What a way to end the spring break, turkey with all the works, chocolate Easter eggs and enough rain to curtail the walking! Okay, I admit it, a bit of a backslide BUT I’m getting back on schedule, especially with the FNSA Conference coming up next week.

*Please note, there will be a Get Healthy Stay Healthy booth set up at the conference site April 19-20. We’ll be displaying the Xbox Kinect system along with some of the active games we distributed to schools. Delegates will have the opportunity to personally test out the games. Displayed will be photographs from various schools demonstrating and sharing the different activities they are doing in their classrooms and communities. I have a wonderfully descriptive collection of photographs from the following schools;

ELIZA ARCHIE MEMORIAL BAND SCHOOL
LAU,WELNEW TRIBAL SCHOOL
NEQWEYQWELSTEN SCHOOL
PENELAKUT ISLAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
QU W’UTSUN HU YI’XWULE SCHOOL
SK’ELEP SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE
STS’AILES COMMUNITY SCHOOL
XIT’OLACW COMMUNITY SCHOOL

If you have some photos to share please send them to me ASAP if you would like to see them displayed at the conference April 19-20.

If you will be attending the conference let me know by sending me an email so we can catch up about the Get Healthy Stay Healthy activities in your school.

Before the spring break I was invited to visit SK’ELEP, NEQWEYQWELSTEN, PENELAKUT ISLAND and QU W’UTSUN HU YI’XWULE SCHOOLS. I was very impressed with how the students are actively engaged with the XBOX games and challenge the myth that video games are all sedentary. Watching the students move about with the Dance and Sports Games made me sweat and I was just watching.

Had a wonderful time dancing with the students and staff at SK’ELEP as they learned traditional dancing. Learned how to use the IPAD as an exercise tool at NEQWEYQWELSTEN and added a few new stretch moves to my routine. Received gifts of “leaping frogs” at PENELAKUT ISLAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL and enjoyed a healthy lunch with the class. Met with the staff and students at QU W’UTSUN HU YI’XWULE and watched them actively demonstrate XBOX Sports Kinect.

Attached are some photos from those visits. Visit the Get Healthy Stay Healthy Webpage on the FNSA website for more photographs.

During the first week of the Spring Break I was honored to attend the Gathering Our Voices Conference in Penticton. Approximately 1,000 Aboriginal youth attended from all parts of Canada. It was three days of great energy, enthusiasm and optimism. With the advice of students responding to my McDonald’s Challenge, I learned how to check out the McDonald’s nutritional guide to make healthy choices instead of ordering my usual Big Mac and supersizing it!

Kudos and thanks to the students at QU W’UTSUN HU YI’XWULE SCHOOL, SK’ELEP SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE and STS’AILES COMMUNITY SCHOOL for doing the research and reporting back to me what the more healthy menu selections might be. I thank you for your collective efforts.

I will be sending to each school a $75.00 Best Buy gift certificate where you will be able to purchase additional XBOX Kinect Fitness and Active Games. I look forward to what games you select and how they can enhance your daily physical routine.

For your information I will be attaching to this journal entry a document (From Weight to Well-Being Executive Summary) that researched the ways in which we have tried to change peoples’ habits to adopt ways that would prevent obesity and to promote more healthy lifestyles. Its conclusions and recommendations suggest a paradigm that emphasizes weight loss, dieting and exercise have proven to be ineffective. Health policy makers and practitioners now seem to be favouring programs that focus on healthy eating and physical activity. Interestingly the Get Healthy Stay Healthy Challenge is based on such a framework.

SK'ELEP SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE

From the start we have embraced a program that does not focus on “going on a diet” or “training for the Sun Run”. Instead the Get Healthy Stay Healthy Challenge is based on the premise that if the emphasis is on healthy eating and physical activity, these principles will eventually result in weight loss and greater physical fitness. The attached research seems to support our premise.

To illustrate differences between the two paradigms I am attaching two articles. The article titled, 5 Steps To Help Prevent Childhood Obesityis written from the perspective of weight loss, dieting and exercise. In this article there are many references to the concept of obesity which may only reinforce the stigma and stereotypes about obese and overweight people and establish goals and expectations that are unreachable and unreasonable. I’ve taken the liberty of rewriting the article as5 Steps To Promote Healthy Living to be more congruent with the paradigm focussing on healthy eating and daily physical activity (Well-Being). The second article might be a collaborative exercise your students can work on with their family members. I’ve included a question sheet that accompanies this article. The questions are designed to check for knowledge, comprehension and application from their reading or your discussion of the content in my rewrite.

Another interesting intervention highlighted last week on CBC News looked at schools in New Brunswick schools that are sending students home with both an academic report card and a health report card. Here is the link to the article and radio report. http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2013/04/should-high-schools-across-canada-send-home-health-report-cards.html OR Google New Brunswick schools health report card.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all at the FNSA Conference April 19-20. Visit us at our booth and pick up a Get Healthy and Stay Healthy Tattoo (A New Beginning)! Till then, Get Healthy and Stay Healthy…