By: Kimberly Reed, Executive Director, International Food Information Council Foundation Date: 9/21/10
The International Food Information Council Foundation’s2010 Food and Health Survey: Consumer Attitudes Toward Food Safety, Nutrition & Health highlights an important fact: Americans continue to show a lack of understanding of “calories in” and “calories out” (also known as “energy balance”) and their relationship to weight. This is an important finding that everyone who is committed to reducing obesity in our nation should appreciate, from First Lady Michelle Obama and her Let’s Move! initiative, to leaders in our schools across the nation, to local health and nutrition professionals and to average citizens.
The headline of USA Today’s July 7 news story on the Foundation’s Survey summed it up this way: “Many Americans clueless of how many calories they do or should eat.” When it comes to calories consumed versus calories burned, the Survey illustrates that most Americans (58 percent) do not make an effort to balance the two. And, a large majority of people (77 percent) are not meeting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Physical Activity Guidelines.
As part of our Foundation’s mission, we want to change the newspaper headlines and our nation’s waistlines by helping to educate Americans – especially our youth – on the importance of “calorie or energy balance”including the calories we consume and how to incorporate more physical activity into our lives. Ongoing Foundation programs and consumer research include:
• A focus on providing solutions that can help families lead healthy and active lives, including healthful eating and active living websites for children, such as Kidnetic.com and accompanying websites for families, health professionals, and educators. The Kidnetic.com program also provides kid-tested, healthful recipe ideas; parent-focused resources including the Real-Life Guide for Parents; and a lesson-based curriculum and Leader's Guide for educators and health professionals. These sites and their complementary resources address food, fun, fitness, and feelings, and offer unique activities to get children up and moving while they are online.
• Research currently being conducted on the best ways to communicate about these topics to consumers. We hope to have results to share before the end of the year
• The Foundation’s website www.foodinsight.org focus on Weight Management Resources. It also links to some of our partners -- who are key as we work together to achieve our common goal -- and additiona l“extra helpful” resources on topics like food and nutrition information, body mass index, eating disorders, food safety, physical activity, and child and family psychology.
Today, we are pleased to applaud one of our partners, the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, as they announce the launch of their new online curriculum – http://www.energybalance101.com/ – to help educators and parents promote ways to help young people achieve a healthy weight through energy balance. The site, which is powered by Discovery Education, provides an online curriculum available at no cost to educators and will reach into 21,000 elementary schools and over 1 million teachers across the nation.
The International Food Information Council Foundation and the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation will continue to partner with, and collaborate on other programs, wishing to incorporate the basic concepts such as Energy Balance 101. Check it out, get informed, and partner up as we tackle obesity together. Remember – it’s all about balance of “calories in” and “calories out”!