Doctors typically give patients prescriptions for medications. But a new program in New York City has doctors prescribing fruits and vegetables to obese or overweight patients.

Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs and Health Commissioner Thomas Farley launched the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program Tuesday. It aims to give at-risk families greater access to healthy foods.

Under the program, obese or overweight patients can be prescribed Health Bucks redeemable for produce at local farmers markets.

Health Bucks are a part of the citys GrowNYC initiative to make locally grown produce available to low-income New Yorkers. The vouchers are accepted at more than 140 New York City farmers markets.

The Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program is meant to benefit whole families and communities at a time. Patients in the program receive $1 in Health Bucks per day for each person in their family for a period of at least four months. Each month, patients check in with the hospital to have their prescriptions renewed, and their weight and body mass index evaluated. They also receive nutritional counseling.

Bronx resident Tammy Futch says her family has seen positive changes since starting the program.

“My son lost 40 pounds [being on] this program,” she says, “and also I lost weight doing it with him. … I have four other kids also doing the program.”

The prescription program was started by Wholesome Wave, a nonprofit that connects low-income people with local, farm fresh foods. In 2011, the group piloted the program at sites in Massachusetts, Maine, California and Rhode Island. It has now expanded to seven states.

This summer, Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx and Harlem Hospital Center became the first New York State facilities to participate in the program.

Fat Thanks to Sona S. for the tip!

NYC Doctors Are Now Prescribing Fruits And Veggies : The Salt : NPR

Taco Bell announced Tuesday it has become the first national fast food chain to drop its kids meals, saying it will discontinue the toy and food combos at some locations this month and across the brand by next year.

“Kids meals and toys simply no longer make sense for us to put resources behind,” said Greg Creed, chief executive officer of Taco Bell, in a statement early Tuesday. He added that the move will have an “insignificant impact on sales.”

Taco Bell is owned by Yum Brands YUM, Fortune 500, which also owns KFC and Pizza Hut. KFC plans to continue to offers its Lil Bucket Kids Meal, but that combo does not have a toy in it. Instead, it has a “Weird But True” fact card from National Geographic.

Kids meals have been criticized by some public health groups for contributing to childhood obesity by making young children more eager to eat high-calorie, fast food meals. The decision was cheered by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which called on competitors such as McDonald’s (MCD, Fortune 500), Burger King (BKW) and Wendy’s (WEN) to follow suit.

Taco Bell will drop kids meals – Jul. 23, 2013

The findings of a new study indicate a possible relationship between mothers who suffer from symptoms of depression and children who are obese, especially in low-income families living in urban areas.

The study, titled “Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Obesity in Low-Income Urban Families,” was conducted by researchers from the Department of Pediatrics and the Montefiore Medical Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

“Maternal depressive symptoms are associated with child overweight and obese status and with several obesity-promoting practices,” a published summary of the study states. “These results support the need for maternal depression screening in pediatric obesity prevention programs.”

Study: Maternal Depression Could Be Tied To Childhood Obesity « CBS Atlanta

The quadrennial Boy Scout Jamboree opened Monday at a sprawling new site in the West Virginia mountains, with one big omission: Scouts who are dangerously overweight.

Scout leaders designed the 10-day wilderness gathering in the New River Gorge region to be the most physically demanding since the first Jamboree, a camp-out held around the Washington Monument in 1937.

To be eligible for this year’s mass gathering, tens of thousands of Scouts (and their leaders) had to meet standards for Body Mass Index and other health factors. Scouts whose BMI was 40 or above were banned from the 10,600-acre Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, while those between 32 and 39.9 had to submit medical information to be approved.

“We required a level of fitness in order to come to the Jamboree that we haven’t required before,” Dan McCarthy, director of the BSA’s Summit Group, told the Associated Press. “And that has motivated an enormous return in terms of both kids and adults getting serious about improving their health.”

Scouts will be tested by such “high-adventure activities” as kayaking, rock-climbing, bouldering, skateboarding, mountain biking, BMX riding, gliding, a 3-mile hike uphill and a 3,000-foot-long zip line.

“Teaching Scouts and Scouters how to live a sustainable life, which includes a healthy lifestyle, and the health of our participants are important goals of the jamboree. We published our height-weight requirements years in advance and many individuals began a health regimen to lose weight and attend the jamboree. But, for those who couldn’t, most self-selected and chose not to apply,” Scout spokesman Deron Smith told ABC News.

Jamboree campers thinned out: No obese Boy Scouts

Japanese police have arrested the alleged ringleader of a sex home-delivery service specialising in women weighing up to 150 kilograms (330 lbs), a spokesman said.

Keiko Saito, 41, and one of her employees are suspected of conspiring to run a prostitution business under the name “Makkusu Bodi” (Max Body), which boasted that it catered for men who like “explosive boobs and bums”, police said.

Saito is alleged to have had about 30 overweight women working for her, including one who tipped the scales at more than 150 kilograms, Jiji Press reported.

Police say punters in Tokyo could telephone to request a visit in their home or hotel room, a service called “deri-heru” (delivery health) that is widespread in Japan, where it is illegal to sell penetrative sex.

Saito, who is believed to have earned about 400 million yen ($4 million) over three years, had previously worked as a prostitute, Jiji said. She began her business because she believed larger women were popular with customers, the agency added.

Japan police bust sex home-delivery service | Fox News

First Lady Michelle Obama is promoting walking to school as part of her anti-obesity campaign.

In remarks to mayors gathered at the White House last week, the first lady singled out Knox County, Tenn., which – inspired by Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign — has created a bike-share program and something called a “walking school bus.”

“I’ve heard more and more of this kind of walking school bus happening all over the country — so that kids can get exercise on the way to school, kind of like we did when we were growing up,” she said.

A “walking school bus” is a group of children who walk to school with adult chaperones.

Michelle Obama Gives a Nod to ‘Walking School Buses’ | CNS News

New York’s Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake school district has become the latest casualty in first lady Michelle Obama’s preferred lunch plan, dropping the menu after too many students complained of hunger.

“[Food service manager Nicky] Boehm and her staff worked hard to implement the new regulations, but there were just too many problems and too many foods that students did not like and would not purchase,” said Assistant Superintendent Chris Abdoo about the National SchoolLunch Program in a statement reported by EAGNews.org. “Students complained of being hungry with these lunches and the district lost money.”

The school system decided to instead create its own lunch menu for next year.

The district lost about $100,000 trying out the federal menu, which offered such meals as “part” of a chicken patty on a minicroissant, EAGNews.org reported.

“Students felt they weren’t getting good value for their money,” Ms. Boehm said in EAGNews.org. “The high schoolers especially complained the portion sizes were too small and many more students brought in lunch from home.”

New York school drops Michelle Obama lunch standards: Kids too hungry – Washington Times

The age of the brunch reflects rising numbers of wealthy folk. “People used to entertain at home, but things have become less conservative—money does wonders,” says a catering manager at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, standing by a cheese the size of a car wheel. It also reflects a dearth of things for the well-to-do to do. Mumbai has little green space, few shops and dire transport. The rich would not be seen dead on the foreshore promenades where anglers cast for mullet on the weekends when the council does not release sewage into the sea, or on the beaches where whizzing cricket balls, rubbish and tens of thousands of paddlers vie for space.

Mumbai’s sports clubs, with British colonial roots, used to be the ticket. But they are now the preserve of the hereditary rich. The members’ noticeboard of the poshest of the lot, the Willingdon Club, reads like a Who’s Who of the city’s industrial dynasties. For newly minted entrepreneurs and professionals, that leaves hotels and restaurants. They are anyway better for showing off. Men flash Rolexes as they reach for the dim sum. Women assembling salads are got up in enough luxury labels to float the French economy.

The number of five-star hotels in Mumbai has risen even as the growth in foreign visitors has slowed with India’s economy. Occupancy rates have fallen to 50-60% across the city. This has led to a culinary arms race as hoteliers fight to attract locals. Sushi bars are standard—one hotel chain is said to have a daily supply flight from Tokyo. Dessert counters look like Willy Wonka fantasies, with chocolate fountains and giant revolving ice-cream vats. Playing on nostalgia, most buffet spreads feature posh versions of pani-puri, a street snack that slum-dwellers buy for a few rupees. Live music is essential. Wilburn D’costa, a long-established guitarist at Indigo, a restaurant, says “Hotel California” and “Viva Las Vegas” are the favourites.

It is unimaginable luxury for the millions of Mumbaikars below the poverty line. Yet most hotels admit they lose money on brunch, even with special deals from champagne-makers. For the rich, the problem is their waistlines. Ferried about by chauffeurs and absolved from household chores by servants, they have become a corpulent race apart from their skinny compatriots. Perhaps they need to invent a new institution: the Sunday afternoon walk.

Mumbai’s hungry high rollers: The wild brunch | The Economist

The United States no longer holds the title of the world’s most populous, obese nation; that designation has been passed on to Mexico.

According to a new report from the United Nations, nearly 70 percent of Mexican adults are overweight, and childhood obesity in the country has tripled within the past decade, Medical Daily reported. One-third of Mexican teenagers are also obese, and experts believe that four out of every five obese children will remain overweight for the rest of their lives.

Overall, 32.8 percent of Mexican adults are considered obese, compared to 31.8 percent of adults in the United States. Nearly 70,000 deaths in Mexico each year are caused by weight-related diabetes, and more than 400,000 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed annually.

Experts believe the rise in Mexico’s obesity rates has to do with the continuously growing gap between the country’s classes, as 50 percent of the population currently lives below the poverty line. According to Medical Daily, healthy diets are becoming less affordable, prompting individuals with low incomes to consume more unhealthy foods, such as fried foods and soda.

One researcher also believes the increase can be attributed to more Mexicans moving from rural to urban areas, where food prices are much higher and sedentary lifestyles are easier.

Mexico beats US to be world’s fattest country – but we’re still a close second – NYPOST.com

The Obama administration wants to add Greek yogurt to school lunch menus.

On Monday, the Department of Agriculture announced it was looking to buy the yogurt for schools participating in a federally assisted program that subsidizes school lunches.

A department official said in a statement that the introduction of Greek yogurt, which is high in protein, was aimed at helping schools offer a variety of healthy foods to kids.Because yogurt goes bad easily, the rollout will start with just four states: Arizona, Idaho, New York and Tennessee.

Those states were chosen because they “represent different regions of the country with varying proximity to yogurt manufacturers and will help test distribution through different warehousing models,” according to a USDA spokeswoman.

Sen. Charles Schumer D-N.Y. has pushed the USDA to add Greek yogurt to the federal program since last June, and cheered the announcement on Monday.

“Schools in New York, and the other three states participating in the pilot, will soon see that Greek yogurt is an affordable and nutritious high-protein option for their menus,” he said in a statement.

Feds add Greek yogurt to school lunches – The Hills RegWatch