Excerpt from visual map depicting White House and the words "vegetable garden on White House lawn"At the Weight of the Nation conference, 1200 public health policy makers and health professionals gathered in DC to assess where we are as a nation on the challenge of addressing obesity. I provided graphic facilitation so attendees could see their content visually. They loved the visual maps. I was blown away by the great response to my work.

Scientists, policy makers and academics never fail to respond positively to seeing their information presented in a creative visual way. One person in particular said, “You’ve made a whole lot of people happy, I hope you know.

Visual map built around accelerating progress in obesity prevention and outlining five organizational goals

Click the graphic to view enlarged version. 

This is a HUGE problem.

Currently 36% of adults and 17% of children are obese. Obesity-related health issues consume 9% of the health care budget, a whopping $190 billion in costs a year. The reasons why are vast:

  • Lack of fresh foods available typically in low-income neighborhoods, which has created food deserts.
  • Physical education being replaced in schools for more time for math and science. More screen time in front of televisions and computers.
  • A built environment in many places that relies heavily on cars for transportation rather than walking or biking.
  • Marketing of unhealthy food choices targeted to very young children to influence their food choices throughout their life.
  • National subsidies that go toward corn, sugar and soy beans which creates an unhealthy food production cycle.

Eat less, move more.

The good news is there’s a lot happening already to confront this national challenge and we’re already seeing success. The rise of obesity is starting to slow as people get the message and get active. Examples:

  • The Mayor of Nashville has a program called “Walk 100 miles with the Mayor” that encouraged thousands of people to take up walking on a daily basis.
  • Nashville also created 130 miles of bike trails.
  • Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia brought in fresh farmers markets to low-income areas that had never had access to fresh produce.
  • Parks are being created in Los Angeles neighborhoods that previously only had parking lots.
  • Colorado is requiring 600 minutes a month of physical activity in schools.
  • The military is completely updating all of their menu services to offer healthier choices of food.
  • Cities across the country are converting abandoned sites to community food gardens.

Michelle Obama gets the nation moving.

Visual map showing possible strategies to combat obesity in the US and encourage people to become more active

Click the graphic to view enlarged version.

One of the brightest programs making a difference is the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” project which has encouraged millions of kids to be more active and to eat healthier. Michelle Obama has visited countless schools, done push-ups with Ellen Degeneres on the Ellen show, planted a vegetable garden on the White House lawn and inspired so many around the country to focus on reducing childhood obesity.

Drawing the Cookie Monster.

Visual map depicting Sesame Street characters including the Cookie Monster to help educate children on better eating habitsClick the graphic to view enlarged version.

 Sesame Street showed up to talk about what the show is doing to influence kids toward making healthy food choices. The song “Just try it” sung by the Muppets encourages kids to try new vegetables.

Cookie Monster sings about the dilemma of eating a cookie or an apple and decides that cookies are a “sometime” food. And Lily, a new character, was created to highlight the issue of food insecurity—lack of food on a daily basis—which faces millions of children every day.

An HBO Premier.

HBO premiered the documentary The Weight of the Nation and the Institute of Medicine released a new report which received a ton of press coverage including the front page of USA Today and a mention from Bill Maher.

The bottom line is there is so much work to be done obesity needs a national focus and mobilization of resources. It’s costing us as a nation in lost productivity, rising health care costs and early death. Plus a lot of people are unable to have the happy and healthy lives that they truly want. Let’s get busy.

To see more visual maps from the conference, head over to my Portfolio page.