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Healthy Kidz & Teenz was developed out of a need for more health oriented programs and events for young children and adolescents. H K & T recognizes that physical activity and proper nutrition is a crucial part to having good health. Obesity and other health disorders related to unhealthy eating
habits and inactivity have engulfed the United States, Canada and
Europe, and are gradually spreading to the developing world. According
to the International Obesity Task Force report, 155
million children
worldwide are classified as overweight and 30
to 45 million as
obese. There is now an expectation that many children born today
will have shorter life spans than their parents. The prevalence of obesity amongst children between 6-11 years of
age more than doubled in the past 20 years, going from 7 percent
in 1980 to 18.8 percent in 2004. The rate amongst adolescents between
12-19 years of age more than tripled, increasing from 5 percent
to 17.1 percent in the United States alone. In Canada, rates of obesity amongst children and adolescents between
2-17 years of age are steadily increasing. By 2004, 8 percent or
an estimated 500,000 were obese. The 2006 National Survey revealed that more than one quarter of children in Mexico between the ages of 5 -11 are overweight; this is a 40 percent increase since 2000. The highest increase was that of Mexican males, who had increased to 77 percent. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that approximately 20 percent of Australian children and adolescents are overweight or obese. The Chinese government calculates that 1 in 10 city-dwelling children are now obese. In Italy and Sicily, 36 percent of children between 7-11 years of age are now considered the most overweight and obese in Europe. The International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO)
reports that obesity is now a major disease in some parts of Africa,
along with HIV AIDS and malnutrition; it is evident that obesity
and malnutrition now co-exist at the same time and in the same
country (the highest rates of obesity are reported to be in South
Africa). Making matters worse, physical education classes have been significantly
shortened in many countries because of changes in priorities and
budget cuts. In the past, school was a place where children received
a sufficient amount of exercise; however since 1977 three fourths
of schools in the US either terminated the physical education teacher
or reassigned them to other classes. While the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Surgeon General recommends
that every person get at least 30 minutes of moderate activity
(walking, riding a bike, hiking, swimming, or any other aerobic
activity that gets your heart beating faster) every day, in increments
of at least 10 minutes, our children may only receive one or two
physical education classes a week. However, moderate activity is
only part of the recommendation. Children should also get at least
20 minutes of vigorous activity three to four times a week (vigorous
activities include power walking, jogging, running, and cycling
just to name a few). The staggering consequences of decreases in physical activity,
improper eating habits and low health literacy are clear: increased
rates of obesity, type II diabetes and risk for heart disease. Healthy Kidz & Teenz objective is to confront these health issues by providing families, educators and the public with the programs and events needed to give our youth a better quality life.
We are a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation under US IRC Sec. 501(c)(3)
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