Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing

OBESITY PREVENTION

Faculty affiliated with the Institute have secured external funding to launch and expand a variety of obesity prevention and nutrition programs both on campus and in the San Fernando Valley. One high impact project is a multi-component childhood obesity intervention in Van Nuys. Funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the project team will work with three elementary schools to improve physical fitness education, promote physical activity during recess and lunch, and improve healthy eating behaviors of students. Along with the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Northridge Hospital Center for Healthier Communities, the HUD project was designed and is being implemented by faculty members and student interns in the Departments of Kinesiology, Health Sciences, and Family and Consumer Sciences, which houses the Marilyn Magaram Center for Food Science, Nutrition and Dietetics.

TAKING THE CHILDHOOD OBESITY FIGHT TO THE WHITE HOUSE

In collaboration with the city of San Fernando, Professor Steven Loy, Ph.D., of CSUN’s kinesiology department and a group of undergraduate students developed the  “100 Citizens,” program to help San Fernando residents get active and improve their quality of life. Loy’s team spent more than a year working with San Fernando recreation officials to design a free, ongoing fitness program that would dispel the misconception that one has to join a fitness center or be a serious athlete to stay healthy. A short video documentary,“100 Citizens: Role Models for the Future.” (posted below), reviewing the program and it’s benefits was later submitted to First Lady, Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” contest and won the national competition’s Popular Choice Award, receiving the highest number of online votes from the public and was invited to the White House.

100 CITIZENS: ROLE MODEL FOR THE FUTURE

 100 CITIZENS