Week 23 is in support of a friend who is walking with her daughter in an American Heart Walk event in Rocky Neck, Connecticut. My donation will help her achieve her fundraising goals and will also be matched 100% by my company.
The American Heart Association has a simple mission, "Building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke." They do so through 6 areas of focus: Improving patient care, advocating for better health, reaching out to populations at risk, raising awareness, protecting the future and education Americans.
The focus on protecting the future is the most meaningful to me. Currently 1 in 3 children in this country are overweight or obese which leads directly to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. This is a staggering statistic which is so preventable. It is our job as a responsible society to protect our children and help them grow up to be healthy functioning adults. Right now, we are failing one third of our children and that is unacceptable.
We are being immersed in a culture where entertainment and food are inseparable. Our kids are being raised on prepackaged, long shelf life, food substitutes. They are being trained on words like flavor burst, power punch, taste explosion and normal healthy food cannot compete with the flavor scientists who are striving to get them addicted to Doritos and Mountain Dew.
And this is a HARD habit to break. My husband and I try very hard to avoid most processed foods in our household. And yet they are a prevailing force especially when grandparents are involved. Believe me, kids deprived of packaged cookies are like ravenous panthers when a bag appears secretly at the hands of a grandparent!
We are led to believe that we aren't good parents if we don't spoil our kids with food. I believe exactly the opposite. We as parents need to do everything in our power to raise kids who understand the difference between food and food substitutes like Capri Sun, gummy fruit snacks and yogurt snacks all of which are different forms of high fructose corn syrup. Not a food.
So jumping down from my soap box, I do appreciate the mission of the American Heart Association and am pleased to support my friend and the fun day she and her daughter will have together on the walk.
For more information, check out her fundraising page here.
Happy Thursday!
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