LiveWell Colorado 2010 Clipbook

LiveWell Colorado
Media Presence
2010

Table of Contents
January.................................................................................................... page 3 to 13
February...................................................................................................page 13 to 26
March .......................................................................................................page 27 to 38
April..........................................................................................................page 39 to 53
May............................................................................................................page 54 to 61
June.......................................................................................................... page 62 to 88
July............................................................................................................page 89 to 109
August*.................................................................................................... page 110-115
*Incuded hits relevant to CSG|PR’s work with the boot camps in July 2010.

Campaign Keeps Colorado Fit, From “Success Stories” | Jen Zorger
January 1, 2010

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January 1, 2010
Colorado Billboards Wallscapes Encourage Health Lifestyles

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Teaming Up To Tackle Temptation This Holiday | Kathy Walsh
January 4, 2010

Please see the DVD at the back of the clipbook for a full video.

January 11, 2010
Health Briefs

Free cancer screenings available
January is national cervical cancer screening month. Cervical cancer rates have fallen more than 50 percent in
the United States in the past 30 years because of the widespread use of Pap tests that can find abnormal cells
years before any cancer exists.

Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, yet each year more than 11,000 new cases are
diagnosed in the nation.

More than 4,000 lives were lost last year, the majority of them women who weren’t screened regularly.
Women’s Wellness Connection provides free breast and cervical cancer screenings to eligible women ages
40–64 at more than 120 sites in Colorado.

For information, including eligibility requirements and a list of providers, visit http://www.
WomensWellnessConnection.org or call 1-866-951-9355.

Health Department opens Fruita office
Those who live in Fruita and western Mesa County will soon be able to access key county services without
driving to Grand Junction.

Mesa County’s new Community Services West building opens this week, making it easier for residents of the
Western Grand Valley to access important county programs offered by the Mesa County Health Department,
the Mesa County Department of Human Services and the Mesa County Workforce Center.

The public is invited to attend an open house at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Family Health West nursing facility
multi-purpose room, at the corner of Cherry Street and Pabor Avenue in Fruita. The event will include
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a presentation about the services that will be offered at the facility. Services will be offered at the facility next
week.

Insurer helps members quit tobacco
If quitting smoking is on your New Year’s resolution list, look no further for a little help if you’re a member of
Rocky Mountain Health Plans.

The not-for-profit health plan is launching a free tobacco cessation program in partnership with the Colorado
QuitLine. The program aims to help Rocky Mountain’s members become tobacco free and to strengthen
QuitLine’s ability to serve more Coloradans. This help includes nicotine replacement gum and patches, certain
tobacco cessation prescription drugs and free access to the Colorado QuitLine counseling services.

Members will not have to pay any out-of-pocket costs for the program. The new tobacco cessation program
will become a standard part of the benefit program for all existing individual and employer group members.

Testing for radon recommended
During the winter months, the Mesa County Health Department encourages residents to test their homes for
elevated levels of radon. January is national radon action month.

Winter is the best time for testing since windows and doors are normally kept closed.

Testing homes for radon levels is simple and inexpensive. Test kits can be purchased at the Mesa County Health
Department for $5, which includes analysis and shipping. The Mesa County Indoor Air Quality Program is
working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a nationwide campaign to educate Americans
about the dangers of radon exposure and to encourage them to take action to protect their homes and families
by testing their homes for radon.

Radon is a naturally occurring, invisible, odorless, tasteless gas that is dispersed in outdoor air, but which can
reach harmful levels when trapped indoors, especially in homes.

For information on radon, testing and mitigation, or to get a test kit, call Anna Maylett Rice, Indoor Air Quality,
at 683-6647 or visit http://www.health.mesacounty.us.

LiveWell Challenge registration begins
Registration for the 5th annual LiveWell Challenge, which this year is named Putting it all Together, is open and
just in time for those New Year’s resolutions. The challenge is free for Mesa County residents of any age.

To register, go to http://www.livewell.org or call 683-6612 for more information. LiveWell members participate
in six, two-month challenges throughout the year.

Members receive a 2010 calendar to set and track goals. The calendar also includes helpful tips, inspiring
quotes, dates for local activities and more.

Participants can enjoy discounts on healthy purchases, receive monthly newsletters and updates on local
activities and earn prizes.

Health spending growth slows
Nominal health spending in the United States grew 4.4 percent in 2008, to $2.3 trillion or $7,681 per person.
This was the slowest rate of growth since the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services started officially
tracking expenditures in 1960. page

Despite slower growth, health care spending continued to outpace overall nominal economic growth, which
grew by 2.6 percent in 2008 as measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The findings are included in a
report by CMS Office of the Actuary, released recently in the health policy journal Health Affairs.

The 4.4 percent growth in 2008 was down from 6.0 percent in 2007, as spending slowed for nearly all health
care goods and services, particularly for hospitals.

However, health spending as a share of the nation’s GDP continued to climb, reaching 16.2 percent in 2008, up
0.3 percentage points from 2007. Larger increases in the health spending share of GDP generally occur during
or just after periods of economic recession.

WestTAC Learning lab dates, times set
Learning labs at Western Slope Technical Assistance Center or WestTAC will be on the second Thursday of the
month, or Jan. 14. Sessions are from 2:30-4:30 p.m. and will include CapTel and Telephone Relay Services.

Live presentations take place at the Assistive Technology Partners Denver office at 601 E. 18th Ave., Denver
80203.

The Colorado Springs and Grand Junction satellite offices participate in learning labs via Web-based training
software. Contact Denice to register at 248-0876.

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January 15, 2010
Town Talk: LiveWell Colorado

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Holiday Weight Maintenance Program Nets Losses | Kathy Walsh
January 15, 2010


A Healthy Discussion: City looks for ways to fit health in comp plan | Scott Rochat
January 28, 2010

At its start, city planning was about health — keeping homes and factories apart, say.

On Wednesday night, it was all about health again, but this time in the sense of wider sidewalks, more trails
and closer grocery stores.

“It’s kind of a return to planning’s roots,” said Erin Fosdick, a Longmont city planner, after the discussion at the
Longmont Senior Center.

At the center was Longmont’s comprehensive plan, which the city wants to tweak to encourage healthy
lifestyles. Individuals can make their own choices, said Eric Bergeson of LiveWell Longmont, but the city can
make healthy choices easier.

“The infrastructure we have in the city can promote healthier living, if it’s designed in the right way,” Bergeson
said.

Some of those options are obvious, such as making a city more “walkable” by putting in more sidewalks and
better lighting. But economic development also makes a difference, speaker Pilar Lorenzana Campo said — no
one will use a sidewalk if there’s nowhere to walk to.

“Having a sidewalk to nowhere makes no sense,” said Campo, who works for the non-profit Public Health Law
and Policy of Oakland.

Travel time can have a ripple effect in today’s busy world, Bergeson noted. In a recent LiveWell
Longmontsurvey, 57 percent of those answering said time was the main reason they didn’t exercise more. Only
9 percent said they biked or walked to work.
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In an audience vote afterward, the most popular proposal was to encourage more destinations within walking
distance, along with improvements to the street system.

Campo said it was encouraging to see how much Longmont was doing right already.

“I took so many photos!” she said. “I’m sick of talking about California. I’m going to be talking about Colorado.
I’m going to be talking about Longmont.”

Those who have questions or suggestions for this part of the comprehensive plan can call Fosdick at 303-651-
8336. Formal recommendations will be brought to the City Council in early summer.

Learn more about the city’s comprehensive plan at http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/planning/lacp/index.htm.

Six Denver Neighborhoods Labeled ‘Food Deserts’ | Doug Schepman
January 29, 2010


January 29, 2010
Fort Collins Well City Initiative adds five more companies

Five more Fort Collins-area companies were awarded Well Workplace Awards today, bringing to nine the
number of local companies that have achieved the awards since the Fort Collins Well City Initiative was
launched in 2006.

Recipients for 2009 included Miramont Lifestyle Fitness, Poudre Valley Health System, Front Range Internet,
Heart Center of the Rockies and Flood and Peterson Insurance. They join previous award winners Anheuser-
Busch, City of Fort Collins, Sample and Bailey and United Way of Larimer County.
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Fort Collins Mayor Doug Hutchinson, who presented the awards at a luncheon at the Drake Centre, noted that
the city has reached a high level of company involvement in the last four years. “There’s only 20 companies in
Colorado that have achieved the award, and about half of them are in Fort Collins,” he said.

About 150 people attended this year’s luncheon event. The city as a whole is still working to attain the
designation of Well City from the Wellness Councils of America. In order to qualify for the Well City Award, at
least 20 companies must earn a Well Workplace Award and 20 percent of a community’s workforce must be
employed in a Well Workplace Award-winning company.

The program is a collaboration of local business leaders and the Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat
Obesity (CanDo), a community-wide task force sponsored by the Poudre Valley Hospital Foundation and
LiveWell Colorado. The goal of the program, which emphasizes fitness and good nutrition, is to promote a
healthier community and healthier workplaces while saving employers money on lost production and health
care claims.

Virginia Clark, CanDo coordinator, said the city is on track to achieve a Well City designation “within the next
year or two.” Clark noted there are about 30 local companies striving to achieve Well Workplace Awards.

For more information, call Clark at 970-495-7517 or visit www.CanDoOnline.org.

Natural Economics – St. Brigid vs. the Convenience Store | Jim Tolstrup
February 1, 2010

Today is St. Brigid’s Day in Ireland.

Before it became St. Brigid’s Day it was Imbolc, a holy day sacred to
the goddess Brigid who is associated with fire, healing and holy wells
(of which there are hundreds in Ireland.) As the first day of spring in
the ancient Celtic calendar, this is the day of farmers and cattle. A day
to keep a sharp eye out for the weather, to sniff the wind and to know
when to plant, as well as a day to drink good strong ale. On this day
farmers watched animals including the hedge-hog for signs of spring ,
this later became ground hog day in North America.

For Irish country people Brigid was (is?) basically, the goddess of economics. The word economics comes from
the Greek word for the household. As ecology is the study of the household, economy is the management of
the household. Brigid is the goddess of the milk cow, the oat cake and the peat fire on the hearth. Irish coun-
try life changed little over thousands years until the English brought the Industrial Revolution to Ireland along
with the dynamics of subjugation and servitude. The limited control of the land (the source of all wealth) along
with limited food sources (monoculture) resulted in a crash of the Irish economy, the deaths of more than one
million people and massive emigration.

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Thus, I myself, along with 34.5 million Americans (9 times the population of present day Ireland) identify at
least part of my ancestry as ”Irish.” We came here for economic reasons, as the song Green Fields of Amerikay
says “Oh but I mind the time when old Ireland was flourishing and most of her tradesmen did work for good
pay, but since our manufacturers have crossed the Atlantic, it’s now I must follow unto Amerikay.”

This brings us to the discussion of the present state of our economy. When electronics manufacturer Celestica
closed it’s doors here in Fort Collins hundreds of jobs crossed the ocean, never to return. But what do we do
now, move to India? Or is this where we take control of our own destiny and create sustainable local econo-
mies that secure our region’s most basic necessities, such as food.

I am basically a capitalist, meaning that in principle, I believe that a free
market economy encourages innovation and motivation. At the same time
allowing a few individuals to exploit the common good and compromise the
ability of others to live a decent existence “the pursuit of happiness” seems
to dominate the system, to the detriment of the lives of millions of people.

It amazes me that we have destroyed ecosystems, fought over and con-
sumed vast amounts of resources, created a system of social inequality,
caused enormously expensive environmental problems and gone broke in
the process! Our current system turns resources into trash at a rapidly accel-
erating pace. storyofstuff.com

At the beginning of the recession I wondered if this was a heart attack or a
cold. When you have a cold you want to get well quickly so you can go back
to what you were doing. When you have a heart attack you have to change
your life-style, change your diet, exercise and reduce stress, or you increase
your risk of death. To simply say we need to get the economy going again would be missing the opportunity
for real and positive change. Barrack Obama to his credit has consistently linked economic recovery with green
jobs and sustainable growth.

One person who really gets the connection between food and social justice is Will Allen, the Executive Director
and founder of growingpower.org Growing Power’s home base in Milwaukee lies within a “food desert” an ur-
ban neighborhood where liquor stores and convenience stores, selling high calorie - low nutrition food, prolif-
erate but super markets are non-existent. Allen’s vision is that in the future food will be grown everywhere, in
urban window boxes, on rooftops and in vacant lots. In simple economically built greenhouses Growing Power
raises tons of vegetables and fish in aquaponic tanks, providing nutritious food directly to the people that need
it the most. Best of all they are empowering others to do the same in their own communities. The lack of food
choices in many neighborhoods is the direct link between poverty and the epidemic of childhood obesity.
Many children are consuming high fructose corn syrup as the main ingredient in their diet.

Next month I am going to visit Growing Power. What am I going to do there? As a middle-aged white guy and
a Harvard educated horticulturist, I am going to humbly listen and learn, about racism in the food-chain and
how a new generation of culturally diverse, rural and inner city farmers are taking control of the issues of food
security at the grassroots level.

Back at the High Plains Environmental Center we will be implementing all that we learn at Growing Power to
build a greenhouse that grows fish and vegetables year-round. Along with that we will continue to field grow
13,000 lbs of food which we will donate to the Loveland Food Bank for the second year in a row. And for the
second year in a row we will be a drop off site in our community for Grant Farms grantfarms.com a local CSA.
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I am not suggesting that we go back to a lifestyle of cottages and cows (although I wouldn’t mind) but we have
moved dangerously far from our food source and those who know their history know that can spell the extinc-
tion of a culture. It may sound absurd to think that the growing urban population (4.2 million people) of Colo-
rado’s arid Front Range could meet all of it’s own food requirements. However, consider this, covering over 39
million acres, turf grass is America’s single largest crop and billions of gallons of water are used each year to
water lawns in Fort Collins alone. If simple and economical technologies such as those used at Growing Power
were utilized and precious water resources were diverted to food production (where they should be) there is
no telling what could be accomplished. foodnotlawns.net

During the Great Depression people fell back on their agrarian roots and grew gardens. Today there are many
people who do not have the basic skills to grow a garden. At HPEC our garden is funded through a grant from
Live Well Colorado. As part of the grant our gardener, Susan Singley, will go out into the local community and
help others create gardens of their own.

So, crack open the seed catalogs and pour yourself a local micro-brew. And if you’re so inclined leave a slice
freshly buttered bread outside your window for Brigid and a sheaf of corn for her red-eared cow in case she
comes by to bless your home tonight, goodness we could all use it.

Participate in a Community Garden | Deb Babcock
February 1, 2010

Want to grow vegetables but don’t have the appropriate land, space or resources?

You’re in luck because an opportunity to use a plot of land within Steamboat Springs city limits to grow
vegetables and learn about growing food locally is about to present itself to residents.

Many counties, cities and towns throughout the world offer community gardens to their residents. It’s a way
to bring about a sense of community and a connection to the environment while neighbors get together and
nurture plots of land to grow produce for personal use or for sharing with others. It also makes wonderful use
of land that often has become neglected and unsightly.

The Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association’s Leadership Steamboat 2010 group is working with local
master gardeners, through the Routt County Cooperative Extension Office, to design a Community ROOTS
Garden for local residents on a plot of land along Oak Street, between Sixth and Seventh streets. Routt County
owns the property and has made it available to the leadership group to develop individual garden plots
that residents can reserve for the growing season. In addition, there will be a public gathering spot along
Butcherknife Creek, and master gardeners will reserve one of the garden plots to provide educational seminars
for the public.

Leadership Steamboat 2010 has applied for a grant with Livewell Colorado, a nonprofit group dedicated to
providing Coloradans with opportunities to obtain healthy food and physical activity where they live, work,
attend school and recreate. Any funds the group procures must be matched with local donations and/or
volunteer hours in the gardens. page 1

While some community gardens are managed as a collective, where all the neighbors work together on a
single garden, the leadership group has chosen to divide its community garden into individual plots that local
residents can reserve and manage themselves, or with friends and family, to produce vegetables for personal
consumption.

There is a small fee to reserve a garden for the season. Those chosen for a small personal garden plot must
agree to follow a short set of rules that includes respecting neighboring plots, maintaining their garden to a
reasonable standard and volunteering hours to help maintain common areas. To reserve a garden, contact the
Cooperative Extension Office at 970-879-0825 or visit http://rcextension.colostate.edu/Hort/communityroots.
html for an application and other details. Those interested also can send an e-mail to shope@co.routt.co.us.

For those interested in learning more about gardening, the local master gardener group is pleased to present
an encore of its popular seminar, Vegetable Gardening Basics. This seminar is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 20 at
the Steamboat Springs Community Center. The cost is $25 and space is limited. Reserve a spot by calling the
Extension Office at 970-879-0825.

Some sweet, others sour on ‘Twinkie Tax’ | Gene Davis
February 2, 2010

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February 2, 2010
Some sweet, others sour on ‘Twinkie Tax’

A Colorado-based candy company and the state’s leading libertarian think tank believe Gov. Bill Ritter’s
proposal to tax candy and soda is more bitter than sweet.

But Ritter has said that the so-called “Twinkie Tax,” which moved on to the Senate after being passed by the
House Monday, allows him to spare further cuts to K-12 education while also keeping prescription drugs and
most grocery items tax-free.

The proposed $50 million 2009-10 state budget rebalancing plan that Ritter announced last week seeks in part
to eliminate the tax exemption for candy and soft drinks. The move is estimated to give the state $3.58 million
more to work with this fiscal year, and provide $17.9 million in additional revenue the following year.

Rick Enstrom, regional manager for the Grand Junction based Enstrom Candies, said during a House Committee
hearing that the tax on candy and soda would make it even more difficult for candy businesses like his to
survive during the economic downturn. Enstrom testified that sales have already been down for his family’s
candy company, and that the state levying the 2.9-percent state sales tax on his product would make a bad
matter worse.

“The last thing we need or can afford in these difficult economic times is to negatively impact the price of our
product to the consumer resulting in fewer sales and further reductions in earnings,” he said.

The Coalition for a Responsible Colorado, a lobbying group for soda companies opposing the proposed tax, said
Monday that the tax would cost 370-800 jobs in businesses that produce and distribute beverages.

But at least one Colorado health group has come out in favor of the candy and soda tax. Maren Stewart,
president and CEO of LiveWell Colorado, said in a statement that her group supports policies that limit the
consumption of unhealthy food like soda and candy.

“The governor’s proposal to eliminate the sales-tax exemption for candy and soda will not exclusively solve
the problem because it’s a very complex and complicated problem,” she said. “We are hopeful, however, that
eliminating the exemption could lead to healthier choices.”

Meanwhile, Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute, a Golden-based libertarian think tank, argues that
Ritter was elected to be the governor, not to be a nanny who decides which potentially unhealthy products
should be taxed. He joked that after upsetting some Colorado drivers by raising car registration fees with
FASTER, Ritter has now found a way to upset the kids of Colorado.

“This legislature will go down as the Grinches who taxed gumdrops,” he said.

For his part, Ritter said last week that the dire budget situation has forced him to make “unenviable choices
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from extremely limited options.” He believes that the “new economic reality” will require everyone “working
together as stubborn stewards of taxpayer dollars to adjust, adapt and succeed.”

Ritter and fellow lawmakers have closed $2.1 billion in budget shortfalls over the past year and a half, and are
facing a billion dollar shortfall in next year’s budget.

And while the so-called Twinkie Tax has drawn ire from conservatives and people in the candy and soda
industry, a legal opinion issued last year said that such a tax would not be in violation of the Taxpayer’s Bill of
Rights, which requires a proposed tax to be approved by Colorado voters.

According to Ritter’s office, 14 states tax candy but not groceries, while 15 states tax all food, including candy. If
the state levies the 2.9-percent sales tax on candy and soda, a $1 candy bar would become a $1.03 candy bar.

Ritter originally proposed suspending the candy and soda tax exemption, as well as more than 10 other sales
tax credit and exemptions, on July 1, 2010. But after legislative economists predicted an additional budget
shortfall for the current fiscal year, he decided to push up the start date for eight of those tax increases to
March 1, 2010. The move is expected to save the state $18.8 million in the current fiscal year budget.

February 9, 2010
Childhood Obesity


February 9, 2010
Denver School Tries New Approach To Curbing Childhood Obesity


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Michelle Obama’s Anti-Obesity Plan Feels at Home in Colo. | Jennifer Brown
February 10, 2010

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February 14, 2010

Maura Kennedy
Local Republicans Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Rally Against Proposed Taxes |

Republican lawmakers were in Grand Junction Sunday celebrating
Valentine’s day with a proposal to end the candy sales tax. Local
Republicans gathered at Enstrom’s Candy on Ute Avenue and 7th
Street around noon on Sunday to discuss Colorado’s potential tax
credits and exemptions.

Governor Bill Ritter recently proposed repealing 13 different tax
credits to help balance the state budget. Republican candidate for
governor Scott McInnis says the state government should be creating
jobs instead of taxing people. “These taxes will help Governor Ritter
hire more people in government and reduce jobs in the marketplace. Job creation is key here. You don’t have
to raise taxes in a recession. They should be talking to local businesses like Enstrom’s and say, ‘What can we do
as a government to help you create jobs?’” McInnis said.

President and CEO of Enstrom’s Candy couldn’t agree more with McInnis. “The taxes would make it hard for us
to survive and grow. The message to Governor Ritter is: don’t make us lay off our employees so you can hire
yours,” Doug Simons said.

The proposed taxes would generate more than $131 million to help close the state budget.

A poll shows that a little more than half of Coloradans show support for taxing junk food and soft drinks.
President Barack Obama says he is interested in the idea of taxing soda because kids are drinking too much of
it. LiveWell Colorado says the food tax is a good idea. The health program says it will not eliminate the problem
of obesity, but will help Coloradans make better food choices.

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Observations in Health: Health Advocacy Can Start with ‘Baby Steps’ | Sandy Graham
February 15, 2010

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February 19, 2010
Newsmakers

LIVEWELL COLORADO: Named Tracy Faigin Boyle vice president of marketing and communications.

February 23, 2010
People on the Move

LIVEWELL
COLORADO: Named
Tracy Faigin Boyle
vice president of
marketing and
communications.

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LiveWell Colorado Leads Statewide Food Policy Efforts | Becky Grupe
March 1, 2010

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March 4, 2010
People on the Move

WORK OPTIONS FOR WOMEN named Catherine Henry executive director. Henry joined WOW as a volunteer
board member and chaired the WomenCook fundraising event. She then became director of operations and
manager for Cafe Options.

ASSOCIATION FOR CORPORATE GROWTH: Chet Marino, president of Verus Partners, was named 2010 Member
of the Year by the Denver chapter for his outstanding management of programs.

COLORADO IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COALITION hired Hans Meyer as policy coordinator; Karen Sherman-Perez
as Western Slope coordinator in Montrose; and Sonia Marquez as an organizer in Longmont for the Reform
Immigration for America campaign.

THE ADAMS 12 FIVE STAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION elected Sandra Chet Marino is the Association for
Corporate Growth’s member of the year. Garcia of the Denver Museum of Nature Science to its board of
directors.

LIVEWELL COLORADO named Becky Grupe director of community relations.

METRO BROKERS INC. appointed Gabrielle Knox as a real-estate agent in the Marina Square office.

IMA INC.:Brent Hartman has joined its health risk-management practice, Life IQ.

GREEN MANNING BUNCH named Greg Throckmorton an analyst.

PENDLETON, FRIEDBERG, WILSON HENNESSEY PC appointed Natalie Sullivan as an associate.

BCI ENGINEERS SCIENTISTS INC. hired E. Thomas Cava naugh as the Rocky Mountain regional manager of its
new office in Arvada.

METLIFE BANK: Sandra Clements joined as a reverse- mortgage consultant for the Colorado region.

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Nutrition Map Zooms in on Colorado Food | Kristen Browning-Blas
March 8, 2010

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March 8, 2010
LiveWell Colorado Releases Comprehensive “Food Policy Blueprint”

LiveWell Colorado, a non-profit organization committed to reducing obesity in Colorado by promoting healthy
eating and active living, today released a “Food Policy Blueprint.” The Blueprint identifies the most pressing
policy needs and opportunities to strengthen access to healthy foods in Colorado. The comprehensive report
was developed with input from hundreds of stakeholders from across Colorado and offers tools and strategies
for improvement in Colorado’s food systems.

“This Blueprint is essentially the State Plan for advancing food policy in Colorado,” said Maren Stewart,page 0

president and CEO of LiveWell Colorado. “This comprehensive report will enable LiveWell Colorado, in
partnership with other stakeholders across the state, to make impactful changes in the area of food policy and,
in particular, improve access to healthy eating opportunities.”

Under the guidance of its strategic plan, LiveWell Colorado is committed to ensuring access to healthy foods
for all Coloradoans, advancing nutritional competency, and supporting behavior changes that result in
healthier eating choices and ultimately a reduction in obesity rates.

Some tools included in the Blueprint are:
-A searchable Healthy Foods Database. This searchable inventory lists ongoing efforts across the state to
increase access to healthy food.
-Thirteen criteria and a scoring system that can be applied to policy recommendations in order to
prioritize recommendations relating to food access.
-Eight high-priority policy recommendations that have emerged through surveys and interviews of
stakeholders across the state and will direct future policy efforts.

Some of the eight recommendations include:
-Local land use policies that allow and incentivize food production, including home-based and community
food production and urban agriculture.
-Policy to establish statewide technical assistance to enable more partnerships between food assistance
programs and local food production, such as direct market farming, community gardens, and Community
Supported Agriculture.
-State policy to establish a healthy food markets financing initiative with a funding and resource pool
to support the economic development of healthy food retailers, including full-service grocers, mobile
vendors, corner stores, and farmers’ markets and stands.
-The Blueprint also includes several overarching implementation strategies to advance healthy food access
policies. One critical strategy is the formal establishment of a Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council, a
diverse body that could advise the advancement and achievement of the eight policy priorities included in
the Blueprint. LiveWell Colorado has initiated legislation, SB 10-106, which, as introduced, establishes this
council.

“This Blueprint addresses current efforts that are working and should be replicated as well as identifies
gaps and opportunities for LiveWell Colorado and our partners,” added Stewart. “Not only does it provide a
roadmap for attaining short-term goals, but it also paves a path for long-term food policy advocacy and efforts
in our state and the nation. We look forward to using this innovative approach to achieve changes that will
impact the health of our communities for generations.”

To learn more about LiveWell Colorado’s public policy agenda and to volunteer as an advocate for healthy
eating and active living, please visit http://www.livewellcolorado.org/advocacy.

For a brief overview or the full report, visit http://www.livewellcolorado.org/resources/policy-blueprints;
the Healthy Foods Database is available at http://livewellcolorado.org/community-initiatives/healthy-food-
initiatives.

About LiveWell Colorado
LiveWell Colorado is a non-profit organization committed to reducing obesity in Colorado by promoting healthy eating and active
living. Leading a comprehensive approach, LiveWell Colorado inspires and advances policy, environmental and lifestyle changes that
aim to provide every Coloradoan with access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity in the places they live, work,
learn and play. For more information about LiveWell Colorado, visit www.livewellcolorado.org.

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Time to turn the tide on obesity, nutrition expert warns | Rebecca Jones
March 12, 2010

Nutrition expert Dr. David Katz paints a dire picture of a
generation that’s literally being weighed down by a burden
too heavy to carry.

Some tidbits from his “Feet, Forks and the Fate of Our
Children” presentation Wednesday night at Rock Creek
High School:

Type II Diabetes – once commonly known as “adult-
onset diabetes” – is now being routinely diagnosed in
children as young as 8. Teen-agers are needing coronary
bypass operations. Chronic diseases of mid-life are being
transformed into juvenile scourges. And if current trends
continue, the percentage of overweight or obese Americans will hit 100% within 40 years. As a nation, we are
projected to spend $340 billion annually on obesity-related ailments by 2018.

“The peril with regard to the epidemic of obesity in children and the related chronic disease is quite dire,” Katz
told a group of parents and students who turned out for the presentation. “The effect of eating badly and lack
of physical activity will cost our children more years of life than the combination of tobacco, alcohol and illicit
drug use. Some say our children will have shorter life spans than their parents.”

“But as with all clouds, there’s a silver lining,” he said. “We don’t need to have a great biomedical advance or
the next Nobel Prize to fix this problem. We simply have to apply knowledge we already have. Using what we
already know about a short list of behaviors we can control, we can reduce the chronic disease burden by 80 to
90 percent…The levers are in our hands. They’re in our feet and our forks and our fingers.”

Katz is president and founder of the Turn the Tide Foundation, a Connecticut-based organization that is
developing multiple strategies for schools and families trying to reverse the unhealthy trend toward obesity
in children and teenagers. The foundation is trying to figure out just how to get kids to eat right and exercise
more, and how to get parents – who often are struggling with weight problems of their own – to take the
situation more seriously.

“People say where there’s a will there’s a way,” said Katz. “I don’t believe that’s true. We have to both cultivate
the will and pave the way. And one way to cultivate will is for people to realize that they’re endangering their
children.”

Katz, a physician, professor and director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center at Yale University, is a
nationally renowned columnist who regularly writes about nutrition for everyone from The New York Times
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and the Wall Street Journal to Oprah’s ‘O’ magazine and Men’s Health. He’s a heavy hitter who normally
commands a $25,000 speaking fee.

But Susan Beane, the outgoing chairwoman of the Health Advisory Council for Douglas County Schools, is
nothing if not persuasive. After hearing Katz speak last year in Denver, she cajoled him into coming back to
Colorado and speaking in Douglas County for free.

“He’s like the Springsteen of nutrition,” said Beane, who has chaired the council for the past three years. “He’s
constantly doing research, and he really has a wonderful plan to turn around the situation we find ourselves
in.”

Douglas County School District is serious about improving the health of its students and staff. “We intend to be
the healthiest school district in the country by 2015,” said interim superintendent Steve Herzog.

This week, the district kicked off a healthy schools competition that includes a pedometer challenge to reward
teams who log the most daily steps, a “food environment” challenge to reward schools who make it easier to
make healthy food choices and harder to make bad ones, and a “Challenge of the Day” activity.

Beane says more innovative proposals will soon be rolled out by the Health Advisory Council. “One of our
members is focused on sleep,” she said. “There’s been a lot of study on rolling back school start times. It may
be easier for some people to have the kids start school earlier in the morning, but it’s not in the best interests
of the kids.”

Katz promotes three strategies developed by Turn the Tide Foundation: the school-based Nutrition Detectives
that teaches elementary children how to make smart food choices; the ABC for Fitness program, which
includes ways to build in brief physical activity bursts into every classroom throughout the day without using
up instructional time; and Nu-val Nutrition Quality Labeling, a supermarket-based food ranking system that
gives a nutrition score from 1 to 100 to more than 45,000 food products.

He also praised LiveWell Colorado, a nonprofit organization committed to reducing obesity in Colorado by
promoting healthy eating and active living. Just this week, Live Well Colorado released a Food Policy Blueprint
that identifies the most pressing needs and opportunities to strengthen access to healthy foods in the state.

These and other programs are among the “sandbags” that Katz says America needs to hold back the flood of
obesity-related health problems. “If we do enough things right, and build them one on top of another, then the
levee will hold,” he said.

Katz preaches a no-guilt gospel about the path to health. “If you are struggling with your weight, it is not
your fault,” he says. “The environment is not of your devising. Don’t tell me there’s some epidemic lack of
willpower.”

He took the nation’s food industry to task for misleading labeling and for its aggressive promotion – especially
toward children – of high-calorie nutrient-poor foods. “The food industry needs to be regulated,” he said.
But equally important is a sea-change in society’s approach to food, he said. Cultural values need to shift.

“Plate cleaning is a cultural anachronism,” he said. “If a child has the good sense to stop eating when he’s full,
pat him on the back!” Likewise, all-you-can-eat buffets need to disappear, along with bake sales.

He says efforts to find a “cure” for obesity – a pill to keep us slim – seem doomed to failure because putting on
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weight in the midst of plenty is what humans are genetically designed to do. For most of human history, that’s
been a survival mechanism.

“For most of history, calories were hard to get and physical activity was unavoidable,” Katz said. “Now, physical
activity is hard to get and calories are unavoidable.”

March 12, 2010
On the Job: Nonprofit - Gabriel Guillaume Becky Grupe

HEALTH CARE

Longmont United Hospital welcomed Thomas Chapman and Mark Hinman, MD, to the Longmont United
Hospital Board of Directors. Chapman is managing partner of the First MainStreet Insurance LCC. Hinman was
the chief of medical staff for Longmont United in 2003 and 2009. The term length for directorship is three
years, effective Jan. 1.

Courtney Wentworth joined Workwell Occupational Medicine as health services manager. Wentworth will
serve all markets with a focus on the Longmont clients.

Betty Stevens, senior manager of Banner Occupational Health Services, and Sheryl Fahrenbruch, senior
manager of McKee Wellness Services, received certification as Occupational Hearing Conservationists
through the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation. Each is certified to do hearing
screenings and is approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Mine Safety and Health
Administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to provide services to companies
that participate in a hearing conservation program.

LiveWell Colorado, a nonprofit organization committed to reducing obesity in Colorado by promoting healthy
eating and active living, named Gabriel Guillaume vice president of grants. Guillaume will be responsible for
directing a coordinated and strategic community investment program and leading funding efforts for LiveWell
Colorado. Becky Grupe has been appointed director of community relations. Grupe will lead the creation and
implementation of strategic community partnerships and collaborative efforts that support the mission, vision
and strategic plan of LiveWell Colorado.

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Changing the Food Access Paradigm | Greg Plotkin
March 12, 2010

Hunger is a structural problem, and to fix it, we need to develop
comprehensive solutions that go beyond simply donating a can of
green beans to a local food pantry or dropping a few nickels in the
Salvation Army bucket around the holidays.

More than anything else, we need to address the many barriers that
keep healthy food from being more widely available in communities
that need it the most.

A recent “Food Policy Blueprint” released by LiveWell Colorado
seeks to do just that, and offers some creative solutions to increasing
access to healthy food in low-income communities.

Included in the blueprint is a recommendation to develop a state
policy to support a fresh food financing program similar to the
one currently being operated in Philadelphia, and being proposed on a national scale as a part of President
Obama’s 2011 budget proposal. This program would provide economic incentives to grocery stores, farmers
markets and other healthy food outlets that operate in low-income neighborhoods.

In addition, the blueprint encourages stronger coordination among food assistance programs and local
food producers in an effort to link excess local production with the healthy food needs of under-served
communities.

Now, it’s one thing to make recommendations, but it’s quite another to actually stimulate action.

This is why I’m happy to see that the Colorado blueprint includes several implementation strategies, including
the creation of a state Food Systems Advisory Council to translate the proposed ideas into on-the-ground
programs to improve food access.

Certainly, this is a step in the right direction in terms of food access planning, but we need to do this on a
national level too in order to truly make a dent in the country’s hunger problem.

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LiveWell Puts Emphasis on Ways to Get Healthy Food | Amy Hamilton
March 16, 2010

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March 22, 2010
Newsmakers

LIVEWELL COLORADO: Named Gabriel
Guillaume vice president of grants. He
previously was executive director of
2040 Partners for Health.
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LiveWell, Not Just a Pretty Thought | Michele Mukatis
March 25, 2010

I’m following so many things related to food, health, nutrition, gardening and agriculture that it makes my
head spin at times.

In other areas of the country, and certainly the rest of the world, food is taken much more seriously than in
Colorado Springs, sometimes even elevated to the status of *gulp* cash in our country.

Colorado Springs, on the other hand, has a food culture defined by neon lights instead of light and healthy,
strip malls instead of well prepared strip steak and a clandestine drop into the car through a car window
instead of sitting at *gasp* a table. Some of you may wonder at this, thinking that the table is a place to store
your keys. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s just not true.

In comes LiveWell, an organization dedicated to helping low-income districts to learn healthy habits. They
promote everything from school gardens and healthy food in the lunch room to getting kids moving, dare I say
it, even walking to school! They say on their website, “LiveWell Colorado aims to provide every Coloradoan
with access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity in the places they live, work, learn and
play.” www.livewellcolorado.org. Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it?

We are often ranked highest for many healthy lifestyle factors, but this trend is changing and LiveWell aims
to nip it in the bud. Besides getting actively involved in communities by using funding to provide necessary
services to schools and their constituents, LiveWell promotes their GAPP program. You can sign up for emails
that will tell you about important legislation in our state that affects our health and wellness. If you are
interested in making calls to your senators and representatives on issues of health that matter to us all, all
you have to do is sign up on LiveWell’s website for the GAPP program and, voila!, you will get emails as issues
are being brought up and debated. The only way to truly get involved in the discussion is to let your elected
officials know you have an opinion.

I heard once that a city council member knew it was an important issue if they received three or four calls
about it. It takes very little to make an impact, and you definitely can’t make an impact if you don’t try.

In any event, LiveWell Colorado is helping keep Colorado as one of the healthiest states in the nation.

Now, get out there and enjoy the moment of Colorado sunshine in between our spring storms!

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Weighty Issue | Pablo Carlos Mora
April 1, 2010

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Eat Healthy in Colorado | Ruth Knack
April 1, 2010

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April 6, 2010
People on the Move: Gabriel Guillaume

ADAMS 14 EDUCATION FOUNDATION: Elected Alek Orloff, Alpine Waste Recycling chief financial officer, to its
board of directors. The foundation provides financial support to the Adams 14 School District.

OLYMPUS: Announced that Paul Hudnut, an instructor at Colorado State University, was one of the 2010
winners in the Olympus Innovation Awards Program. Hudnut was recognized for his creation and development
of the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise Program, a graduate business program that trains students to
become global social entrepreneurs.

CAP GLOBAL: Named Marie Ziegler a business analyst and Shaun Lee a project-implementation manager.

DENVER METRO CHAMBER LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION: Will honor Eric Duran, vice president of DA Davidson
and Co., as 9News Leader of the Year and Jacqueline Bell, a student at the University of Colorado-Colorado
Springs, as the Colorado Leadership Alliance Student Leader of the Year today at the Hyatt Regency at Colorado
Convention Center.

LIVEWELL COLORADO: Named Gabriel Guillaume vice president of grants.

ROPER INSURANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES: Welcomed insurance brokers Shawn Diaz and Andrew Ledbetter to
the company.

BLYTHECO LLC: Named Apryl Hanson director, customer and partner strategy.

NORTHPOINTE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: Appointed Dennis Schrantz as senior policy analyst.

LOUISVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Brad Barnett, president of Mountain High Appliance, was recently
presented the 2009 Businessman of the Year award.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER: The business school hired Karen Niparko as director of the Graduate
Career Connections office.

IPC THE HOSPITALIST COMPANY: Added Dr. Richard Paguia to the inpatient practice at Swedish Medical Center.

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April 6, 2010
Colorado Connections

Changing Your Food, Changing Your Life | Paula Vargas
April 7, 2010


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Laredo Elementary Student to Chew on New Nutritional Data | Adam Goldstein
April 8, 2010

Students at Laredo Elementary School in Aurora won’t have to
struggle to find the most nutritional items on the breakfast or
lunch menu.

They’ll be able to tell right away if the breakfast burrito on
the cafeteria menu is high in saturated fats, if the cinnamon
French toast is high in cholesterol or if the soft tacos contain
any hidden, deep-fried ingredients.

That’s the idea behind the “Go Slow Whoa” program, an
initiative at Laredo to teach students to make healthier food
choices by placing all menu items into three categories.
The Aurora Public Schools district has partnered with Denver’s 7 and Azteca America Colorado and LiveWell
Colorado to launch the pilot program at Laredo this week, and program officials plan to spread it to the rest of
the district next year.

“By the end of the school year, we hope to have the program going in the majority of the schools,” said Becky
Grupe, a director with the nonprofit LiveWell Colorado. “With this first six-week period we just want to make
sure that people are aware of the concepts.”

Through markings on the school’s cafeteria menu and accompanying posters, the program breaks all foods into
three categories: “Go” foods are good to eat almost anytime and include fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean meats
and whole grains. “Slow” foods should be eaten sometimes, and include pancakes, bagels, dark meat chicken
and turkey sausage. “Whoa” foods should only be eaten occasionally. They are typically high in saturated fat
and dietary cholesterol and include most fried foods, fatty meats, soda and snack foods.

In the district’s breakfast and lunch menu for April, items like macaroni and cheese, pizza and chicken fried
steak have calorie counts of less than 340, while items like fresh apples, tomatoes and cantaloupe have counts
less than 65.

The effort to change eating habits at the elementary school level aligns with the larger goals of LiveWell
Colorado, a relatively new nonprofit funded by Kaiser Permanente, the Colorado Health Foundation and
the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. This week, LiveWell released its “Food Policy
Blueprint,” a document that outlines a “healthy food policy” for the entire state.

“The food policy blueprint is actually the first blueprint in a series. We wanted to take a really informed,
comprehensive approach to policy,” said Lonna Lindsay, vice president of policy at LiveWell. “In the summer of
2009 we commissioned the research and development of this blueprint. The process was quite extensive.”
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At its core, the food blueprint looks for ways to encourage healthier eating habits, Lindsay said, and the “Go
Slow Whoa” initiative offers a first step in that process.

“There are reporting mechanisms based on what school kitchens order, as well as what school kids purchase,”
Lindsay said. “We’ll be able to evaluate the amount of ‘go’ foods that were purchased.”

April 11, 2010

Queen Latifah | Adam Schrager
Your Show: 9Health Fair CEO Jim Goddard, Obesity in Colorado Actress/Musician


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LiveWell Research Reveals Workplace Efforts Fall Short | Ed Sealover
April 16, 2010

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Letter to the Editor, RE: No Fat Kids | Anne Warhover
April 17, 2010

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Planting Seeds in Food Deserts: Neighborhood Gardens, Produce in Corner Stores | Karen Auge
April 17, 2010

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Worksite Wellness Grants Distributed by Prevention Alliance | Caitlin Row
April 23, 2010

To encourage local wellness practices — like better fitness and nutrition, the Summit Prevention Alliance
recently awarded “worksite wellness mini-grants” to eight Summit County entities. Funding recipients include
Red White Blue Fire District, the Summit Medical Center Health Foundation, the Town of Dillon, the Town of
Silverthorne, the Town of Breckenridge, Summit County Government, Colorado Mountain College and Summit
School District.

According to Summit Prevention Alliance coordinator Susan Westhof, a $200,000 LiveWell Colorado grant is
providing this year’s work-place funding — the program through the Alliance is now in its third year. LiveWell
Colorado is a state organization working to “inspire and advance policy, environmental and lifestyle changes
that promote health through the prevention and reduction of obesity,” according to its website.

“We want to encourage local worksites to create a culture of health in the workplace because that’s where
people spend a majority of their time,” Westhof said. “We basically give them funding to be creative, but
we provide them with some assistance and guidelines for best use of the funds that will really help change
behaviors to increase physical activity and nutrition.”

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Silverthorne spokesman Ryan Hyland said the town used its 2009 wellness grant to supplement its existing
wellness programs.

“In 2009, we were able to provide employees one-on-one sessions with a registered dietician, sponsorships
for employees participating in our recreation center’s fitness challenge, and the grant enabled us to provide
personal health coaching for a larger group of employees,” Hyland said. “Plans for the 2010 grant are similar in
nature.”

A Health Promotion Management assessment for the Town of Dillon’s 2009 wellness program said its staff
participants lowered their collective weight, upped their intake of fruits and vegetables, and become more
active.

Summit School District’s healthy workplace program includes a health assistance program, as well as discounts
on recreation and classes.

The Alliance also gave Copper Mountain Ski Resort $1,000 in January to use toward creating a breast-feeding
space, $9,000 to Summit School District for school wellness programs, and each town received a mini-grant
toward active community environment projects.

Westhof, however, noted that this will be the last year of this particular grant for worksite wellness initiatives
due to funding reductions.

“Our hope is to create a sustainable effort (for the future),” she added.

For more information about the Summit Prevention Alliance, visit www.summitpreventionalliance.org.

To learn more about LiveWell Colorado, visit www.livewellcolorado.org.

April 30, 2010
Culinary Boot Camp


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Making Neighborhoods More Kid Friendly | Sarah Hughes
May 6, 2010

A new study says kids who live in poor neighborhoods have 20 to 60%
higher odds of being overweight or obese than kids in richer neighborhoods.
There are a lot of reasons for that. A major one, though, is that streets in
poor neighborhoods are generally less safe, so parents are less likely to
let their kids walk places, including to school. We visit two Denver area
neighborhoods - in Aurora and Commerce City - where parents and school
officials have joined together to help create safer walking routes to school,
for kids.

Please see the DVD at the back of the clipbook for full audio.

May 6, 2010
Colorado Health Department Let’s Move


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Students Learn to ‘Eat a Rainbow’ | Paula Vargas
May 11, 2010


May 17, 2010
Food Companies Will Remove 1.5 Trillion Calories

Several of the nation’s largest food companies say they are going on a diet.

A coalition of retailers, food and beverage manufacturers and industry trade associations said Monday that
they will take 1.5 trillion calories out of their products by 2015 in an effort to reduce childhood obesity. That
equals about 12.5 calories per person per day.

The coalition, called the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, pledged to reduce the calories as part of
an agreement with a group of nonprofit organizations concerned with childhood obesity, first lady Michelle
Obama said Monday.

“This is precisely the kind of private sector commitment we need,” said Mrs. Obama, who earlier this year
launched her own “Let’s Move” anti-obesity campaign.

Food companies concerned about national and local efforts to raise food taxes and a rising tide of lawmakers
preparing to write anti-obesity measures have publicly endorsed the first lady’s message and pledged to make
their foods healthier.

The industry foundation said the companies will introduce lower calorie foods, change product recipes and
reduce portion sizes to achieve the goal, seeking to reduce 1 trillion of the 1.5 trillion by 2012.

Mrs. Obama has urged the food industry to speed up efforts to produce healthier foods and reduce marketing
of unhealthy foods to children. In a speech to an industry association in March, she urged companies not to
find creative ways to market products as healthy -- including reducing fat and replacing it with sugar, or vice
versa -- but to increase nutrients as well.

To keep the companies accountable, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonpartisan philanthropic and
research organization that works to improve the nation’s health, will evaluate how the groups’ efforts affect
the number of calories consumed by children and adolescents.
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“We’re confident their commitment to this cause is sincere and measurable -- and thus has real potential for
impact,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “What remains
unknown is what effect it will have on efforts to prevent childhood obesity.”

The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation has more than 80 members, including General Mills Inc.,
ConAgra Foods Inc., Kraft Foods Inc., Kellogg Co., Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Hershey Co.

A similar campaign is underway here in Colorado. In April, 7NEWS, Azteca America-Colorado, Livewell Colorado
and Aurora Public Schools teamed together to create the Go, Slow, Whoa program.

Go, Slow, Whoa is designed to bring healthier choices into school lunchrooms.

May 19, 2010
Bike to work day this Friday

LiveWell Chaffee County is partnering with two local businesses in Buena Vista to host Bike to Work Day on
May 21.

The Trailhead at 707 Hwy. 24 and Buena Vista Roastery at 409 E. Main will serve coffee and other breakfast
items from 7 - 10 a.m. to bicyclists who bike to work that day. Bike mechanics will be at both locations to check
bicycles for safety and efficiency.

Bike to Work Day is an annual event held on the third Friday of May across the U.S. and Canada that promotes
the bicycle as an option for commuting to work.

“We hope that we can get some people who wouldn’t normally ride to work to do it just one day. That one day
might just turn into a habit. It’s those small changes that can have the biggest impact on someone’s health,”
Lisa Malde, LiveWell Chaffee County Director, said.

LiveWell Chaffee County is one of 22 communities receiving funding from LiveWell Colorado. LiveWell Colorado
is a non-profit organization committed to reducing obesity in Colorado by promoting healthy eating and active
living.

For more information about Bike to Work Day in Chaffee County, contact Lisa Malde at lmalde@chaffeecounty.
org or call 530-2569.

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May 21, 2010
Newsmakers: Venita Robinson Currie

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May 26, 2010
Governor Ritter Signs Bill Intended to Increase Coloradans’ Access to Healthy Foods

Governor Bill Ritter today will sign into law Senate Bill 106: Creation of Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council,
which will convene key stakeholders to address improving access to healthy food within Colorado. The bill was
initiated by LiveWell Colorado, a nonprofit organization committed to reducing obesity in Colorado by promoting
healthy eating and active living, and sponsored by Senator Bob Bacon (D-Fort Collins) and Representative Marsha
Looper (R-Calhan).

The bill establishes a state-endorsed 13-member council, which will work across diverse sectors, to develop food
system recommendations that state and local governments, businesses, agriculture and consumers can use to
improve healthy food access in Colorado.

“There isn’t one single place or single group that addresses the complexities of food systems and their impact
on health,” said Maren C. Stewart, president and CEO of LiveWell Colorado. “For the first time in Colorado, the
Food Systems Advisory Council will convene stakeholders from the multiple sectors that impact food systems to
recommend policies and programs that will increase access to healthy foods.”

LiveWell Colorado anticipates that the Council’s work will address many of the recommendations outlined in the
nonprofit’s recently released Food Policy Blueprint, which include (among others):

-Increase participation in federal food assistance programs. Colorado currently has one of the lowest
participation rates of any state.
-Address food deserts by providing incentives to support the economic development of healthy food
retailers, including full-service grocers, mobile vendors, corner stores, and farmers’ markets and stands.
-Introduce electronic benefits transfer (EBT) to farmer’s markets to make it easier for all Coloradans to
purchase healthy foods.
-Address school food procurement regulations to make it easier for schools to purchase healthy local foods.

“The bill strengthens local and regional sustainable food systems and offers economic benefits to Colorado,” said
Bacon. “In addition to combating obesity, the work of this council will promote economic development and support
local agriculture.”

The council will convene later this year and include representatives from four agencies (Departments of Health and
Human Services, Public Health and Environment, Agriculture and Education) and nine gubernatorial designees with
experience in Nutrition and Health (2 members), Agricultural Production (3 members), Food Wholesalers/Retailers
(2 members), Anti-Hunger and Food Assistance (1 member), and Economic Development (1 member).

“Once established, this multi-sector Council will look at issues and address barriers to getting underserved
communities, particularly low income families and children, access to healthy, fresh food. There are far too many
families in Colorado that struggle to put food on the table every day, and SB 106 will help address that problem and
ensure our children are well nourished,” said Looper.

To read the full text of the bill, review LiveWell Colorado’s Food Policy Blueprint or to learn more about the
nonprofit’s public policy agenda, please visit www.livewellcolorado.org.

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New Food Council Gets a Seat at Colorado Table | Karen Auge
May 27, 2010

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Colorado To Take Holistic View Of Need For Healthy Foods | Kevin Coupe
May 27, 2010

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has signed into state law a bill that creates “a state-endorsed 13-member council,
which will work across diverse sectors, to develop food system recommendations that state and local
governments, businesses, agriculture and consumers can use to improve healthy food access in Colorado.”

According to Maren C. Stewart, president/CEO of LiveWell Colorado, a nonprofit organization that helped
sponsor the legislation, “There isn’t one single place or single group that addresses the complexities of food
systems and their impact on health. For the first time in Colorado, the Food Systems Advisory Council will
convene stakeholders from the multiple sectors that impact food systems to recommend policies and programs
that will increase access to healthy foods.”

LiveWell Colorado already has made a series of recommendations that will be considered by the council,
including “providing incentives to support the economic development of healthy food retailers, including full-
service grocers, mobile vendors, corner stores, and farmers’ markets and stands.”

KC’s View: One of the consistent criticisms made here on MNB of various anti-obesity initiatives is that they
seem to be created in a vacuum, like throwing pasta against the wall to see what sticks.

The Colorado move seems like a concerted effort to take a comprehensive look at the problem and create
solutions that work with each other, and that work for the consumer.

Which seems at least sensible.

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A new state advisory council aims to make healthy foods more accessible | Jessica Chapman
May 28, 2010

A bill signed into law this week has created an advisory council tasked with
ensuring Colorado residents’ greater access to healthy foods.

The thirteen-member Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council will
collaborate on such issues as increasing state participation in federal
food assistance programs, creating incentives in so-called “food deserts,”
allowing food stamps at farmers’ markets and making it easier for schools
to use local foods, among other things.

Convening an advisory council, rather than approaching the issue
directly through legislation, allows for more collaboration and hopefully a better policy outcome says
LiveWell Colorado’s vice president of policy Lonna Lindsay. “They may arrive at a collective point that doesn’t
necessarily require state statute to implement it,” she says.

For example, Lindsay says, “In many cases barriers to [availability of local food] are not necessarily state law. A
barrier could be a potato farmer not knowing a local school is even interested in serving local potatoes.”

The council will be composed of four representatives from state agencies and nine with experience in the fields
of agriculture, nutrition, food wholesaling/retailing, food assistance and economic development. It will begin
convening later this year.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Bob Bacon (D-Fort Collins) and Rep. Marsha Looper (R-Calhan). Council
designees are anticipated to be announced this fall.

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The Great Expansion | Rob Reuteman
June 1, 2010

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June 4, 2010
Interview with Venita Robinson Currie re: Culinary Boot Camp


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Urban gardens germinate seeds of better health in Denver | Karen Auge Annette Espinoza
June 9, 2010

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Boot camp aims to remake school meals | Rebecca Jones
June 10, 2010

Wendy Blake and her two kitchen assistants turned out 56,000
meals this past school year to feed the students in Wiggins. Blake,
the food services director for the school district, admits they relied
on a lot of processed frozen food in order to do it.

But Blake says she learned a valuable lesson in kitchen time
management this week. “I’ve learned it takes the same half hour
to thaw and reheat chicken nuggets that it takes to roast a fresh
chicken,” she said.

You can bet that Wiggins students are going to be seeing more roasted chicken and fewer chicken nuggets next
year. More fresh produce and less frozen commodities. More scratch cooking and less reheated processed fare.

Blake was one of two dozen nutrition directors and school cafeteria staff to participate in a free five-day School
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Chef Culinary Boot Camp at Adams City High School in Commerce City this week. By the end of July, more than
100 school food service workers from 32 districts around the state will have been through the training, which
is also scheduled for Colorado Springs, Montrose and Aurora. Last year, 11 districts participated in similar boot
camps.

The boot camps, led by two New York City chefs who specialize in school lunch
reform, are coordinated by LiveWell Colorado and funded by the Colorado Health
Foundation and by a federal grant. The students get hands-on training in the
fundamentals of scratch cooking, knife skills, kitchen time management, food
safety, recipe and menu development, breakfast strategies and tips on things like
commodity ordering and even promoting nutritious school lunches on Facebook.

Total investment in each student is about $3,000, said Venita Robinson-Currie, who
is coordinating the boot camps for LiveWell.

“I don’t expect everything will change tomorrow,” said Chef Andrea Martin,
who put the students through their paces Thursday morning barbecuing chicken,
whipping up mashed potatoes and enough other dishes to serve a cafeteria full
of visitors, there to check out the progress of the boot camp. “But we’re teaching them culinary techniques,
professionalism. And there are some immediate steps they can all take. They can look at what they’re serving.
They can eliminate chocolate milk and replace it with low-fat milk. They can serve cereal with little or no added
sugar. They can make sauces and salad dressings from scratch.”

“Our goal is to ensure that every student in Colorado gets nourishing and delicious meals at school, which
is vitally important in reducing childhood obesity,” said Maren C. Stewart, president and CEO of LiveWell
Colorado. “These boot camps do not simply teach school food service personnel how to prepare healthier
meals. They also arm them with the tools to build and sustain school food programs that will positively impact
the health of Colorado’s children.”

And by all accounts, Colorado’s children are in dire need of some help. A 2008 study found that only 8
percent of Colorado children eat the recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables daily. More than a quarter
of children ages 10-17 in Colorado are overweight or obese. In 2003, Colorado ranked third in the nation for
fewest obese children. By 2007, Colorado had slipped to 23rd.

Weight problems are particularly acute among the low income. According to a 2007 study, 24.7 percent of
Colorado children who live in households where the income is less than $25,000 are obese. In households
where income is greater than $75,000, just 8.8 percent are obese.

Since school lunches and breakfasts take on an especially critical role in meeting the nutritional needs of the
poor, the culinary boot camps are being offered free to school districts of at least 5,000 students in which at
least 40 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunches. In Commerce City – Adams County District
14 – 82 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunches.

In addition to the training, each participating district will receive a grant of $1,000 to buy kitchen equipment to
help in the preparation of fresh foods.

“We have a lot of equipment issues,” complained Mindi Wolf, food services director for Keenesburg and Fort
Lupton schools. “We have ovens and that’s it. If we could get an immersion blender and some slicers, then we
could do a lot of stuff. But we just don’t have the staff right now to be slicing vegetables. Maybe in two or three
years…” page 1

Back in the kitchen, Jeremy West, director of food services for Weld
County District 6 in Greeley, marveled at the low-fat macaroni-and-
cheese dish he was making. “We learned to make a sauce from
butternut squash, so there’s actually very little cheese in this,” he
said. “It’s very low-fat, and it’s delicious. We could do this in Greeley.”

For more information
Click here to read the 2009 Colorado Health Report Card, published
by the Colorado Health Foundation

June 10, 2010
Culinary Boot Camp Commerce City; 5 p.m.

Culinary Boot Camp event footage - Commerce City; Interview with Venita

No video available.

June 10, 2010
Culinary Boot Camp Commerce City; 5:30 p.m.

Culinary Boot Camp event footage - Commerce City

No video available.

page 2

Culinary Boot Camp Commerce City; 7 a.m. | Jennifer Ryan
June 10, 2010

The same story also appeared on KUSA-TV CH 9 (NBC).


June 11, 2010
Culinary Boot Camp Commerce City; 6 a.m.

The same story also appeared on June 10, 2010, at 5 p.m. and June 11, 2010, at 5 a.m.


page

Lunch, schooled | Karen Auge
June 11, 2010

page

Starting from scratch | Kelsey Fowler
June 11, 2010

Cafeteria food is undergoing a major health makeover in Colorado. Thanks to
federal stimulus dollars and Colorado Health Foundation funding, Colorado could
be the first state where leaders from every school district learn to cook from
scratch and implement healthier cooking techniques into their school cafeterias.

The “School Chef Culinary Bootcamps” are coordinated by LiveWell Colorado, a
nonprofit known for promoting healthy eating and active living. The bootcamps
have New York chefs Andrea Martin and Kate Adamick teaching food service and
nutrition directors from across Colorado how to make healthier, lower fat foods.

Each camp is a five-day course of hands-on training designed to teach schools
how to prepare fresh, from-scratch meals for students. The program is free and
registration is open to school food or nutrition service directors. The Colorado
Springs District 11 camp is planned for June 14 through June 18 at Coronado High
School. While this bootcamp is full, registration is still available for the Montrose
County School District camp, July 12 to 16 at Montrose High School.

Renovating cafeteria kitchens with equipment to roast chicken rather than thaw french fries could cost a lot,
especially when some districts are struggling to just pay teachers. Luckily, each participating district receives a
$1,000 grant for kitchen equipment to begin implementing the new techniques.

Even though Colorado boasts the title of least obese state in the nation, according to the Colorado Health
Foundation, 27 percent of kids ages 10 to 17 are obese or overweight. Only 8 percent get the recommended
daily servings of fruit and vegetables.

page

June 11, 2010
Culinary Boot Camp Commerce City; 5 a.m.

Culinary Boot Camp event footage - Commerce City

No video available.

Is There a Plan for D.C. School Food? | Ed Bruske
June 13, 2010

D.C. schools currently serve kids some of the worst processed convenience foods the industry has to offer,
grotesquely out of step with the enthusiastic rhetoric generated around Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move”
campaign. And while they claim to be making improvements, school officials under Chancellor Michelle Rhee
seem unwilling of incapable or articulating a vision for replacing the daily regime of frozen and packaged junk
provided by its paid food serviced contractor--Chartwells--with real food.

This week I saw a very different approach when I spent time in a “culinary boot camp” outside Denver, CO.
There, more than 30 cooks and food service directors from schools around the state immersed themselves
in an intensive, four-day session to learn how to better manage their finances and operate kitchens that can
create wholesome meals from scratch.

The “boot camp” is one step in a process of improving school food that also involves a professional assessment
of food service operations to identify ways of freeing up cash, making kitchen operations more efficient, and
serving healthier food. A state wellness organization responsible for organizing the boot camps--LiveWell
Colorado--hopes that these initial training sessions are just the beginning of a process that could eventually
transform food service in schools across the state, eliminating processed convenience foods from school
cafeterias.

D.C. Schools have a new food service director, Jeffrey Mills, who previously had no experience at all in
school food. His entire career has focused on developing restaurant concepts, most notably in New York
City. Wouldn’t it make sense for the District of Columbia, rather than asking Mr. Mills to re-invent the wheel,
to emulate a progressive state such as Colorado and order a professional assessment of its food service
operations?

Michelle Rhee said it was necessary to hire a professional food service company like Chartwells to get a grip on
page

the $10 million deficits D.C. schools were running annually in its food services. Now we know that Chartwells
is really about collecting millions of dollars in fees, money that could be going to improve the food kids are
eating.

The good news is that there are professionals in school food service who are passionate about serving children
wholesome meals made with fresh ingredients and who know how to manage finances and operations to
make that kind of meal service a reality. Isn’t it time for D.C. schools to get real and make like Colorado?

June 14, 2010
School Food Boot Camp Photos

Photos from the Culinary Boot Camp in Commerce City.

Culinary Boot Camp Colorado Springs; 5:30 p.m. | Mindy Stone
June 14, 2010

The same story also appeared at 4 p.m. and on June 15, 2010, at 5 a.m.


Culinary Boot Camp Colorado Springs; 6 a.m. | Jessica Michaels
June 15, 2010

The same story also appeared on June 14, 2010, at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. and on June 15, 2010, at 5 a.m.
and 12 p.m.

Please see the DVD at the back of the clipbook for a full video. page

June 16, 2010
New Broomfield breakfast station for Bike to Work Day

Denver`s annual Bike to Word Day returns Wednesday, and local businesses and governments are working
to encourage residents to pedal -- or skate, or just walk -- to work in an effort to promote healthy living and
environmental awareness.

The Healthy Broomfield Community Coalition will sponsor a breakfast from 6:30 to 8 a.m. for Bike to Work Day
participants. The location is near the Community Park amphitheater, north of the Mamie Doud Eisenhower
Public Library, 3 Community Park Road.

Healthy breakfast options will be provided by LiveWell Broomfield, a grantee of LiveWell Colorado, whose core
mission is supporting active living as a core component in building a healthy community and sustaining healthy
lifestyles.

The Denver Regional Council of Governments is sponsoring a competition among local companies to try to
drive up participation. Bikers can find out more and get safety tips at drcog.org/biketowork.

DRCOG and local businesses and nonprofits also are sponsoring refreshment stations at Arista, East Park in
Interlocken, Golden Bear Bike Shop and at the corner of Midway and Sheridan boulevards.

The next frontier in school lunch | Christine Hollister
June 17, 2010

School chefs learn healthier recipes, cooking techniques at culinary boot camp

“This is new, this is exciting,” said Cindy Veney, manager of nutrition services for Adams 14 schools, as she
surveyed the large table of food in front her. “I’m very excited to take this back to our students.”

Veney was one of the participants in LiveWell Colorado’s School Chef Culinary Boot Camp last week at Adams
City High School in Commerce City. This boot camp was the first in a series of four training courses across the
state designed to teach nutrition directors and cafeteria staff how to prepare made-from-scratch meals using
healthy ingredients. The boot camps are free and offered to school districts with more than 5,000 students and
at least 40 percent of the student population qualifying for free or reduced lunches.

“I think this has been wonderful,” Veney said Thursday. “It’s been great to see how easy it is to make and how
healthy it is for the kids.”
page

This is Veney’s first year with Adams 14, but she’s been in food
services for 17 years. She now is in charge of a staff of 53 throughout
the district. During the boot camp, she and her staff learned a number
of recipes and healthier variations of common school lunch favorites
including pizza and mac and cheese. She said that in addition to
tasting good and being healthier for the students, the recipes she
learned at the boot camp would likely cost less to make and take less
time than traditional recipes.

This is the culmination of four days of culinary training,” said Andrea
Martin, one of two chefs who designed the program, pointing to the food prepared by the boot camp’s
students Thursday. “We have 75 feet of food for you today.”

We developed this program to change the face of school food,” Martin said. “We want them to experience
what amazing, healthy food you can make.”

Adams 14 Board of Education President Jeannette Lewis said the school district made an effort to make school
lunch healthier in recent years, bringing in more fresh fruits and veggies, working with local farmers and even
doing away with chocolate milk. She sees her district’s involvement in the boot camps as just one more step
toward healthier kids.

“I’m ecstatic about it,” she said. “This has been my passion forever, and it is so desperately needed. If you feed
the body with good food, kids learn better. Our kids are ready for it.”

Venita Currie is program director for LiveWell Colorado, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing the soaring rates of
obesity.

“The goal is to teach schools how to make made-from-scratch meals that taste good,” she said. “If they’re not
good, students aren’t going to eat them.”

In addition to the Commerce City boot camp, in June and July, LiveWell Colorado will host three additional
boot camps: Colorado Springs, Montrose and Aurora. At the boot camp, food service directors and/or nutrition
directors participate in a free five-day, hands-on training focusing on the fundamentals of scratch-cooking
as well as recipe and menu development, universal breakfast strategies and commodities ordering. Each
participating district will receive a donation of $1,000 for minor equipment to begin implementing techniques
learned at the culinary boot camp.

Maren Stewart, president of LiveWell Colorado, said she was encouraged by the enthusiasm displayed by the
students at the Commerce City boot camp.

“It is exciting and energizing and rewarding and so promising,” she said. “This is going to change the way these
people work and think.

“We hope that some day, all schools can have this information,” she added. “Our goal is for healthy eating and
active living to be available to everyone.”

The boot camps are coordinated by LiveWell Colorado and funded by the Colorado Health Foundation as well
as a federal grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act facilitated by the Colorado Department
of Public Health and Environment’s Colorado Physical Activity and Nutrition Program.
page 0

This article appeared on Denver and
Commerce City’s YourHub/com websites.
June 18, 2010
School Food Directors and Cafeteria Staff Report to Culinary

Fresh, healthy and made-from-scratch meals will be on the menu in schools across the state this fall thanks to
LiveWell Colorado’s School Chef Culinary Boot Camps, which kicked off in Commerce City last week. Hosted at
Adams City High School June 7-11, the first boot camp in a statewide series equipped food service directors
and cafeteria staff with the tools, skills and confidence to consider replacing processed foods with fresh
produce and healthy options.

The boot camps are coordinated by LiveWell Colorado, a nonprofit committed to reducing obesity by
promoting healthy eating and active living.

Out with chicken nuggets and frozen pizza, in with fresh fruits and veggies
In the five-day, intensive hands-on training course, cafeteria staff and food service directors learned the
fundamentals of cooking from scratch. Coached by Chef Andrea Martin, a New York City and state certified
teacher who specializes in school lunch reform, participants learned lessons ranging from meat and poultry
handling, to knife skills, to quick recipe tips, such as adding pureed carrots to marinara sauce and using
concentrated apple juice as a key ingredient in healthier French toast.

In the classroom portions of the boot camp, participants learned the fundamentals of social marketing, menu
planning, a history of school food and handy “culinary math.” These classroom lessons were led by Chef Kate
Adamick, a proponent and speaker on institutional food systems, sustainable agriculture and childhood obesity
issues.

“The made-from-scratch recipes and the teaching tips from Chef Kate in the classroom are great takeaways
for all of us participating chefs to take back to our schools and really implement with confidence,” said Jeremy
West, nutrition service director for Weld County District 6 and a participant in last week’s boot camp.

The culinary boot camps are available to school districts with at least 40 percent of their student populations
qualifying for free or reduced lunches; other districts are welcomed and included if possible. The Adams City
High School event hosted chefs from 11 different school districts.

“These Culinary Boot Camps are a long time coming and really open the doors for the kids to get access to the
good nutrition they so desperately need,” said Jeannette Lewis, president of the Adams County School District
(Adams 14) Board of Education. “Healthy bodies build healthy minds, which create healthy and successful
students as they move through school.”

Smart for schools – and school food budgets
For many participating chefs, the best part of the boot camp experience was learning how to order foods
and implement these new skills to improve the quality of their food as well as saving time and money. Simple
adjustments such as removing chocolate milk and providing only nonfat or skim milk to students, or timing
food orders to minimize waste can make a considerable difference in a school’s food spending. page 1

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