Teaming up with professional mixed martial artists, a celebrity fitness trainer and a dietician from Jacobi Medical Center, Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera has set out to tackle childhood obesity in her new “Fight the Bulge” campaign.

The obesity epidemic has replaced smoking as the leading killer of Americans, Rivera said in a press release, and Hispanic children are particularly at risk: nearly half of Latinos born after the year 2000 will develop diabetes, a recent study estimates.

On Oct. 10, Rivera hosted an educational forum at Bronx House, on Pelham Parkway, to discuss the risks associated with an unhealthy lifestyle and the best tactics for combating obesity.  In attendance were personal trainer Donovan Green, nutritionist Dr. Gloria Brent of Jacobi Medical Center, and UFC professional fighters Nick Pace and Louis “Good Night” Gaudinot.  

Each speaker circled back to the urgent need for education on healthy eating and exercise, a message that schools and doctors’ offices should be preaching as well, Rivera said. Brent discussed how to properly read a nutrition label; Pace and Gaudinot led a martial arts demonstration.

Days before the event, Rivera participated in a nationwide online webcast about obesity with State Sen. Andrew Lanza, of Great Kills, New York.

“Childhood obesity has long term effects,” Lanza said during the panel discussion. “We stand to be witness to the first generation of Americans who may not be as healthy and live as long as their parents.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.