UC advocates for healthful living are writing a new definition for the word "environment." The term, they say, is the best way to describe where we live our lives - home, work, school, restaurants, shopping centers, movie theaters, stadiums and more. UC Cooperative Extension is working to raise Californians' awareness about the need to change our environment to reverse the alarming increase in obesity, overweight and associated diseases.

Articles

• Frequently asked questions about sports drinks
• Perceived high cost deters farmworkers from eating produce, according to UC study
• "Prevention" and "acceptance" key words for dealing with obesity
• UC scientists confirm healthier food costs more
• Toll-free number gives the public easy access to sound nutrition information
• UC experts say a perspective change is needed in obesity prevention
• News tips about UC activities to improve child and adult nutrition and physical activity and to prevent obesity in various California locations
• Healthful eating would bring big economic boost to California farmers
• How can Californians be overweight and hungry? (pdf from California Agriculture magazine, Volume 58, Number 1)

Experts

• University of California sources of information on healthful eating
  UC nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisors and specialists are charged with bringing the latest research-based information on nutrition to the public. They conduct education programs, working especially with California's low-income population, a group prone to overweight and obesity. These experts are also open to working with the news media.

Resources

• AsisTel - UC Cooperative Extension by telephone - now includes twenty recorded messages with specific advice for families who wish to develop healthful eating and exercise habits. Call toll-free (800) 514-4494. PDF brochure that lists topics and corresponding numbers.
• UC ANR nutrition, weight and health educational curricula flyer "Let's Get Moving" (pdf)

UC Web sites on nutrition, weight and health

• Center for Weight and Health - Provides leadership of interdisciplinary, science-based solutions to body weight, health and hunger-related problems.
• EatFit - Recipes, links, games and information for teens.
• Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program - Improves lives of limited-resource youth and families with young children through practical lessons on basic nutrition and healthy lifestyles, resource management, and food safety.
• Lunch Box Handouts - La lonchera (San Luis Obispo County) - Assists preschool parents in packing healthy brown bag lunches for their preschool children
• Chronic Diseases Links (Contra Costa Country)
• UC ANR web site - Portal Web site for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
• ANR Communication Services - ANR online catalog which contains UC-produced educational materials
• Department of Nutrition, UC Davis - Seminars, nutrition information, news, courses
• UCLA Center for Health Policy Research - Source of health policy information in California