Lucky Charms and Twix are reaching towards the rainbow of natural food coloring. A recent article from NPR, reports that General Mills is following consumers trends to nix all artificial colors and flavors from all their cereals. Big candy companies like Nestle and popular fast-food restaurant chains have already started to remove artificial flavors and color additives. Now the trend of eliminating fake color and flavor is gobbling up packaged food companies as well. According to Nielsen's Global Health and Wellness Survey, Americans are wanting more natural, simpler foods and ingredients. Lauren Pradhan, senior marketing manager for wellness strategy in the Cereal division stated in General Mills website's blog , “People have told us they don’t want dyes in their ...
One day a week, cut out the meat. This is the slogan of the Meatless Monday's. Meatless Monday's are one of the ways to help K-12 schools' diets become more sustainable and healthy. Since the movement's conception back in 2003, famous supporters like Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, and Ellen DeGeneres, have taken part to help bring awareness and various restaurants and organizations have jumped onboard as well. Through the years Meatless Mondays has become an international movement and schools across the United States have been implementing this movement along with the guidelines for the USDA’s National School Lunch Program. This free online cookbook gives 30 recipes on various tasty meatless options to start a Meatless Monday movement in any school. To find more ...
The Underline, will be a trail under the Metrorail providing green spaces and biking areas for all the space under the current Metrorail in Florida. This 10-mile trail will connect Miami, Coral Gables, South Miami, and Pinecrest, providing green space and the "longest urban corridor connected to a transit system". A matching grant provided by The Knight Foundation is helping pave the way for the idea from Meg Daly, to become a reality. Having green spaces and active play areas will help give safe access to a healthier lifestyle for the large percentage of latinos living in the South Florida area. To learn more about The Underline, and it's plans, read the full article or visit the website ...
Healthy eating involves knowing what to eat, and when to eat it. When a certain food is more available to eat, it is easier to find in local farmers markets.
Knowing where to find the best and most available food is sometimes a difficult task, unless you have this handy little tool. Just put in your state, and what season (month) you are in to get the local grown foods that are most abundant in this season. Get your local greens, corn and squash in the closest farmer's market. Make sure to buy what is in season, as these fruits and vegetables are freshest, most nutritious, and less expensive then out-of-season ...
Colorado is known for it's large mountains, hiking trails, and outdoor beauty, but how well do the kids in Colorado know the benefits of living in this naturally beautiful state? Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and the Greenway Foundation are growing healthy change for the future of their kids by providing more outdoor experiences through their Inspire Initiative. This 5 year $25 million grant program aspires to help 15 Colorado communities connect to the wild outdoors through close-to-home trails, parks, rivers, and woods. "That's an intoxicating vision of what Colorado could be. We could have a trail system that is second to none anywhere in the world," said Gov. John Hickenlooper, stating in the article about, his vision that in 20 years — within one generation — every ...
A recent study by the University of Montreal, reveals that toddlers are more likely to be obese if parent's smoke around them. Professor Linda Pagani, who led the study stated that, “By the age of ten, the children who had been intermittently or continuously exposed to smoke were likely to have waists that were up to three-fifths of an inch wider than their peers. And their BMI scores were likely to be between .48 and .81 points higher. This prospective association is almost as large as the influence of smoking while pregnant.” Latino homes are decreasing in smoking habits, according to the American Lung Association. However, Latino families are still at risk of this effect with the overall population of 12.1% of Hispanics still smoking, according to 2013 reports. To ...
Better food equals better sales growth for supermarkets, shows recent studies. Selling lower calorie foods or healthier foods, may actually be good for supermarket's business goals. A study done over four years by Hudson Institute has researched the link between low-calorie foods and the sales of supermarkets, restaurants and some food companies. Their research has shown that these markets benefit financially when selling more low-calorific foods. Food deserts, where many Latinos live, even show growth in sales for lower calorie intake, as shown from the study's graphic below. There is still need for more healthy options in food deserts, and food marketers are still spending millions on ads that target Latino youth with high-sugar and high-fat foods. To find out more ...
Did you know there was such a thing as "black pepper flavor"? Consumers are getting smarter in the way they eat and what they eat, and fast food chains and brands are noticing. Taco Bell & Pizza Hut have taken a step in a healthier direction by taking out all artificial ingredients "where possible" from their food. Other chains like Panera Bread, say they will be completely free of artificial ingredients by 2016. Chipotle has even taken a step further by not having genetically engineered ingredients in their menu. These are just small ways that these chains are changing their menus based on consumer trends. What happens next is up to what we as consumers want and eat daily. With large companies like Kraft cheese even changing their ingredients, we can hope to see more healthier ...
Why walk to school? Is it safe? Local Safe Routes to School Programs are only successful when they are used by the public. The Ohio Safe Routes Academy is helping their community understand the reasons why to use these programs and offering free workshops on ways to implement the programs in their own schools. They will be providing workshops on, Walking School Bus Training, Crossing Guard Training, Non-Infrastructure Implementation, How to Conduct a Walk Audit, Girls in Gear, and many other similar topics. The workshops will be free and benefit not only students, but also families and all residents in Ohio. To learn more about Ohio's next webinars and workshops, click here. To find out what can work in your community to help make the ways to school safer, check out ...
