The need for these types of interventions has been abundantly documented in recent years at the national as well as state and local levels. At the national level, the Healthy People 2010 initiative cites physical inactivity, overweight, and obesity as being high-priority areas for prevention and intervention in general and especially for youths, because: 1. The percentage of overweight youths has doubled during the past 30 years; 2. As many as 70

Nurse Advocacy After sixteen years of working as a nurse, I realized more fully the impact my profession and the people in it have on public health, public safety, social norms related to health, and public policy. This MSN program has effectively prepared me for the next stage of my career as a nurse advocate who actively participates in public policy development and public health initiatives. I have been strongly influenced

Research shows that "The roughly 3.5 million fast food workers are by far the largest group of minimum wage earners in the United States. The only Americans who consistently earn a lower hourly wage are migrant farm workers," (Schlosser, 2004, p 6). Food companies exploit low income communities both in terms of selling unhealthy foods to them, and through providing poor working conditions for the community in general. Currently,

Introduction Without good nutrition, one cannot lead a quality and healthy lifestyle. Quite a number of diseases and health conditions in America and in the rest of the world are caused by poor nutrition. These diseases are known as lifestyle diseases. Of course other factors such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and reduced physical activity can also contribute to one acquiring a lifestyle disease, but the main cause is usually

Obesity in Los Angeles County The United States, while being one of the most technologically developed countries in the world, is not a healthy nation. Typically, when we think of disease pandemics we think of things like Swine Flu, Ebola, Lyme disease, etc. However, in the 21st century, we have a new pandemic that affects our children, adults, and eventually the whole population. Because of a more sedentary lifestyle, a proclivity

Barriers to provision of healthcare in rural areas include "provider shortages and infrastructure issues." (Hearne, et al. 2004) Obesity related costs are inclusive of both direct and indirect costs which include 'medical costs and lost productivity' in excess of $117 billion each year. (estimates of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; as cited in Hearne, 2004) in fact, obesity is accounted for approximately $75 billion in medical expenses in