Members of the Sudbury and District Obesity Prevention Coalition hope their new logo will lead more people to learn more about their group and ultimately make the community healthier.
The logo, which was unveiled in the Brenda Wallace Reading Room at Laurentian University Wednesday afternoon, shows silhouette figures skipping, walking and playing ball against the backdrop of a city.
“We hope that this logo gives us a larger community precense and helps people recognize that there are people working in their community on projects to stop obesity,” said the group's chair, Jennifer MacKinnon.
The obesity prevention coalition was created in October 2003, and has been working on several projects to bring the risks associated with obesity to the forefront in the city.
So far, the group has held a community input session, presented an obesity action plan to city council, applied for grant money to do preliminary research on best practices for obesity prevention and hosted a presentation on lifestyle change by a McGill university professor.
MacKinnon, who is also the regional director of the Canadian Diabetes Association, says she's involved with the coalition because of the link between obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
“Obesity matters. Excess fat is not only unfashionable, but it's dangerous. In the young it can cause poor self-esteem and be socially isolating. In adulthood it can lead to serious illness and premature death,” she says.
“Most people still think of being overweight as a lifestyle issue. But people need to realize obesity can mean chronic disease such as diabetes, certain cancers, heart disease, stroke, lung disease and certain other diseases.”
Obesity rates have increased drastically in the past 20 years, she says. Nearly 37 percent of adults living in Greater Sudbury are overweight or obese. About 30 percent of children living in Northern Ontario are overweight or obese.
If you're obese as a child, you're likely to be obese as an adult because extra weight is difficult to take off, MacKinnon says.
The coalition's action plan includes making sure the city's arenas sell healthy snacks, handing out physical activity cards to schoolchildren and ensuring health and wellness are priorities for municipal election candidates.
Greater Sudbury Mayor Dave Courtemanche joked that he “kind of felt like a couch potato” sitting on a couch while listening to the other speakers.
“This is about affecting a cultural shift right across our community. I really want to congratulate the coalition, who are doing something which I think is so, so important,” he said.
“It's not just up to the organizations that historically owned this issue. By themselves they can't effect change. That's why this group is so important, along with the unveiling of the logo and a marketing plan. That's how we're going to resolve the obesity problem.”
Courtemanche says his mother was very health conscious when he was growing up, but she still made greasy eggs and bacon for breakfast every Sunday morning.
“That's what she was taught. That was part of our family culture. We've changed that since, let me tell you. That's how we have to shift our culture in our families, our schools and our restaurants.”
For more information about the coaltion, phone MacKinnon at 670-1993, ext. 6.
Obesity Logo
Linear Mode
