From athletics – both in and out of school – to the meals they eat and the ways they spend their free time, New Albany families avail themselves of the opportunities their community offers them. We took a look at many different aspects of health through the eyes of the city’s growing families.
Getting Schooled
612
Number of New Albany High School students who participate in sports
Roughly half of the New Albany High School population is involved with athletics – not counting club sports and neighborhood teams such as Westerville Crew and the New Albany Aquatics Club.
Through the House system, students are grouped into teams that compete against one another throughout the year. This not only encourages competition and camaraderie, but also serves to promote health through participation in physical activity.
“Events that the Houses coordinate and participate in throughout the year provide students with many recreational opportunities such as the Peace Week Games, club time throughout the school year and the Powder Puff football game in the fall. These events and philanthropic endeavors of each House are hugely popular with students and instill a sense of pride and teamwork for each House,” says Patrick Gallaway, director of communications for New Albany-Plain Local Schools.
And students aren’t the only ones who are encouraged to be healthy. Faculty and staff can participate in fitness classes just for them, such as cardio, yoga and Zumba.
Planning for Success
The New Albany Company and the city of New Albany have built-in strategies for encouraging residents to be healthy.
One of the most effective? “Required hike-n-bike trail connections for all new developments. This has resulted in a network of trails throughout the city that encourage residents and employees to walk, run, bike,” says Craig Mohre, president of the New Albany Community Foundation.
Residents can take advantage of the city’s parks as well. A citywide standard instituted less than a decade ago (and not effective retroactively) calls for a park within 1,200 feet of every residence. The majority of New Albamy homes are within ¼ mile of a park or open space, says city Public Information Officer Scott McAfee.
The city and NACO also provide strong support for health-related events such as the New Albany Walking Classic.
An Ounce of Prevention
One of the benefits of the new Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany, scheduled to open this November, is the personalized preventative medicine model that will be used there.
“The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and its team of health and wellness experts will help the families of New Albany predict and prevent disease, simplify and promote healthy living, and create personalized life strategy wellness plans,” says Dr. Thomas Best, medical director of Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center’s wellness and fitness programs at the new center.
“Our center will offer participants state-of-the-art technology, access to health and wellness education and services, and support from an integrated team of highly trained, licensed and certified staff, including exercise physiologists, physical therapists, dietitians, personal health coaches and more. … We are convinced that this innovative personalized health approach will help foster healthier families because, after all, healthy families truly are the building blocks of healthy communities,” Best says.
Mom’s the Word
New Albany mothers share their strategies for building healthful habits.
Felicia Powell
mom to William, 9, and Lauren, 7
How do you encourage a good attitude about food?
“I make sure that when packing my kids’ lunches, at a minimum they have a protein and at least one fruit and one vegetable. Right now, the kids love clementines, so that goes in almost every day for a lunch and/or a snack. Warmer months mean cut-up melon or cucumbers.”
How does your family stay active?
“Each ‘sport’ season means they get involved with a different sport in an organized fashion. For my son, he plays basketball now, and spring is baseball and fall is football and baseball. Winter months they take swimming lessons inside. My daughter enjoys biking and tennis as well as swimming.”
Shelley Goodman
mom to Grace, 9, and Jackson, 6
How do you encourage a good attitude about food?
“I try to provide the kids with all five food groups each day – fruit, vegetable, protein, dairy and grain. The kids take a multi-vitamin and a calcium supplement every day (they are not big milk drinkers). However, I also make no bones about following the 80/20 rule to balance enjoying life and food while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.”
How does your family stay active?
“As a family, we love to bike, swim and play at our neighborhood park. We are still working on enjoying tennis as a family. I am just their ball feeder. Grace convinced me to swim laps with her this past weekend; I need serious training to match her endurance!”
Laney Burgdoerfer
How do you encourage a good attitude about food?
“I encourage them to eat protein, fruits and vegetables. After school I try to give them a snack of peanut butter on a banana, apple, oatmeal or other low-fat food before they proceed to their respective sporting activities. Sometimes they end up eating Subway or Chipotle – with an occasional stop at Starbucks – if I’m being honest. Sad to say, but convenience does play a big part in an active life.”
How does your family stay active?
“We encourage our kids to exercise three times a week. Fortunately, this has not been a problem as they are active in sports. My husband and I try to exercise at least four times a week, which also provides a good example for our kids.”
Eating through the Ages
We asked Sally Kuzemchak, MS, RD, a Columbus resident, for her top tips to encourage kids to eat healthfully. Kuzemchak is a registered dietitian, educator and mom of two young kids. She blogs at www.realmomnutrition.com.
Age 1
“I’d put the emphasis on fruits and vegetables plus whole grains like oatmeal and finger foods such as small bites of tofu, small bites (quarter-inch size) of whole grain pasta, avocado, whole grain toast, etc. I would avoid the prepackaged, processed ‘toddler meals’ in favor of real food from home – even little bites of leftover dinner from the night before. Best to get kids preferring the taste of home-cooked, real-food meals rather than packaged foods.”
Age 5
“This child is either in preschool or just starting kindergarten. Keep portions small and easy to eat. I love using the bento lunch boxes (I use the one at www.easylunchboxes.com) because you can put little bites of different kinds of food in it. Keep in mind that little kids may not be able to open certain containers and packages themselves, so make it as easy as possible.”
Age 10
“This child will have a bigger appetite, so keep checking in about whether you’re packing enough food. Kids this age are also looking around and noticing what other kids are bringing. They may request things such as Lunchables. My advice is to resist and make your own by packing little pieces of meat, cheese and whole grain crackers (I love Triscuits because they’re simple and whole grain). You could also make your own pizza with a whole grain mini pita, pizza sauce and cheese.”
Age 15
“Again, this child has a bigger appetite and is possibly more active with sports after school, so you may want to pack extra food that your child can eat between school ending and sports beginning. Kids this age may want to buy school lunch, and, if you’re not crazy about the offerings, you can supplement by packing some fresh fruit – just make sure your child actually wants it and will eat it, not toss it or give it away!”
Cultivating Knowledge
Jacqueline Spurlock has been having a ball working in the New Albany Community Garden with her son, Dylan, 5.
“It’s so much fun to harvest with my son, taste all the different herbs and provide him the experience in the garden as exposure is so important. Whether he continues to garden throughout his life is his choice, but at least I feel that he has a sense of accomplishment when pulling those carrots up or eating the sweet peas off of the vine that he grew from seed,” Spurlock says.
Last year she limited her community garden plot to flowers, preferring to grow produce in her home garden where she can tend to it more regularly, but Dylan enjoyed his miniature community garden plot
“My son grew one tomato, several green bean plants, peas and carrots in his 2x2 plot,” she says.
