Because Nothing Should Weigh a Child Down

Live Light News

‘KNOCKOUT OBESITY’ Boxing Demo Aims to Curb Obesity in Poor Communities Live Light Live Right to ‘KO’ Obesity at Brownsville Recreation Center

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Press Release

KO Obesity Logo Official
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BROOKLYN, NY (October 20, 2014) — The obesity epidemic is a crisis in poor communities like Brownsville, Brooklyn, where two-thirds of children ages 5 to 11 are overweight. Brooklyn based charity, Knockout Obesity, began implementing its new “KO Program” this summer, supporting community centers serving low-income neighborhoods. On Saturday, October 25, 2014, at 10:00AM, Knockout Obesity will host a boxing demonstration for Live Light Live Right youth at Brownsville Recreation Center (1555 Linden Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY 11212).

Currently, Knockout Obesity is hosting its first eight-week pilot program at Bushwick-Hylan Cornerstone located in the Bushwick-Hylan NYCHA Houses. Knockout Obesity provides a course blueprint and professional boxer to teach each class. Boxing equipment is donated to participating community centers, and existing staff is trained to sustain the program year round.

Charity founder and Brooklyn restaurateur, Dimitrios Verteouris, personally contributes to the weekly KO classes, engaging youth in a variety of boxing drills and calisthenics, followed by a cool down period and nutrition lesson. A former cast member on Food Network’s reality show, Fat Chef, Verteouris lost 82lbs in three months using boxing and his own good eats at Nature’s Grill.

Earlier this year, Knockout Obesity was the recipient of a $25,000 donation from Two-Time and Two Division Boxing World Champion and NABF Welterweight Champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi. Knockout Obesity has been featured by ESPN, The Insider, New York Daily News, New York Post, Metro NY, Hot 97 and more. www.KOobesity.com

About Live Light Live Right

Live Light, Live Right is a Brookdale Hospital and community-based partnership, non-profit 501(c)(3), serving overweight and
obese children ages 2-19. Nearly half of the children in the program are those who live below the poverty line; suffer from a BMI
>95th percentile or are at high risk of developing diabetes or other serious chronic diseases. By providing free or highly subsidized services, Live Light has already helped over 2,500 children improve their diet, exercise habits, and their health. The novel, multi-disciplinary approach has resulted in positive health outcomes, including the reduction of Body Mass Index scores, cholesterol, blood pressure, and insulin levels for nearly three-quarters of all participants. www.livelight.org

Contact:

Katherine Kostreva, On Point Publishing
(727) 492-6421
Katherine@onpointpublishing.com

Alisha Rappaport, Live Light Live Right
alisha@livelight.org

Live Light Live Right Celebrate Weight Loss Success at their Annual Holiday Party

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Press Release

Brooklyn, NY(January 17th, 2014)-Live Light Live Right (LLLR), an adolescent obesity program, funded by Robinhood Foundation www.robinhood.org, held their annual holiday party Friday January 17th at Brookdale Hospital Center www.brookdalehospital.org. Nearly 200 hundred children and their families attended to celebrate the achievements and successes of those who have joined LLLR on this journey to promote health and fitness that have transformed their lives. The event celebrated the success of the children who have lost weight and remained committed to the program.  Additionally, children who had the highest show rate at their exercise classes were rewarded. The children and their families enjoyed an evening of food, games, fitness and dance competition.  Healthy food was prepared by the chefs at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, which included nutty chick pea quinoa salad, grilled barbeque chicken and a low fat lasagna to name a few of the menu items. Robinhood Foundation, graciously donated the gifts that were given out to our children.  “We are commited to providing them with all the tools necessary to keep them on track on their journey to a healthy.”,  stated Sarita Dhuper, Executive Director.

About Live Light Live Right

Live Light, Live Right is a Brookdale Hospital and community-based partnership, non-profit 501 ( c) (3), serving overweight and obese children ages 2-19.    Nearly half of the children in the program are those who live below the poverty line; suffer from a BMI >95th percentile or are at high risk of developing diabetes or other serious chronic diseases.  By providing free or highly subsidized services, Live Light has already helped over 2,500 children improve their diet, exercise habits, and their health.  The novel, multi-disciplinary approach has resulted in positive health outcomes, including the reduction of Body Mass Index scores, cholesterol, blood pressure, and insulin levels for nearly three-quarters of all participants.

About Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center

The Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center is one of the largest voluntary nonprofit teaching hospitals and regional tertiary care centers. Brookdale provides general and specialized inpatient care to thousands of people every year. Our community centered organization provides numerous outpatient ambulatory care services in both on campus and off site facilities. Our mission is the commitment of being the focus of a healthy community, stressing the organization’s values of caring and respect for everyone.

Press Contact:

Alisha Rappaport
Director of Marketing and Development
Alisha@livelight.org
516-984-6865

Website: www.livelight.org
Twitter: @livelightright
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/live-light-live-right
Facebook: www.facebook.com/livelightright

LLLR Receives $35,000 Grant for Volunteer Program

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We are thrilled to announce that we received a $35,000 Health Care Improvement grant from the United Hospital Fund, our first grant from the organization. The grant will help us promote voluntarism through our  new Let’s Share Volunteer Program, which operates in conjunction with Brookdale Hospital Medical Center. Each year, Brookdale’s over 700 volunteers’ selfless contributions of time and energy help make a difference. 

Continue reading →

Mark Bittman on How to Feed the World Well

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Food writer Mark Bittman offers a nuanced and complicated analysis of the persistent problem of global hunger and obesity in the New York Times. He takes a long, hard look at industrial agriculture and argues that the current model doesn’t work. Instead, we should consider using more traditional farming methods, which might be a better way to get food to more people. Here are some interesting experts from what he wrote:

The current system is neither environmentally nor economically sustainable, dependent as it is on fossil fuels and routinely resulting in environmental damage. It’s geared to letting the half of the planet with money eat well while everyone else scrambles to eat as cheaply as possible.

While a billion people are hungry, about three billion people are not eating well, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, if you count obese and overweight people alongside those with micronutrient deficiencies.

As Raj Patel, a fellow at the Institute for Food and Development Policy, puts it, “The playing field has been tilted against peasants for centuries, and they’ve still managed to feed more people than industrial agriculture. With the right kinds of agroecological training and the freedom to shape the food system on fair terms, it’s a safe bet that they’ll be able to feed themselves, and others as well.”

Yet obviously not all poor people feed themselves well, because they lack the essentials: land, water, energy and nutrients…. It’s a formula for making not only hunger but obesity: remove the ability to produce food, then remove the ability to pay for food, or replace it with only one choice: bad food.

Parents Are Key in the Fight Against Obesity

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Parents play an important role in the fight against obesity. They shape their children’s behavior by direct influence, predisposing psychological variables or by controlling the child’s environment. In the fight against obesity, it is key that parents are involved.

Obesity rates have tripled in the past few decades and childhood obesity is global epidemic. In our practice, we see the effects the epidemic is having on children living in the city’s poorest neighborhoods like like Brownsville, East Flatbush and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Two out of every three children are overweight here, nearly three times the national average. The higher rates are caused by a combination of genetics and an environment where too many calories are consumed, children do not have enough opportunities to exercise and sedentary behavior is commonplace. Continue reading →

How we treat obese children

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Everyday we see how obesity affects poor children in dramatic and difficult ways. One of the ways we’ve seen it hurt children is through words. The words that other people say, even those who mean to help, can hurt. Parents, teachers, doctors and other children can be cruel. Obese children suffer in their grades at school and have higher rates of depression, largely because of weight bias.  Continue reading →

Junk food cravings get worse if you don’t get enough sleep

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Pulling an all-nighter might help when it comes to cramming for a high school chemistry test, but it can also make you reach for a Big Mac the next morning. When people don’t get enough sleep, they are more likely to eat junk food, say researchers.

A new study from the University of California, Berkeley found that people who did not get enough sleep had impaired decision-making skills and the reward center of their brain was heightened. So people who didn’t get a good night’s sleep were more likely to reach for an unhealthy snack than someone who was well rested. Continue reading →