This Blueprint outlines practical, consumer-focused, state and local strategies for improving eating and physical activity that will lead to healthier lives for children, adults and families. The Blueprint provides communities, consumers, organizations, agencies and programs with strategies and potential actions to address priority nutrition and physical activity issues in the context of their own community resources and needs. The suggested strategies and actions are based on the Healthy People 2010 objectives and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and reflect the perspectives of a range of public and non-profit sector organizations.
In addition to these national objectives, the suggested strategies compliment and reinforce the strategic plan objectives from federal agencies. The Blueprint focuses on eating behaviors and physical activity as cornerstones for improving health and well-being. It is not designed to directly address the problem of overweight and obesity but instead, to address critical eating and physical activity behaviors that affect the broad spectrum of health promotion and disease prevention.
The Blueprint was created to address both nutrition and physical activity as these two behaviors together provide a viable approach for addressing health promotion and disease prevention. Physical activity and nutrition are complex behaviors. In the development of the Blueprint, the advisory group of physical activity and nutrition stakeholders worked diligently to ensure the content reflected the areas of expertise in physical activity and nutrition professionals in research and practice.
Nutrition and physical activity specialists working in community and public health organizations will benefit from collaboration on assessment, intervention and evaluation of policies, programs and messages that influence eating and activity behaviors. Using the Blueprint will facilitate collaboration.
|
