Help us build support in your community! We’re busy working to gather support for our effort to bring Healthy Kids Meals to Vermont Restaurants. As an active supporter of AHA-VT projects, we’d like your help.
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The Healthy Kids Meals bill has been introduced in the Vermont Legislature where we hope it will be taken up next January.
We started this effort because we know Americans currently spend more of their food budget on foods prepared away from home and children consume roughly 25% of their calories from eating out. Over the last decade voluntary efforts by the National Restaurant Association to meet nutritional standards have not shown much results. The American Heart Association is asking Vermont legislators to support the future health of Vermont’s children by ensuring all restaurant kids meals marketed to our children meet healthy nutrition standards. We are motivated by the fact that—
- Over 60% of Vermont adults and 29% of Vermont youth are overweight or obese; and obese children are at least twice as likely as non-obese children to become obese adults.
- Obese children and adults are at greater risk for numerous adverse health consequences.
- Estimated annual obesity-related medical costs for the state of Vermont are $202 million, almost half of which are attributed to Medicare ($41 million) and Medicaid ($57 million).
Over the last few months we have been working to educate restaurant owners, chefs and Vermont organizations about this effort and have gathered support from 30 restaurants, 50 organizations and more than 600 parents, teachers, health care providers, and community members.
Will you help us build support in your community?
Over the next few months Action Circles will be working with AHA supporters do educational outreach in key areas of the state to gather additional support. Please let us know if you would like to help us with our work in your community. We will give you a call soon to talk more about this and to let you know how you can help. In the meantime, if you are interested, please contact Cindy Metcalf, our field coordinator or let me know of your interest at [email protected].
If you haven’t had a chance to sign the supporter card and would like to, just click the button below. And if you’re willing--please ask your friends, family and colleagues to sign the supporter card! It’s simple!! All you need to do is share this link! http://act.yourethecure.org/xflOC5H
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