Teen Connection opens a dialogue on teen obesity

December 12, 2011 PBS Wisconsin Leave a Comment

Watch Teen Connection “Teens, Obesity and Nutrition” 7 p.m. Wednesday on Wisconsin Public Television.

Since 1980, obesity among children and adolescents has tripled.

That’s a chilling fact from the CDC that reveals exactly how tough it has become for children to maintain a healthy lifestyle in today’s culture of video games and sugary snacks and drinks. Despite its prevalence, obesity – even being slightly overweight – can be a tough subject for teens to talk about. Therefore, Teen Connection has found a group of students and community leaders who are determined to create a conversation about the childhood obesity epidemic in Wisconsin.

Tune in, and you’ll hear from UW-Green Bay students and members of the Boys and Girls Club of Green Bay about how an initiative called Live54218 is helping them maintain healthy, active lifestyles. The result of a community-wide effort to think boldly about changing the childhood obesity epidemic, Live 54218 gives young people a simple formula for staying healthy. It breaks down like this:

5 fruits and vegetables per day, 4 bottles of water per day, fewer than 2 hours of screen time per day, more than 1 hour of physical activity per day, and 8 hours of sleep.

It’s really that simple. Discover more about Live54218 on the next episode of Teen Connection. And if you want to join the conversation, feel free to call or text your comments. Visit wpt.org/teenconnection for those numbers and to learn more about the show.

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