SUMRALL, Miss. (WDAM) – Obesity among the youth of Mississippi is a state health issue.

“According to the Mississippi State Department of Public Health, nearly a quarter of our high schoolers are obese, so we see that this is prevalent in Mississippi”, said Dr. Jamie Lou Rawls, who practices family medicine at Sumrall Medical Center.

Healthier food options can tend to be more expensive while processed food tends to be cheaper, but Rawls laid out a list of what children should be eating per meal.

“Children need 2 to 3 ounces of meat per serving,” Rawls said. “Half the plate needs to be fruits and vegetables of variety.”

Healthy living starts at home with parents, Rawls said, with conversations including talk of a healthy lifestyle, not diets and exercise.

“The focus should be healthy choices and healthy lifestyles, and not diets and losing weight, as that can negatively impact children’s social and emotional health,” Rawls said. “So, the conversation could be like, ‘We are doing this to be healthier, healthy choices and to protect our health as we get older,’ can be really beneficial.”

Rawls said that getting in exercise as a family, like walking outside after dinner or playing in a park for an hour a day can be beneficial to the health of children as well as adults.

For low-income families, some federal government programs such as Women, Infants and Children’s Nutrition Program, offer nutrition classes to teach parents how to shop and cook healthier foods on a budget.

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November 21 – PJ Haggerty has a knack for scoring, as he displayed once again with his second straight 30-point game in leading Kansas State to a 98-77 win over Mississippi State at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo., Thursday night.

The Wildcats advanced to the championship game of the event, where they will face old conference mate Nebraska, an 84-72 winner over New Mexico. Mississippi State will face the Lobos in Friday’s consolation match.

The nation’s leading scorer (26.0 ppg), Haggerty exceeded 20 points for the fifth straight game to open the season, finishing his night with 37 points to go along with eight assists and seven rebounds.

Kansas State (5-0) also got 14 points from Nate Johnson and 12 from Abdi Bashir Jr., extending its best season-opening run since 2022-23, the last time the Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament.

Josh Hubbard scored 23 points and Jayden Epps had 18 for Mississippi State (2-2), which committed 14 turnovers while losing its second game to a Big 12 opponent. On Nov. 10, the Bulldogs lost to Iowa State 96-80 while surrendering the ball 26 times.

A 10-2 run early in the second half gave the Wildcats their biggest lead to that point at 54-41. Haggerty finished the scoring outburst with a 3-pointer and a jumper.

The Bulldogs eventually whittled the lead down to 71-64 on a pair of Hubbard free throws with 8:46 remaining. The Wildcats answered with an 11-0 run, capped by a Khamari McGriff dunk, to retake total control at 82-64 just 2 1/2 minutes later.

Kansas State held the lead for the majority of the first half, extending its advantage to 40-32 on a 3-point play from Haggerty with 2:07 left in the half.

After Hubbard scored four straight to cut the lead to four, David Castillo converted a fastbreak layup and Johnson hit a buzzer-beating layup for a 44-36 halftime lead.

The Wildcats were effective from 3-point range in the first half, hitting 6 of 15 (40%), leveraged six turnovers into eight points off turnovers and enjoyed a 10-2 advantage in fastbreak points.

Haggerty led all first-half scorers with 15, while Hubbard paced the Bulldogs with 13.

–Field Level Media

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