About the Author

Author Picture

Lisa

Articles by Lisa

Mental Health Toys Help Keep Kids at Peace



How can a little pinwheel fan help kids with emotional balance and mental clarity? Coming together to support mental health awareness month, Sixpence Program and the Lied Scottsbluff Public Library are supporting children's mental health with toys like foam building blocks, mental health books, and pinwheels. These toys can help provide continued learning for kids with mental health issues, helping them in calm-down techniques, like the pinwheels which help kids learn a deep breathing technique. Kids can "smell" the flower when they put the pinwheel close to their face, and then blow out stress or exhale onto the pinwheel and see the pinwheel move into action. “As adults, we can teach children how to respond when they are upset,” Tiffany Fuller, the Sixpence Program ...

Read More

Maryland Partnerships Help Health For Afterschool Wellness



"MOST", Maryland Out of School Time Network's (MOST) Healthy Behaviors Initiative (HBI) has worked to help promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (HEPA) standards since 2013. Today MOST uses VISTA volunteers as afterschool professionals to support 30 programs across the state today. The programs' work is guided by the Alliance's Healthy Out of School Time Framework and with funding from the Giant Food Foundation, staff are able to receive professional development training in nutrition from the University of Maryland Extension's Food Supplement Nutrition Education program. MOST collaborates with HBI partners like Landsdowne Middle School in Baltimore, who signed onto HBI in its first year and have come to reach specific fitness goals and now participate in a range of new ...

Read More

New Policy on Kids Meals Drinks for SF!



Congrats to San Francisco's new ordinance passed by the Board of Supervisors ensuring all kids menus will not longer include sugar-sweetened beverages. This is a win for Latino kids, why? Regular consumers of sugary beverages have a 26 percent higher risk of type 2 diabetes, and research shows that about 74% of Latino kids have had a sugary drink by age 2. Parents are still allowed to purchase a sugary beverage with their child's meal in this new policy change, Supervisor Ken Yeager explained to Bay City News Service.  However, Yeager went on to ask, "Why in the world you put something that is so poisonous on their plate?" In fact, studies say that 71% percent of California’s children will experience tooth decay by third grade, resulting in 900,000 missed school days per ...

Read More

New Labels to Increase Healthy Food Consumption Are Being Tested in Houston



A labeling system, known as "Go, Slow, Whoa!" is being tested in Houston, Texas ( approx. 43.8% Latino) in 10 corner stores in low-income communities, to see how to promote healthier eating habits. The meaning behind the slogan "Go, Slow, Whoa!" is to encourage the healthiest items "Go" to be consumed the most often, "Slow" to be on food items that should be consumed in moderation and "Whoa" for packaged food items that should be avoided. The one-year project, being funding by the Texas Medical Foundation, is being researched in collaboration with the Texas A&M School of Public Health, the Baylor College of Medicine, the Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and the Children and Neighbors Defeat Obesity Houston (CAN DO Houston). The plan ...

Read More

Double Up SNAP Program helps locals and farmers



The new Double UP food Bucks Arizona (Double Up AZ) program is helping to ensure more people have fresh healthy fruits and vegetables in their diet. Having better access to locally grown organic foods is also helping to support local economic growth and health. Robert McClendon, a farmer in the region explained to local 12 News that this program opens up doors for families that couldn't afford the produce. Data were taken from St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance revealing that 18% of Arizonans don't have access to nutritious foods. Programs like this and other federally funded programs or Healthy Food Financing Initiatives (HFFI's) offer healthy food access to more families in need of healthier diets. Research shows that Latinos are likely to spend more on fruits and vegetables ...

Read More

Massachusetts Hospitals Ask Lawmakers for Sugary Drink Tax



As more and more cities are looking towards soda taxes to help reduce chronic health risks associated with sugary drink consumption, Massachusetts hospitals are now in talks with lawmakers about a soda tax to help fund improving children's health in the state. “I think it’s a good idea. If it promotes good health for people, especially young children, then why not? I think a lot of parents will buy sugary drinks because it’s easy and kids ask for it, but there’s other choices,” Lisa Byrne of Belchertown told local news channel, WWLP 22News. Sugary drinks cause harm to children's health, and taxing drinks has been effective in deterring purchases of sugary drinks in Mexico and now a study even reveals the same to be true in Berkely, California. About 22% of Latino ...

Read More

The Soda Tax in Berkley Shows Success!



Congrats to the newly released study of the Berkeley soda tax, a joint effort of the Public Health Institute and the University of North Carolina covering over 15 million supermarket transactions which show that the Berkeley soda tax is working!  Soda sales have been down by 10%, and water and milk sales have gone up! Residents are buying fewer sugary-sweetened beverages water sales are up 16%, plus, according to the study, and not true as suggested by the American Beverage Association, grocery bills have not gone up. Not only has all this helped deter consumption of unhealthy beverages for health but also $1.5 million has been raised for nutrition & health programs! Nancy Brown, CEO, from the American Heart Association, told PLOS Medicine, “This study adds to the ...

Read More

Doctor Yum Makes Healthy Eating Easy For Families



Dr. Nimali Fernando, aka "Doctor Yum" is a board-certified pediatrician practicing in Fredericksburg, Virginia, after seeing kids whose body mass index fell into higher percentiles, she realized many families needed nutrition education. Working with many families in her practice she found out kids eating practices within her practice were unhealthy and she began to see another connection between unhealthy diets and other symptoms in her patients. "So many problems like anxiety, constipation, bedwetting, attention issues, and abdominal pain may have direct connections to diet," Dr. Yum explained to Real Food for Kids. Dr. Yum started a parenting website to help parents find healthy recipes and wanted to educate the greater community, creating,  The Doctor Yum Project, a nonprofit ...

Read More

Six Food Innovation Opportunities for Healthier Food Careers



Calling all students interested in food and agriculture! Food Tank is highlighting six unique opportunities for students to fund projects, receive professional training, and bolster their resumes on projects they may have already developed for a class, their thesis, or independent study. The six opportunities focused around food include: Norman Borlaug Award For Field Research and Application: US$10,000 The Norman Borlaug Award will recognize exceptional, science-based achievement in international agriculture and food production by an individual under 40 years old who has fought to eliminate global hunger and poverty. Backed by the Rockefeller Foundation, candidates must be conducting field research or be working anywhere in the food system with farmers, animal herders, fishers or ...

Read More