The LSU AgCenter and Healthier Communities  (2022) 

Expressing gratitude occurs commonly during the Thanksgiving season. More often though we display our displeasure or criticism concerning one thing or another. Problems or challenges in life can blind us at times to our many privileges and blessings. 

I hope that my previous columns have shown a healthy balance of criticism and gratitude. I’ve praised many who have made distinctive contributions for the well-being of our treasured natural resources. Among those credited have been amateur and professional naturalists, environmental educators, wildlife rehabilitators, park rangers, pollinator protection activists, and environmental justice advocates. A couple of months ago, I saluted environmental science faculty who are teaching and doing research at many state institutions.

Another contributor having a large positive impact on our state economy and quality of life is the LSU AgCenter. Among their many agents who offer valuable services are those conducting applied research on critical concerns affecting state farmers and residents.    

One significant LSU AgCenter success has been the Healthy Communities Initiative. The AgCenter and other news sources announced last month that this initiative had received national recognition for its state-wide activities to increase access to nutritious foods and to provide more opportunities for physical activity. 

Several other states are apparently following the lead of Louisiana in establishing similar programs. We know that Louisiana residents have had among the lowest levels in the country of physical fitness activities and consumption of healthy foods. LSU AgCenter agents leading or participating in almost a hundred communities across the state have been developing approaches to combat these dismal health statistics. The Healthy Communities Initiative has helped start and enhance farmers markets, encourage grocery stores and food pantries to increase healthy food items, support community gardens, and arrange places where community members can safely exercise. 

These programs are especially important in rural parishes in the state. A Monroe News-Star article in November 2016 described the launch of this Healthy Communities Initiative in West Carroll Parish in 2013. St. Helena, Madison, Tensas, and West Feliciana Parishes were added to this initiative by 2016. Associated with the many accomplishments of this initiative has been the involvement of other agencies and organizations such as the Louisiana Department of Health, the Southern University Ag Center, and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.    

A key component for these community programs has been the establishment of working coalitions that allow local residents to share their particular concerns and to brainstorm their ideas for positive changes. Denise Holston, an AgCenter nutrition specialist and Healthy Communities principal investigator stressed that “Education alone is not enough to promote healthier behaviors, particularly for those whose food and physical activity environments are not supportive of adoption of these healthy behaviors.” 

This AgCenter collaborative approach involves volunteers from police juries, school boards, hospitals, and other public and private organizations. Relationship building and learning others’ perspectives are essential early steps for these coalitions to gain more trust and to begin functioning effectively. Focus groups, qualitative research methods, and mapping of estimated impacts of potential options on the community are often tools chosen for creating sustainable changes.  

Poor health, due to unwholesome diets and limited physical exercise, is hardly a social concern only for communities in less affluent parts of the state. Even wealthier residents with all the resources available to make sound decisions about good diet and exercise routines often fail to do so. Poor dietary and exercise habits for individuals can exist due to influences from parents, peers, and media advertisers. Eating disorders and other unhealthy behaviors developed in childhood and teenage years can be difficult to break. The degree of personal discipline required to avoid the temptations of tasty, empty-calorie foods and to maintain physical fitness is lacking for many of us.  

Later we can be drawn into busy career and family lives when we “eat on the run” and “can’t find the time” for physical workouts. The overall vigor of our early- and mid-adulthood can allow the continuation of poor health habits without many people noticing glaring consequences. Strokes, heart attacks, and other sudden and serious problems can force some, though, into making lifestyle changes. The “golden years” of retirement can also send clear messages that certain subsystems of our bodies are weak or faltering. These problems are frequently caused or exacerbated by life-long bad health habits. Smoking leading to lung cancer is just one extreme example. 

Many private and public organizations devote significant time and other resources to careful strategic planning for their organizations’ future health and viability. Yet individuals can act without much strategic planning concerning their own future being. Without decent health, we can do so much less in our lives. Still, many fail to have basic health goals and practices. If we took a more strategic, yet practical, approach to our own health, what would that mean?  

First, we would need an actual commitment to improving our overall health. Second, we would undertake regular physical examinations by GPs or specialists to determine our specific health deficiencies. Third, we would seek and follow health guidance on what kinds of food and exercise options have consistently been shown to improve health. Fourth, we would develop a plan to begin introducing better choices into our daily and weekly routines. Fifth, we would monitor over time changes in our well-being and determine which recent choices to continue or drop.  

I know that these or other common-sense suggestions for health improvement can’t motivate most folks to start changing their eating and exercising habits. Actual change often requires continuing guidance and support from others over time. We’re fortunate that the Healthy Communities Initiative is providing many state residents this additional guidance and support.