Have school leaders in your community discussed planned cutbacks and salary cuts?

The weighty problems facing Mississippi kids are well-documented.

Nearly 45 percent of children ages 10 to 17 are overweight or obese. Poor eating habits and lack of physical activity set them up for early onset diabetes and heart disease. There are fears that this generation will live shorter lives than their parents.

But there are bright spots, including three different programs in Northeast Mississippi where kids – and their families – are learning how to do a makeover of their couch potato habits.

“There’s awareness in the community that we need to address obesity in children,” said Tupelo pediatrician Dr. Ed Ivancic. “We have to address obesity as a community.”

Community-based programs are helping kids and their families build healthy habits as part of group programs.

Siblings Nicholas and Belle Massey of Fulton picked up running and dropped sodas after participating in the Lighten Up program at HealthWorks! Children’s Health Education Center in Tupelo.

Autumn Stone, 13, of Saltillo has dropped four dress sizes and her little sister, 10-year-old Madison Stone, has picked up a regular exercise habit after participating in the Work Your Body/BodyWorks summer camp and the BodyWorks fall program at HealthWorks!

“They have changed their whole mind-set,” said their mom, Tammy Stone, who went through the fall program with Madison.

CATCH Kids, which provides free clinics for children in Lee, Pontotoc and Chickasaw counties, started a weight management program this fall with an Appalachian Regional Commission grant.

“We’ve had one young lady who has lost 25 pounds,” said Valerie Long, CATCH Kids executive director.

The weekly program, aimed at children 6 to 15, includes four education sessions focused on fitness, nutrition and behavior modification and follow-up visits to keep kids going with their healthy habits.

The program, which began this fall, will continue through the summer, Long said.

Although weight loss is often a welcome side effect of getting sedentary kids moving, the focus for the children needs to be building sustainable, lifelong habits, Ivancic said. It’s not healthy for kids to be on diets with severely restricted calories.

“The big thing is to stabilize their weight,” Ivancic said, especially for children who are still growing.

The best prescription for getting kids to healthy weights – make it a family project, Ivancic said.

“It’s good for the family, too,” Ivancic said.

BodyWorks

After going through the BodyWorks program, Autumn and Madison Stone love sharing healthy snacks with their friends. Even the menus for their birthday parties got a makeover.

“You can still have fun,” said mom Tammy.

The BodyWorks program was developed by the state Department of Health and Human Services as a way to get mothers and daughters to team up on healthier habits and build better self-esteem.

The health department offers free train-the-trainer sessions.

In Tupelo, HealthWorks! and Junior Auxiliary teamed up to offer the program for girls and their moms. The next session of the free program begins Feb. 16.

The program gave them a tool kit with recipes, exercise and nutrition logs and books, to build a healthier lifestyle.

“It’s hard to get started, but you feel so much better,” Tammy Stone said.

There were moments the girls resisted the healthy changes. Autumn once refused to leave the car when the family went to walk at Veterans Park. Then she changed her mind

“I ran the whole loop,” Autumn said proudly.

Sometimes Madison admits she still gets the yen for junk food.

“You go in the store and think about how you can’t get something because it has 10,000 grams of fat,” Madison said, but she has stuck with a daily walking program.

The Lighten Up Program is partnership between HealthWorks! and Junior Auxiliary that teaches kids about good nutrition and gets them started on a running program. The program, which starts March 8, culminates with the Tie Dye 5K in May.

The Massey kids joined the Lighten Up class in May 2009 because their mother, who home-schools them, thought they needed some physical education.

“I strongly encouraged them,” Jeannie Massey said.

For 12-year-old Belle, the best part was the nutrition education.

“I really liked how they taught us to eat healthier foods,” Belle said.

Nicholas, 15, was more interested in the running. During the running season, he was covering two or three miles every morning. In the off season, he runs a couple of times a week.

“For me, it’s the challenge,” Nicholas said. “Before I’d play video games. Now I want to run or bike.”

After the Lighten Up class, the pair joined a home-school cross country group with their friends.

And they have affected their mother’s cooking, too.

“If I cook something heavier,” Jeannie Massey said, “they say ‘Can I have something different?’”

Contact Michaela Gibson Morris at (662) 678-1599 or michaela.morris@djournal.com.