NAAFA Responds to USDA’s Proposed Rule re. School Wellness Policies

FOSTER CITY, Calif. - April 28, 2014 - PRLog -- Foster City, CA - The Board of Directors of NAAFA, a civil rights organization working to eliminate discrimination and improve the lives of people of large body size, offers the following comment regarding the proposed rule regarding Local School Wellness Policy Implementation under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. This proposal would require “each local LEA participating in the National School Lunch Program and/or School Breakfast Program to develop a local school wellness policy that promotes the health of students and addresses the growing problem of childhood obesity.” According to the CDC, obesity rates in adults and children in the United States have remained largely unchanged during the past 14 years.

We believe that the health of all students is extremely important and that focusing on any one group of children is detrimental to their health and well-being. The focus of such programs needs to be on health, not on weight.  People come in all sizes and body diversity is normal.

Key points to consider include:
•    School-based eating curricula can lead to eating disorders.
•    Obese children suffer psychological, social and health-related consequences as a result of weight bias and discrimination.
•    Arkansas Act 1220 which instituted programs such as reducing junk food in schools, creating advisory committees and issuing BMI report cards was an epic failure.
•    School wellness programs should include a component that focuses on emotional well-being and mental health.
•    Programs should focus on healthy behaviors, not on body weight or size.

In the 2013 study, Trading Health for a Healthy Weight: The Uncharted Side of Healthy Weights Initiatives, children with eating disorders attributed eating pattern changes to information garnered from school-based healthy eating curricula. It is essential that we frame the information given to children in a way that will not stigmatize or create unhealthy attitudes toward food.

A Yale Rudd Center report reviewed existing research on weight stigma in children and adolescents, with attention to the nature and extent of weight bias toward obese youths and to the primary sources of stigma in their lives; including peers, educators, and parents. As a result of weight bias and discrimination, obese children suffer psychological, social, and health-related consequences. Substantial change is needed to combat this bias.

Arkansas was one of the first states to focus on trying to eliminate childhood obesity through a variety of interventions. In 2003, Arkansas Act 1220 was enacted, instituting programs that range from reducing junk food in schools and creating advisory committees to issuing BMI Report Cards. Despite their best efforts, there has NOT been a reduction in BMI levels.

Wellness is about more than body size, food and exercise. Any school wellness program should include a component that focuses on emotional well-being and mental health:
•    Do not use language about "eliminating/reducing obesity".
•    Do not weigh students.
•    Do not send home "BMI Report Cards".
•    Do not store or divulge individual-level protected medical information, including weight and BMI.

Any and all programs which are developed under this proposed rule need to encourage students to develop healthy eating and movement habits without placing undue stresses because of a child’s weight or body size.

Focusing on weight loss, rather than health, is a failing strategy. NAAFA has developed the Child Advocacy Toolkit to help educate the public on how these types of weight-focused programs can adversely affect children. It explains how Health At Every Size (HAES) takes the focus off weight and directs it to healthy eating and enjoyable movement.

This groundbreaking toolkit will help parents, educators and caregivers understand that all kids deserve love and respect regardless of their body size or shape.  Every body is a good body.  No child should be criticized for their body.  Stop the bullying!

The NAAFA Child Advocacy Toolkit is available as a FREE download at: http://issuu.com/naafa/docs/naafa_childadvocacy2011combin...

Other resources:
http://aedweb.org/web/index.php/23-get-involved/position-...

http://bodyimagehealth.org/

Founded in 1969, NAAFA is a non-profit human rights organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for fat people. NAAFA works to eliminate discrimination based on body size and provide fat people with the tools for self-empowerment through public education, advocacy, and member support.

On the web:  http://www.naafa.org