“We must teach our children to enjoy healthy food in healthy portions and encourage them to be physically active for at least 60 minutes a day,” said Villagomez during the Commonwealth Diabetes Coalition forum at Laolao Bay Resort on Saturday.
He said parents can also do something active with their children.
There is a need to increase health literacy in the CNMI, he added.
“We must close the gap between what health professionals know and what parents and children understand about physical activity and healthy eating,” he said,
Health literacy, he said, is the ability to access, understand and use health-related information and services to make appropriate health decisions.
To make good health choices, he said, parents and children need easy-to-understand information that fits into their busy lifestyle, Villagomez said.
Many people don’t know what a calorie is, or how to burn it, he added.
“It’s our job to make that kind of health information meaningful and helpful,” he said.
He told participants to work with the Commonwealth Diabetes Coalition and the Department of Public Health to promote healthy living, improve health literacy and encourage healthier lifestyles.
He said they can stop the community’s obesity problem before it affects future generations.
“Working together, industry, government and individuals can achieve these goals,” he said.
He challenged forum participants to increase their effort to educate and encourage CNMI residents to be more health-conscious.
Villagomez said he had a chance to talk with Dr. William Knowler from the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
He said according to Knowler, people can delay and even prevent Type 2 diabetes by losing just five to seven percent of their body weight through exercise and moderate changes in diet.
Over the past 20 years, the number of overweight children and adolescents has doubled in the United States, including the CNMI, Villagomez said.
“Because of the increasing rates of obesity, unhealthy eating habits, and physical inactivity, the current generation may be less healthy and have a shorter life expectancy than their parents,” he added.
But he said there’s still time to reverse this dangerous trend through increasing physical activity and healthier eating habits.
The annual national cost of obesity is now estimated at up to $117 billion, second only to the cost of tobacco use, Villagomez said.
