Sen. Eliot Shapleigh working on bills to reduce Texas obesity rate
May 10, 2009
Shapleigh, D-El Paso, has shepherded two other bills through the Senate to improve access to fresh fruits and vegetables among lower income Texans and to get kids outside.
Written by Andrew Kreighbaum, The El Paso Times
Eagles Rock- December 20, 2008
AUSTIN - A state Senate ban on "bad fats" in Texas restaurants grabbed headlines last week, but the bill was just one of Sen. Eliot Shapleigh's measures to stem the obesity epidemic in Texas.
Shapleigh, D-El Paso, has shepherded two other bills through the Senate to improve access to fresh fruits and vegetables among lower income Texans and to get kids outside.
El Paso's share of obese children is twice the national average at 40 percent, and Texas as a whole ranks sixth in terms of states with overweight children.
"Certainly removing trans fats from food is one key step," Shapleigh said. "But, over time, educating children on the benefits of exercise, learning good nutrition habits, cooking better foods - those are the keys that we know work."
As part of that package, Shapleigh last week guided a bill through the Senate that would assign the Health and Human Services Commission to provide farmers' markets throughout the state with wireless electronic card terminals for food stamp cards.
The hope is that the poorest members of the community would have easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables. A family of three with income up to $2,420 a month can qualify for food stamps in Texas.
The state food stamp program went to an electronic system in 1995. Before the switch, lower income Texans could use paper food stamps at farmers markets, most of which do not have electricity to run electronic checking terminals.
El Paso County has more than 155,000 people on
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food stamps, about 20 percent of the county's population. Across the state, 2.8 million Texans are in the program.
After the electronic card system was introduced, farmers' markets had to complete several forms simply to process a transaction, said Gloria Gonzalez, manager of the Valley Growers' Association in El Paso.
"We didn't pick up enough food stamps to justify the paperwork," she said.
Dietary guidelines recommend five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, but those foods are not readily available in all communities, said Lee Rosenthal, a UTEP professor of public health policy.
"The bottom line is many communities, particularly low income communities, lack access to fresh fruits and vegetables," Rosenthal said.
Shapleigh is also teaming up with state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, to create a program at the Parks and Wildlife Department to partner with school districts on outdoor programs for children.
The program would look to change sedentary lifestyles and increase the time people spend outside. Rosenthal said a successful effort to fight obesity statewide should begin with the state's children.
"It really is important to start young," she said. "Prevention is a lot more efficient than a cure."
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