The context
The statistics that helped make obesity and heart disease two of his top five public health issues come from his 2022 Community Health Assessment.
- Of the 800 survey participants who contributed to the study, 25% identified obesity as the top health issue among Fort Bend County residents.
- 40% and 39% of these participants worry about poor eating habits and lack of exercise, respectively.
- One-third of Fort Bend County residents are obese.
The framework
The Department of Health and Human Services has set four measurable goals to address these concerns by 2026, as outlined in its Community Health Improvement Plan:
- Decrease the adult obesity rate in Fort Bend County below its baseline by 30%.
- Reduce the proportion of adults who do no physical activity in their free time from 26% to 23.9%.
- Reduce the number of deaths from heart disease in the county, which is currently at 111.7 per 100,000 population.
- Increase the proportion of adults who consume at least five servings of fruit and vegetables per day, currently 19.3% of the population.
Dive deeper
The improvement plan lists potential partners and strategies to address the underlying causes of obesity and its related conditions. One of them is to increase awareness of healthy eating and physical activity in the community through nutrition classes and grocery store tours.
Stacy Bates has worked as a registered dietitian for the past 17 years teaching clients how dietary and lifestyle behaviors impact overall health. His current role as HEBThe nutrition strategist must connect its core business as a grocery store to its recently launched primary care clinics that take a food-as-medicine approach to holistic wellness, she said.
Bates said she sees patients ages 2 to 99 with a wide range of dietary issues, from picky eating habits and food allergens to diabetes and heart disease.
While nutrition isn’t unique, Bates said developing a healthy relationship with food and a good gut feeling about food intake are strategies that could help most people who want to make changes in their health.
“Our diet and our eating habits affect our health much more permanently than we realize throughout life,” Bates said. “If you think more about what [nutrition] your food can give you as opposed to “I can’t have this food” it starts to change the way you eat. »
What the experts say
Bates suggested getting 20-30 grams of protein three to four times a day if you’re looking for a place to start improving your diet. She said protein is an essential nutrient that, if eaten at breakfast, can stop overeating towards the end of the day.
“Protein is a big [factor] when we work with patients to manage their hunger, honor their hunger cues, and make sure they get the fuel their bodies need to build muscle,” Bates said. “The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn.”