 

For example. While in Arkansas last fall, one of my participants came up to me afterward to share that she had a student so morbidly obese that no other child 'picked' her in the classic game "Duck, Duck, Goose" because the little girl could NOT get up off the floor fast enough -- every one of the other children, as the 'duck' child could run all the way around the circle before the heavyweight goose-child could rise up. The teacher went on to lament that the obese girl regularly came to school with FOUR cupcakes in her lunchbox. INCREDULOUS! FOUR cupcakes?!?!?!

I asked the teacher if she had relayed her caring concerns to the parents. This well meaning teacher said "No." She didn't think that was professional/appropriate on her part, since the child's weight didn't deal with academics. Suffice it to say. We had a heart-to-heart. I challenged this caring teacher to share her concerns with the parents and to address the cupcake-issue head on. 

I wonder if she gathered the courage? What would you do? As educators, as caring adults, we need to be concerned about the WHOLE child. 

Nearly two years ago I wrote an article for our collaborative on this topic. You can click over to "PreK+K Sharing" to read my thoughts as 2012 was launched. It's awful to know that things are only worse these many months later. 

Now. Here's where the rubber meets the road. Let's get personal. 

Do you know your own BMI (body/mass index)? 

Click right here for your specific calculation.

Take a look at mine as summer began.

As summer began, I was at my Highest.Weight.Ever = 153.4 pounds. 

{That is the most I have ever, ever weighed. 

Nine months pregnant with my second child I was 153 pounds even.

Trust me. I remember.} 

My name is Debbie. 

I am a 'stress' eater. 

I am a sluggard.

I can easily be happily entertained with a laptop for hours on end.

Internet connection? Make that ALL day delirium! 

Immediately after the GAYC presentation I calculated my BMI.

Truth? Hard truth. I realized that my own BMI at my highest weight was literally at THE crossroads between normal weight and OVERweight. 

Lightbulb moment.

Today. At 146.4 I'm headed in the right direction. 

So begins the next chapter of my adventure: 

BMI WAKE-UP CALL! 

We have moved. Literally. Houses. States.

Everything's NEW and SHINY in our newly painted, new-to-us home. 

Our development has a communal work-out room. 

Can you see where I'm going with us?

A TREADMILL! 

An ocean shoreline beach! 

It's time to make daily activity the priority.

***I have a pledge to make. This is important stuff. 

If you leave a comment below this article and tell me truthfully that you have calculated your own BMI, if you include your email address, I will send you an Mp3 copy of my song

"Eating Healthy."  

This is a whole new era.

If you're following me on Instagram, you already know I have my first iPhone!  

It turns out that 'moving' is good to get one MOVING. 

All of this carting of boxes and sewing of curtains and walking about the house, putting things away and thinking up new projects is good for the scale,

which tis good for the BMI. 

Yesterday was finish-and-HANG-the-curtains in my 'studio' day!

OH yeah! LUV me my IKEA fabric! 

   

Speaking of IKEA fabric......

Our bedroom is the most kinda-sorta 'finished' of our little haven. 

From just the right angle it looks like everything is in place! 

But if I allow you another glimpse, 

you'll see the project that still awaits. 

I literally have an empty canvas that is calling....... 

It's 36 by 36" and I have an idea percolating. 

I also have a full week before I fly out to my next journey.

The thing about blogging, even photography in general...... 

You get to edit. Crop. Fix things by where you focus. 

Let me explain. 

Part of 'creativity' is allowing yourself sufficient time in the muckin' about phase. 

Look at our bathroom, now that I have the curtains altered and hanging in place. 

Here's a look at reality, just outside the frame..... 

....... I did move the vacuum cleaner and curtain remnants, 

but hopefully you get the idea. 

Focus on what is looking good! 

Remember when you are reading along on someone's blog and have the sinking feeling that your room, your kitchen, your children, your life will never look that "pulled together" ~~~~ that there is always some serious editing and staging that goes into any given finished blog article. Trust me. I know! 

My new friends on Instagram are just having the first peek at a couple of my favorite earlier projects that are DIY in nature, easily 'replicated' and hopefully provide some inspiration. I promised I'd provide the links here. My HAPPY mixed media collage is already hanging in our front foyer. So this place feels like 'home.' 

If you want to see that unfold in real time, go back to this link to see the messy, happy fun I had. Or better still, just click back earlier this summer, to see how this project incited a whole cyber project without my even knowing it. Talk about the power of the internet! 

Now shift gears to a very sentimental piece. 

My 'angel' project is especially near and dear to my heart. That is what I painted upon the death of my dear friend 'Saint.' Engaging in a creative activity during such loss was therapeutic. Seeing her brightly restored, with flair and hair, everyday offers me hope. I know she watches over me. You can go back in time to read about our relationship as fellow Breast Cancer survivors. 

Note-to-self: That's a book I need to write, all in one place. The woman was heroic in her battle. The connection between the two of us was worth distilling into words. 

Here is the progress as documented on that Easter weekend between her passing and the funeral. Only Pat would have the perfect timing and to leave Earth in the midst of Easter weekend. So fitting. So Pat. So fortunate to have met and spent quality time with her. 

Now. Back to 'real time' and the unfolding of our new little place. This marks a whole 'nother level of fun ahead. I had been seeing the cyber-ads for a site called Zulily. I have taken the dive into understanding what their concept is all about. Deals. Sales. Price slashes. If you see it, you'd better order it, before it is no longer available. 

We needed an area rug for our dining room area. I searched on Zulily. I found something terrific. I didn't order it at that moment because I got distracted. It was 'gone' by the time I remembered a couple of days later. AKKKKK. VERY fortunate for me that just a week later, they had a different set of area rugs deeply discounted, because I found the RUG OF MY DREAMS at a crazy low price I could afford. I had learned my lesson! I ordered it immediately! 

LOOK AT MY NEW HAPPY RUG!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Perfect BEYOND words for our happy house! 

My happy rug marks a new evolution for my blogging/pinning experience. 

Moving forward, as I have time, I will occasionally be pinning directly from Zulily to my newest pinboard entitled: 

"Shopping, Sharing, Saving"

And here's the full disclosure:

I'm an affiliate. 

When you make your first purchase at Zulily as a result of one of my pins, I get a thank you gift credit.

How cool is that? 

I thought you'd like to see the dining room as it is now!

Thanks to IKEA for the light fixture, red shelf and curtain fabric. 

Stay tuned for the 'make-over' on this mirror. See the bad spot? 

That was a crazy long ramble about my progress on the theme, 

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" 

I want to be a great-grandma! 

That means I want my BMI in the healthy range.

That means I need to "Move more + eat less." 

I want to have time and space to be creative.

I am heading in the right direction for all of the above.   

Tulip Purse Class

There are several things I adore about living in our SummerGlen homestead here in sunny Florida. Number one? The amount of sun on a daily basis. Number two? Aerobic Line Dancing: today after six weeks was my first sixty minute class where I knew ALL sixty minutes of what was going on!!!! It is such a thrill to move with a choreographed group. Borg. Group think. I LOVE the moving in step, the group's moving together, the oxygen-to-the-brain, the workout, the steps, the commeraderie, the laughter, the exercise, the heat, the FINALLY getting a dance number after weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks of approximation -- getting closer and closer and closer. Today was the day of wowzer!!! The morning of nailing it. The crossing the finish line. The feeling slightly smug, as a new snowbird arrived for her first time and it appeared to her that I knew what I was doing. I DID IT!!!! I even did the entire "Life's a Dance" which is my personally, most complicated and fastest number so far. Wow was I thrilled!!!! A year ago I was riding the recliner and attempting to walk around the block. This year? Ninty minutes of aerobics! (Today I could only stay for the 60 minute class, as I needed to get along down the road for....................................)

Number three? Quilt club!!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago a half dozen of us gathered up in the craft room under the superlative direction of Sue Farr. Her patience and diligence have taught me soooooooo much!!! This pattern is not for the faint-of-heart. It says it's a two hour project. This is the very definition of LOL!!! Let me just say that it's taken me 12 hours so far and I'm VERY near to the finish line. I just have some more decorative top-stitiching to complete and I can pat myself on the back. I had never made custom piping before (definitely a couple of steps above my junior high Home Ec pay-grade) and Sue has a method of attatching a magnatized closure snap that I can guarentee ya will be there until the turn of the next century!!!!

Earlier this week I found this PERFECT do-dah decoration at a thrift shop on an outing with my local scout, Edwina. I still must figure out how to affix this 'perfect' black & white polka dot earring on the top flap closure. We had a brain trust -- brain storm and I think I know how to proceed. Anyhow, all of what remains is purely cosmetic enhancement with the doo dah's extra smile giving me the extra mile. Tomorrow, on a new set of energy, I will complete the two hour purse in the needed 12.75 hours.

Those interior pockets are too amazing for words. One each for my cell phone, my wallet and my camera -- with a bonus extra pocket for good measure. OOOOOOOOoooooooooh, I can put my business card, polka dot card case in there!!! Mission accomplished!!!!!!

Recombobulation

We made it safely to Milwaukee airport, got our baggage checked and through security without incident. As we were getting our shoes back on and everything sorted out, when Allen noticed the signage overhead. I promise. This is the actual sign once you are thru the TSA security. No photo-shopping needed (not that I would know how.) LOL. It's interesting to consider that there can possibly be a sense of humor in national travel these days.