![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
December 26, 2011 Morning @ 09:00 pm
December 26, 2011 Morning
Tags
Lake
Michigan
Beach
Kenilworth
Morning
Water
Waves
Winter
Lake Michigan
Flickr.com
Leave a comment
A vast child obesity gap between affluent city, lower-income one @ 09:00 pm
Manhattan Beach's two miles of open waterfront give it a natural advantage in encouraging healthy lifestyles. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times / December 27, 2011)
Doris Chang limits her three sons' intake of sweets and doesn't feed them any processed or frozen food. At their Manhattan Beach home, she monitors the boys' time in front of the television and keeps them busy with baseball, basketball and karate.
About 20 miles to the northeast, Lorena Hernandez takes her 6-year-old daughter to McDonald's at least twice a week and frequently gives her Kool-Aid and soda. They go to the park often, but when they are in their Bell Gardens home, the television is usually on.
The families' divergent attitudes toward food and exercise reflect just part of the challenge facing officials as they try to close a vast and costly gap in obesity rates across the region.
Just 4% of children in affluent, mostly white Manhattan Beach are considered obese, the lowest rate countywide, according to public health officials. In poor, predominantly Latino Bell Gardens, the rate is 36% — higher than in any other city.
"They are like two different worlds," said Paul Simon, who directs chronic disease prevention for the county health department.
Obesity among the young is starting to level off in California and around the nation. But stark disparities persist, posing vexing obstacles to further change.
In Los Angeles County alone, the obesity epidemic costs about $12 billion a year for healthcare and in lost productivity, according to a 2006 report by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.
The challenges are plain at the Bell Gardens Community Health Clinic, where physician Jacqueline Lopez, deals with the consequences: diabetes and heart disease. She delicately coaches families to pick healthful foods and break through cultural barriers. Many Latino parents, she said, simply don't recognize the risks of their children being overweight.
"There is a misperception that bigger children are healthier children," she said. "I am trying to be sensitive, but really what we are talking about is these children are at risk of having a shortened life span."
Arturo Gonzalez said his 13-year-old daughter's doctor recently told him she is 30 pounds overweight and showing early signs of diabetes. "I am worried," he said, watching his 5-year-old son play on a swing set in a Bell Gardens park. "We talk about the consequences of being overweight.... She listens, but it goes in one ear and out the other."
Gonzalez said his children watch too much television, snack too much and complain when he makes them take walks. He has enrolled his daughter in an after-school program to cut down on TV time and snacking.
But he doesn't think poverty is a culprit. "In Mexico, we were poor, but we weren't overweight," he said, recalling that children in his homeland drank water instead of soda and walked a lot.
Bell Gardens' officials are trying to combat the problem. They recently declared obesity a "serious public health threat," banned sodas from park vending machines and are discussing adding track and fitness equipment as part of a park renovation.
"We are trying policy-wise to make changes, but we can't dictate what parents do in their homes," said city recreation director Pam Wasserman. For parents on tight budgets, she said, healthful food isn't always the least expensive option. "It is hard for us to compete with 10 tacos for $10."
Lorena Hernandez said her family often chooses fast-food restaurants because they are cheap. At home, she cooks Mexican specialties, such as beans, rice, tortillas and soups. Her husband has diabetes, but both she and her 6-year-old daughter, Leanne, are thin, so she doesn't worry about what they eat. "We don't really talk about it at home, honestly," she said.
Bell Gardens falls at the opposite end from Manhattan Beach on many economic and demographic indexes.
About 80% of Manhattan Beach's 36,000 residents are white, and the median household income is $127,000. Only 3% of people are living in poverty and three-fourths of residents over 25 have college degrees. There was a single homicide and 48 other violent crimes in 2010, according to the FBI.
There are relatively few fast-food restaurants and several upscale grocery stores emphasizing fresh foods, including Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Bristol Farms.
In Bell Gardens, 96% of the 44,000 residents are Latino, and median household income is less than one-third of Manhattan Beach's. Nearly one in four residents lives in poverty and just 4% of those 25 or older have a college degree. Crime is far more prevalent, with five homicides and 210 other violent crimes in 2010.
Manhattan Beach, Manhattan Beach, Bell Gardens online, Bell Gardens, Bell Gardens, Bell Gardens Community Health Clinic, Lorena Hernandez, public health officials
jwb_19740902_7001 @ 12:57 am
Bridge over Bridge @ 12:57 am
Bridge over Bridge
Overpass Basarab, Orhideea Section, Bucharest - Romania
Tags
overpass
bridge
Basarab
Orhideea
section
new
light
night
reflection
Dambovita
river
old
Grozavesti
Podul Grozveti
pod
pasaj
pasarela
reflexie
lumina
apa
water
rau
people
traffic
cars
felinar
streetlamps
public lighting
marinela 2008
Bucuresti
Bucharest
Romania
Orhidee
Dambovia River
Orhideea Section, Bucharest
