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Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity: Health Care Resources

At the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), we want to team up with you to improve the health of Wisconsinites. We offer a wealth of resources for you. We share your goal of improving your patients’ nutrition and physical activity to reduce obesity in our state.

Americans in Motion: Healthy Interventions

Americans in Motion – Healthy Interventions (AIM-HI) is a study from the American Academy of Family Physicians and Americans in Motion. This recap offers resources for physicians and your patients.

For more details, view the AIM-HI (PDF) brochure. To order the AIM-HI Toolkit CD, call 800-274-2237 and order item #1938.

More resources for health care professionals

Bright Futures—Includes screening, assessment, and counseling for nutrition and physical activity, as well as a section from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The site offers practical guidelines for health workers who care for children. Includes guidelines on mental health, nutrition, and physical activity for patients from birth to 21 years of age.

The Fourth Report on the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents—Screening for hypertension.

Growth Charts—This tool from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) calculates body mass index for children.

MyPlate: Kids—Materials designed for children ages 6–11 years.

Obesity—Childhood obesity resources for health care providers.

Obesity Evaluation and Treatment: Expert Committee Recommendations—Treatment algorithm with specific recommendations and charts from an article published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Physicians’ Role in Preventing Childhood Overweight and Obesity (PDF)—A campaign from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the National Institutes of Health. It helps families understand how to achieve energy balance and how it affects weight.

We can! Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition (PDF)—A parent handbook with tips to help families find the right balance of eating well and being physically active to maintain a healthy weight.

Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults—The first federal guidelines for weight issues, developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Encouraging Patients To Change Unhealthy Behaviors With Motivational Interviewing—A quick overview of the process by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Four Strategies for Promoting Healthy Lifestyles in Your Practice—Overview of the AIM-HI program.

Helping Patients Set Fitness Goals—Tips on how you can frame healthy lifestyle conversations and offer easy ideas that patients can use right away.

Information for Health Professionals—Resources and tools from the Obesity Education Initiative of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

MyPlate—Helps consumers build a healthy plate at meal times.

Portion Distortion—A quiz to learn how portion sizes have changed over the years, a contributing factor to the rise in overweight and obesity. The

Practical Guide: Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults (PDF)—Treatment guidelines and weight management techniques. Includes dietary therapy, pharmacotherapy, and weight loss surgery. Appendices offer patient education handouts and tools.

Taking a Nutrition History: A Practical Approach for Family Physicians—Encourages family physicians to use a short interview form, with suggestions for behavior changes to help patients meet dietary guidelines.

Certificate of Training in Childhood and Adolescent Weight Management—Sponsored by the Commission on Dietetic Registration. Designed for nutrition professionals, this training teaches cutting-edge information, skills, and resources to counsel overweight children and adolescents. This certificate aims to produce competent providers of comprehensive weight management care for children and adolescents. Follow the link for details and upcoming course dates.

Certificate of Training in Adult Weight Management—Sponsored by the Commission on Dietetic Registration. Designed for nutrition professionals, this training teaches clinical management of overweight and obesity, current research, behavior modification, and other key topics. This certificate aims to produce competent providers of comprehensive weight management care for adults. Follow the link for details and upcoming course dates.

Growth Chart Training—Self-directed, interactive training modules for health care professionals on using the CDC growth charts.

Contact us

Looking for other materials? We’re here to help, so let us know what you need. Reach out to our Chronic Disease Prevention Program Contacts.

Last revised May 11, 2023