Healthy Lifestyles

This section of the assessment focuses on several touchstones of a healthy lifestyle: physical activity, healthy eating patterns, weight management, and the links between these factors and emotional health.

The extent of the challenges in addressing the lifestyle components of community health can seem daunting. While 100 percent of key stakeholder survey respondents indicated that Ottawa County was ready to address many health promotion challenges (such as smoking cessation and disease education), only 55 percent felt that the community was prepared to take on the magnitude of this issue. In particular, stakeholders cited the sheer numbers of overweight and unhealthy children and adults in the county and the lack of perceived motivation and readiness of the population coupled with budget cuts to schools as factors. This suggests that a concerted and coordinated effort may be required to overcome these challenges.

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