West Virgina's soft drink excise tax created back in 1951, taxes one cent for every 16.9 ounces. It is now being re-examined to see how the state can decrease soda consumption and generate more funds for Medicaid coverage, and higher education. Tara Holmes, summer research associate for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy explained in a recent article, that a once-cent-per-ounce tax would need to be implemented to both generate revenue and potentially bring down soda consumption. According to the local news, the state generated $15 million last year in current "soda tax" revenues, where funds go to medical, dental and nursing schools in the state. The state, however, is looking for more streams of revenue to fund Medicaid. The State of Obesity research reveals that ...
Since 2008, Novato school district stopped serving red meat for Humane Society's Meatless Monday initiative. Miguel Villarreal, director of the district's food and nutritional services told local news the initiative helps them save water. "When you do that math for 2,500 gallons of water per one pound of beef for 1,000 pounds of beef,...over the last eight years we have conserved like 3 billion gallons of water," Villarreal said. With over 4,000 students in the district receiving breakfast and lunch, keeping kids satisfied, and providing nutritious easy-to-make foods are important for the district. The district is now working on gearing up for the new school year with fresh new ingredients and recipes. Sofia Garcia, who works in one of the High School's cafeteria explained to ...
In Oneida County (5.5% Latino), schools and lawmakers are working to get healthier school lunches for students, putting a petition in for better reimbursements so fresh and local produce can be purchased for the state's schools to provide locally sourced school lunches. The county is looking to offer healthier meals, with more locally grown produce options but needs an increase in cash subsidies for school food reimbursements, County Legislator Colin Idzi explained to local news, stating that forty years have gone by since the last state increase of the current six cents reimbursement rate. A state-level legislation that could increase the reimbursement rate up to 31 cents per meal is being sponsored by State Assemblywoman Addie Russell and co-sponsored by Assemblyman ...
Did you miss the Colorado Health Symposium, "Health is Everyone's Business" event? Not to worry, archived Live Stream video is available for those interested in seeing the conference's speakers talk on various topics including reducing health disparities in Colorado, working in and with Latino communities, finding public health solutions, and more. To learn more and view the different video topics or download presentations, click ...
Back in 2011, Stephen Lucke was a student at University of Incarnate Word (UIW) when his idea of Gardopia started to grow.
"I was studying biochemistry and I took a nutrition class, and I just really became educated about the obesity epidemic in the United States, " said Lucke, "You know San Antonio was the most obese city in 2007."
While at UIW, Lucke decided he could do his part to help bring access to healthier foods and urban agriculture education to his community.
After fundraising in 2013 to start gardens at UIW and then helping to build gardens at the Ella Austin Community Center, Lucke soon realized that he needed to also start gardens in places that need healthier food access, most of them being places of lower socioeconomic status with high minority populations.
Where ...
The 87 Marin schools in Marin County, CA ( 16.0% Latino) are increasing school gardens, farm-to-school education, and local produce to provide kids a healthier school food environment. Kids have various salad options that include fresh vegetables like cabbage, kale, bok choy, cilantro, carrots, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, and strawberries at Lynwood Elementary. Also, local organic milk is offered in Laurel Dell Elementary School. The healthy fresh food options vary from district to district but offer various fruits and vegetables into school lunches and snacks. Miguel Villarreal, the director of food and nutritional services for Novato Unified School District, is also working on helping their schools offer healthy options by working with different local farmers, providing ...
Consumers are looking more for food options low in sugar as they become more aware of added sugars by reading the new nutrition labels. According to Euromonitor Ltd., yogurt sales have more than doubled since 2001. However, many yogurts contain up to 20 or more grams of added sugars. Now with rising demand for products lower in added sugars, Dannon's Chief Executive Mariano Lozano told the press that the company would now offer more products focused around low-sugar options with no genetically engineered ingredients (GMO's). The American Heart Association shows that the average American eats about 22 teaspoons of added sugar every day, and recommends to parents to limit children's sugar consumption to eat less than 3 to 4 teaspoons per day. Added sugars from foods and ...
From the start of one senior citizen's small backyard garden in Holladay, Utah, to now a flourishing program of over 28 gardens throughout Salt Lake City area, Green Urban Lunch Box helps senior citizens use their back yards to grow fresh vegetables for their community. It all started when Katie Nelson, the nonprofit's Back-Farms program coordinator asked 84-year-old Chiyoko Chiba if they could grow vegetables in her backyard. After much faith and some cultivation from the nonprofit's volunteers, the garden has helped senior citizens access healthier foods. In fact, over 12,000 pounds of fresh vegetables have been harvested since 2015 straight from various backyard farms. "This is a great opportunity to help out some folks who can no longer grow their own food," Nelson told ...
Growing your own food has grown in popularity over the last few years, according to the National Gardening Association who reveal in 2013 over 40 million households are active in some type of urban food gardening. Gardens help the mind and the heart with encouraging light-to- moderate physical activity with digging, planting, pulling and more. The mind can also benefit from gardening as one learns the nutritious benefits of fresh food, how to incorporate nutritious fresh vegetables into your diet and ways to garden to help to relieve stress and depression. Many farm-to-school programs incorporate educational lessons to help classrooms explore healthy habits, trying new foods, and learning what it takes to grow a plant from seed to harvest. Community gardens and school gardens ...
