YMCAs Throughout State Offer Program to Get Kids in Shape ; Goal is to Reduce Obesity By Up to 10%; Partnership for Healthy Children

By GIOVANNA FABIANO, STAFF WRITER

GARFIELD — A new statewide program designed to combat childhood obesity by promoting healthy eating habits and regular exercise kicked off Tuesday at the Garfield YMCA.

“Healthy U,” a joint effort between the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, will be implemented in 359 YMCAs across the state and is open to children ages 5 to 12 who are enrolled in the organization’s after-school programs. Funded by a $1 million grant from Horizon, the initiative’s goal is to lower obesity rates by up to 10 percent in the next four years.

Jonathan Pearson, director of the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, described childhood obesity as an epidemic affecting up to 27 percent of children across the state.

“We are trying to stress the importance of nutrition and a well- balanced diet and exercise through fun, non-competitive games,” Pearson said. “They won’t even know they’re exercising.”

Several YMCA partner schools, including three in Garfield, will also participate in Healthy U programs, which include structured exercise, nutrition lessons and literature for parents. The grant runs through 2011.

To demonstrate the exercise techniques, Sal LaSpisa, school age children’s director at the Garfield YMCA, led a group of giggling 4- year-olds in a workout that included a visit from Elmo and Grover, characters from Sesame Street Live. They marched around, pretended to be airplanes, jumped up and down and danced wildly, often knocking into each other and falling to the ground in fits of laughter.

“It was fun to exercise with Elmo,” said 4-year-old Alexa Garcia. “He’s my favorite because he’s the funniest.”

Igli Haxhillari and Bryan Clark, 4-year-olds enrolled in the after-school program, said they regularly do jumping jacks, climb the monkey bars and play on the slide in the playground.

“We exercise every day, even at home, for fun,” Bryan said.

Assemblyman Gary Schaer, who is also acting mayor of Passaic, said childhood obesity and the problems that come with it, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and liver disease, are costing New Jersey taxpayers upward of $2.3 billion a year.

“It’s troubling and extremely disturbing,” Schaer said, adding that obesity rates are increasing rapidly among African-Americans and Hispanics.

“It takes a terrible toll on New Jersey’s health-care system and although legislation passed to support healthy eating initiatives is good news, we need to do more in the private sector to make this a special priority, starting with young children,” he said.

Garfield Mayor Frank Calandriello said the city has taken a number of steps to make fitness for children a high priority, including combining the efforts of the recreation center, the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club.

Healthy U is based on the Coordinated Approach to Child Health curriculum — a national, award-winning program developed by the University of Texas — with more than 15 years of proven research documenting its success in reducing childhood obesity.

The program, which also provides specialized training to YMCA staff, has three major components — physical education, proper nutrition and parental involvement.

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E-mail: fabiano@northjersey.com

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(c) 2008 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.