Originally posted on the Let's Move! blog, in honor of the 3rd year anniversary of the Let's Move! campaign

Since early 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative has been an important driver of childhood obesity prevention efforts across the nation. Through Let's Move!, leaders in business, health care, community, and government have joined educators, childcare providers, faith leaders, chefs and many others to have a meaningful, positive impact on the health of our nation's youth. This month, Let's Move! highlighted their accomplishments from the past three years on their blog.

Here's a snapshot of some Let's Move! milestones and collaborations from the past 12 months:

• Disney announced that it will require all food and beverage products advertised, sponsored, or promoted on various Disney-owned media channels and online destinations and theme parks to meet nutritional guidelines that align with federal standards to promote fruit and vegetables and limit calories, sugar, sodium, and saturated fat by 2015.
• In support of Team USA at the 2012 Olympic Games, the US Olympic Committee and several of its national governing bodies provided beginner athletic programming for free or low cost to more than 1.7 million kids in 2012.
• The Department of Defense (DOD) announced dramatic improvements to nutrition standards for the $4.65 billion worth of food purchased every year for our troops and their families. For the first time in 20 years, DOD is updating their nutritional standards to include more fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and low-fat dairy products with every meal.
• The First Lady celebrated a series of new collaborations to supports Let's Move! Cities, Towns and Counties. Organizations such as the National League of Cities and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation committed new resources to help hundreds of local elected officials advance the goals of Let's Move! in their communities. More than 150 local elected officials have committed to the goals of the initiative.
  
• Throught the PHA "Play Streets," the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association funded street-closings to increase safe places for families to play. These areas are called "Play Streets" - city streets where kids and families can run, walk, bike, or play outside freely without traffic. In 2013, at least four Play Streets per city/town in 10 cities and towns across the country will be funded.
• In August 2012, the First Lady hosted the first-ever Kids' State Dinner celebrating healthy lunchtime recipes created by kids. The First Lady, along with Epicurious, USDA, and the Department of Education, welcomed 54 young chefs from all 50 states and U.S. territories to a luncheon at the White House serving some of those healthy creations.
• The President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition updated the President's Challenge Youth Fitness Test to reflect the latest science on kids' health and promote active, healthy lifestyles rather than athletic performance and competition. The new Presidential Youth Fitness Program is a voluntary, school-based program that assesses students' fitness-based health and helps them progress over time. The new program will be implemented in 25 percent of US schools by the end of 2013, and 90 percent of US schools by 2018.
• The Partnership for a Healthier America teamed up with 157 hospitals to deliver more healthy options throughout their facilities. These hospitals have committed to work over the next three years to improve the nutrition of patient meals as well as that of the food options in on-site cafeterias. This includes more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-calorie options, and healthy beverages.

To learn more about Let's Move!, visit www.letsmove.gov.

Physical Activity Guidelines Midcourse Report

As we look forward to another year of robust partnerships and efforts to improve the health of America's children, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, in partnership with the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, is happy to announce the upcoming release of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Midcourse Report: Strategies to Increase Physical Activity Among Youth. This report, to be released on March 8, 2013 at the Partnership for a Healthier America Summit, highlights evidence-based intervention strategies for increasing physical activity throughout various sectors of society.

Learn more by visiting http://www.health.gov/paguidelines.

Written by Dominique Dawes, Co-Chair of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition (PCFSN)

Originally posted on the PCFSN Blog, in honor of the February 6 observance of National Girls & Women in Sports Day

Each year, this observance provides us with a tremendous opportunity to help get more girls in the game, and make a significant investment in the future of our Nation. I am proud to serve as co-chair of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition and sound the alarm about the importance of ensuring equitable physical activity opportunities for all Americans.

Throughout my life, I have been transformed and inspired by sports. Since the first time I tumbled into a gymnasium at six years old to becoming an Olympic gold medalist, I was motivated and excited by the opportunities presented to me as an athlete and a coach. I owe my participation and success in

gymnastics (and so much more) to the passage of Title IX of the Education Act of 1972, which has transformed the lives of millions of girls by granting them greater access to participate in sports.

One amazing example of making this investment is in Daly City, California with the Benjamin Franklin Middle School girls’ basketball team. Their coach is 28-year-old Sarah Egan, who in addition to teaching social studies also teaches how to dribble, make layups, and block. The school has mostly low-income students from immigrant families, and Sarah faces significant challenges with her athletes.

In the first season the team didn’t win any games. But that’s not what Sarah focused on. She told her team, “You’re taking baby steps now. But you have it in you to catch up.” The next season 80 girls tried out and Sarah began to pick up the intensity. In the third season the team caught up and won their first game. Things only got better from there: they went to the championship finals. While Sarah taught these athletes the rules of the game, they learned more from each other and the game itself.

Title IX prohibits gender discrimination in educational programs. The law applies to all aspects of educational opportunities, but is most known for how it has impacted sports. Title IX requires that schools provide equal opportunities for male and female students to play sports, give male and female athletes equal athletic scholarship dollars, and provide equal benefits and services to athletes overall.

Since 1972, there has been over a 940% increase in sports participation for females in high school and the NCAA reports that there has been a 456% i

ncrease in female varsity athletes as well. In addition to the physical health benefits sports participation provides, female athletes are more likely to graduate from high school and have higher self-esteem than non-athletes.

Despite these strides, there are still more hurdles to clear. But with inspirational leaders like First Lady Michelle Obama, who launched Let’s Move! to end childhood obesity within a generation three years ago this week, I am confident that we will make even greater strides in the months and years ahead.

The positive impact of girls and women in sports is clear. The investment my family made in me as an athlete has significantly paid off, just like Sarah Egan’s has for the girls’ basketball team at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. Those girls developed skills and lessons that make them strong, smart, and competitive in all aspects of their lives. I urge you to continue to support the girls and women in your life to participate in sports and see what greater opportunities can be created.  By doing this you will be investing in a brighter future for our nation.  

For more information about National Girls and Women in Sports Day, visit: http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/en/home/advocate/ngwsd/ngwsd

For more on Sarah Egan’s story and to read more success stories from the Faces of Title IX series, visit: Faces of Title IX site: http://www.nwlc.org/title-ix/  

There are many great programs that help people engage in physical activity for a period of time - everything from group exercise classes to walking clubs. But in order to ensure that ALL people are able to reach the recommendations for physical activity as outlined in the national Physical Activity Guidelines, these programs need to be supported by policies that ensure that physical activity is within reach to people in their everyday lives so that they might stick with the behavior they are trying to achieve.

Policies can range from community-wide strategies such as "complete streets" initiatives, that make streets safe for everyone - whether they are on foot, in a wheelchair, on a bike or in a car - to worksite policies that open access to and ensure the safety of stairwells so that people can climb the stairs rather than take the elevator.

Communities across the country are part of this movement that is focusing on how policy and environmental change strategies affect health. The Y's Healthier Communities Initiatives are part of that movement, convening leadership teams in more than 200 communities to engage in strategies that promote healthy living. To date, participating communities have made more than 10,000 changes that promote physical activity.

For example, in Marshalltown, Iowa, changes included the allocation of $50,000 in the city budget for sidewalk maintenance (annually) and a $1.5 billion bike trail extension project linking two present trails to make one continous trail for community members to use throughout the community. In Brattleboro, Vermont the town plan included, for the first time, language related to community design in support of walking and cycling for routine physical activity. In Port Huron, Michigan the team convened by the Y was successful in working to increase the amount of physical activity time offered throughout the school day - doubling the required amount of physical education times in elementary schools from 1 to 2 hours per week, beginning in the fall of 2012. Wilton, Connecticut designated an area near a high school track to be used as an outdoor fitness center for use by the public.

Other examples include improving and building sidewalks; addressing safety concerns such as traffic, lighting, and police enforcement; influencing zoning guidelines to encourage physical activity; adding or expanding recess in local schools; creating or enhancing Safe Routes to Schools programs; and offering workplace incentives to engage in physical activity.

As we encourage individuals to engage in physical activity, we must remember that they often need support to make it happen. Making the healthy choice the easy choice will ensure that those healthy behaviors stay with them for a liftime.

What policies have you seen in your own community that encourage physical activity? Tell us a story about someone who has been impacted by these policies.