The BIG Picture

America is losing the battle of the bulge. Each year, we let out our collective belts a little more... Now, obesity is literally spilling over the corn belt and impacting the health and quality of life for Americans from coast to coast.

For years, we have tried to address rising obesity rates with intervention programs including nutrition education and physical education programs. Despite all of our hard work with these programs, the obesity rate has continued to rise, seemingly unaffected by our efforts. Why?

The Solution Seems Simple
Americans just need to get off their couches, move more, eat healthier, and eat less, right?

Well, yes. But it's not that simple. To really get at the root of the problem, we have to figure out why we Americans aren't moving more and eating healthier.

The Problem is Complex
If a child walks out the front door of his or her home to deteriorated sidewalks or none at all, has no place to exercise, faces unsafe streets due to traffic or crime, has an abundance of unhealthy fast food options, and poor nutrition and physical education programs in the schools, then that child is at high risk of becoming obese.

A staggering number of communities throughout the country, from the urban core to rural areas, face many or all of these obstacles. In order to fully address the obesity epidemic, we need to transform our community environments by providing safe places to walk, places to exercise, access to healthy foods, and education about the importance of healthy eating and physical activity.

Active Living
Americans used to move a lot more. We walked to the store, we walked to the park, we biked to work, we took the stairs, we walked our children to school. We need to build physical activity back into our daily lives. That's what Active Living means. Currently, there are obstacles to Active Living at every step -- quite literally in some communities.

Some Real Solutions: Access, Education, and Design
In order to promote healthy and active communities, we need to address issues of access (access to healthy foods, access to safe public spaces to recreate), we need to improve education about healthy eating and active lifestyles, and we need to improve the design of our communities to encourage active living.

Trailnet's Healthy and Active Communities Initiative will work with four communities in the St. Louis region (2 St. Louis neighborhoods, one suburb, and one rural community) to address these issues and transform them into Healthy & Active Communities.