Groups ask First Lady to consider an "outdoor component" in her childhood obesity fight.
Excerpt from the letter below:


Dear Mrs. Obama:

On behalf of our tens of millions of members and supporters, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for your commitment to combating childhood obesity. We applaud your childhood obesity initiative for promoting improvements in school lunches, access to healthy foods, physical activity and nutriti…
The New York Times ran an article, Play, Then Eat: Shift May Bring Gains at School.

"Can something as simple as the timing of recess make a difference in a child’s health and behavior?

Some experts think it can, and now some schools are rescheduling recess — sending students out to play before they sit down for lunch. The switch appears to have led to some surprising changes in both cafeteria and classroom."

Here at Peaceful Playground…
Two recent studies emphasize the importance of fitness for brain health.

In one of the studies, published earlier this month in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, 8,800 people who were 25 and older were followed for six and a half years. The study found that each hour of television they watched daily was associated with an 18 percent increase in deaths from heart disease and an 11 percent increase in mortality rates overal…
The idea of a tax on soda seemed like a good one to many people. After all, the sugar in soda and the resulting increase in calorie consumption has been a concern to health advocates for some time.

Well. Put that on the back burner for now. According the the LA Times, "Employing a broad-based lobbying effort, the soft drink industry has smothered a plan to tax sugared beverages -- a plan advocates said would have reduced obesity and helped…
This is a press release from the NASPE office regarding the 2011 proposed PEP Grant changes.




Obama Administration Proposes Changes to PEP Program for FY 2011

RESTON, VA, February, 2010 – In an effort to streamline the Department of Education (USDE)'s programs and increase effectiveness, the President's FY 2011 budget contains major changes to the PEP grant program. According to the USDE Website, the President's budget proposes to elimi…