INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — With the rates of childhood obesity and diabetes reaching epidemic proportions locally as well as nationwide, Nancy Heinrich’s Growing Healthy Kids initiative comes not a minute too soon.
Incorporated in 2009, the all-volunteer organization is tackling the issues early on – at the elementary school level.
“The problem is worsening; especially in this county. Nationally one in three children and two in three adults are overweight. We can’t wait till the kids are in high school to start,” said Heinrich, founder and executive director of Growing Healthy Kids. “It’s got to start at the elementary level – the sooner the better. We have a generation of children whose lives are at stake.”
A grassroots team including Patrick McCarty, Indian River County School District director of Food and Nutrition Services, members of the Health Department, school nurses, PE teachers, and Dr. Deepti Sadhwani, has been tracking the BMI (Body Mass Index) of all first-, third- and sixth-grade students and the annual data indicates a growing trend – literally.
“It’s getting worse; the older they get, the worse it gets.”
Heinrich shifted a career in communicable disease control with the Florida Department of Health into chronic disease control and prevention, initially working to improve the eating habits of older adults.
It was while designing an educational diabetes program for the Medicare population that she had her “ah-ha” moment.
“I knew that I had to start working not at the intervention level – here’s the problem; now fix it – but at the primary prevention level, before someone is diagnosed; before they have all the complications.”
“We need to empower people,” said Heinrich of the inspiration behind her first book, Healthy Living with Diabetes: One Small Step at a Time. “The answer has to be something as simple as what you can put in the palm of your hand.”
She next turned her attention on ways to “halt, reverse and prevent childhood obesity.”
“We have to stop it from getting any worse. The kids that already have it, we can reverse it. The kids that don’t already have it, we can prevent it.”
Her newest book, “Nourish and Flourish: Kid-Tested and Approved Tips and Recipes to Prevent Diabetes,” is written for parents in a straightforward, simple manner.
To those parents who ask, “How can I afford to feed my kids healthy foods?” she says, “Give me an hour and I’ll show you how.”
What started as a collaborative effort with the late Ronnie Hewett, then executive director of the Indian River County Boys and Girls Clubs, is evolving into a vision for global leadership.
“There are people all over the world reading about what we’re doing,” says Heinrich of the Growing Healthy Kids blog-spot.
“What I’m building is an organization that can continue to grow, but what we need to do now is to expand the local base; bring in some people locally. I’d love to have a pediatrician, an attorney, someone in the finance community. We can do some pretty mighty things when the resources are bigger. We’re starting small, being successful at what we do, and planting the seeds so we can grow.”
She is working with McCarty and Dr. Fran Adams, IRC Schools Superintendent, to alter the school district’s wellness policy and promote healthier eating, and has also made presentations to cafeteria managers.
Their current focus is on Vero Beach Elementary, with Glendale Elementary on the horizon.
“It might ruffle a few feathers, but the thing is when you have schools with more than 90 percent of the kids at reduced or free lunch…these kids deserve access to healthy foods. Their parents deserve access to information about how to bring healthier foods into the house.”
It can be as simple as teaching how to read misleading food labels or demonstrating how much sugar is hidden in the foods they consume.
“Sugar has no nutritional value; it’s empty calories but it’s calories. It’s one of the driving factors behind the diabetes epidemic.”
Heinrich points to a 23 oz. can of Arizona Sweet Tea, dented and pockmarked after numerous demos, and a quick glance indicates it has 90 calories.
But there are actually three serving sizes in one can, meaning 270 calories.
“It’s misleading,” says Heinrich, who uses piles of actual sugar to demonstrate what 17½ teaspoons of sugar – the amount in that one can – would look like. “It freaks out the adults.”
Heinrich and Bonnie Swanson, principal at Vero Beach Elementary, will launch a six-month Growing Wellness Champions program at the school in November, targeting nutrition education for children and parents.
“I’ve been writing a curriculum for it and I think we’re going to have a lot of fun. We’re going to be building cookbooks for everyone to take home with them. It’s something we’ve been talking about since the kitchen was designed. There’s going to be a lot of magic happening here.”
The goal is to use food from the school’s new hydroponic, square foot and container gardens; involving children from the garden level to the kitchen level.
“It’s our variation of a seed to dining table project.”
Giant salad parties for third grade students have already proven to be a big hit with the kids, who make their own individual salads using a selection of healthy, seasonal choices.
“Children were the chefs,” says Heinrich. “I taught them how to make up a simple vinaigrette, with lemon, olive oil, Dijon; they could experiment with different vinegars and could pick the flavors they like. We show them how easy it is to eat healthy when you know what to do.”
To parents she stresses the importance of eating family dinners together and eating breakfast every day.
“If mom and dad don’t eat breakfast, the kids are more likely to skip it. In a lot ways all I’m doing is reminding people about the basics.”
Another collaborative effort involves unmatched children in the Youth Guidance mentoring programs, pairing healthy food projects, such as Hummus at Humiston parties and farmers’ market scavenger hunts, with a fitness component, added because of a concern over insufficient physical education in school.
“Kids get 30 minutes of PE a week in elementary schools in this county. They need 60 minutes a day at least.”
The solution to a decades old problem won’t happen overnight, but she says with a smile, “I run into these kids today who tell me…“Remember that pepper plant you taught me how to grow? We’re still growing it and still getting peppers.” That’s what Growing Healthy Kids is all about.”
