“If Iowa can do it, I believe that other states can as well,” said Teresa Wiemerslage in a recent article. Wiemerslage is the Program Coordinator with Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach. For over 7 years the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness initiative has helped local school systems focus on wellness, activity and local food. However, with new federal government nutritional requirements and funding from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at (ISU), the initiative has come up with a local menu for six school districts. The grant has allowed the initiative to create and implement seasonal menus to help schools incorporate various locally grown fruits and vegetables including, watermelon, cabbage, summer and winter squashes, just to name a few. Foods like ...
Yoga in math class? Pilates and nutrition facts in science class? Energizing and helping teachers refocus, Fit to Learn is a professional development program from the Healthy Schools Campaign that helps teachers make health and wellness a common part of the classroom. How does it encourage healthy living for students and teachers? Incorporating nutrition education and fitness in the class lessons, all while meeting standards in all subjects, Fit to Learn gives teachers resources to help change the way wellness is looked at in classrooms. Studies have proven how physical activity helps students become better learners with better test scores, task completion, and engagement. In a recent article, teachers like Gila Hernandez, were trained on how to bring Fit to Learn into her ...
Drinking a few cups of coffee a day can help colon cancer patients (the second most diagnosed cancer among Latinos) recover better and lower their chances of dying early according to a new study-- reports NBC News. For the study colon cancer patients reported in a daily diary their daily physical activity and their diet. "What we found in this slightly less than 1,000 patients is that those who drank coffee regularly had a better disease-free survival, meaning they had a lower rate of having their cancer recur or of dying," Dr. Charles Fuchs, director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston told NBC News. Researchers found that “those who drank four or more cups of coffee a day were 42 percent less likely to have their cancer come ...
La USDA (Departmento de Agricultura) y NIH (National Insitutes of Health) han unido fuerzas para lanzar una nueva plataforma que podría ayudar a millones de latinos a mejor cuidar de su peso. El “Body Weight Planner” de NIH calcula cuantas calorías debes consumir y cuanto ejercicio tienes que hacer para poder alcanzar tus metas durante un periodo de timpo. Puedes encontrar el “ NIH Body Weight Planner” en el “Supertracker” de ...
We are running out of water according to the NASA satellite GRACE. How do we know what technology will help us or hurt us in accessing and finding sustainable sources of water? California, Michigan, and other states have dealt with water issues for the last decade. We all need to talk about water, and what resources we have to help find solutions for clean and sustainable access of water for Latinos and humanity in general. Please join us on our tweet chat tomorrow and share your voice on what matters with water. What can be done? Learn more about increasing access to sustainable water resources and questions about how to access resources at the #SaludTues Tweetchat, “Water: Access To Clean & Sustainable Water For Latinos” at noon central (1 p.m. eastern) Tuesday, August ...
Indiana state's new preschool program discriminates against undocumented children. In order to prevent discrimination, federal law requires public schools to provide public education for ALL children; however this begins in kindergarten and does not cover preschool. Without federal law requiring public education for ALL children at ALL ages, states, like Indiana, are allowed to impose eligibility requirements on children and prevent them from attending preschool. Indiana is 6.4% Latino, although, some counties exceed 13%, such as Cass (13.6%), Clinton (14.5%), Elkhart (14.9%) and Lake (17.8%) counties. Estimates suggest that 10,000 foreign-born students in Indiana will be affected by this policy. Early learning is crucial to close the achievement gap for low ...
Growing gardens in schools shows impressive results, reports a recent NPR article. Students in Texas, Washington, Maryland and Virginia, are part of REAL School Gardens, a non-profit that proves their efforts through REAL numbers of changes made through their efforts of planting learning gardens in schools. Many of the schools are in low-income areas, or urban areas considered "food deserts". The organization reveals on their website that school who had "learning gardens" had increased test scores, and were more equipped in science and math. The Learning Gardens encourage students to have a hands on learning approach to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) all while promoting healthy foods. Helping kids to be active in the garden is proving itself for ...
Numerous diseases can be detected early with an eye exam. According to a recent report by CBS News “61 million American adults are at risk for losing their eyesight, but only half visited an eye doctor in the past year.” Latino adults, who many lack the financial resources or insurance to visit an eye doctor regularly- are also at risk. Among the diseases that can be diagnosed early with an eye exam are: diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke. "The eye is unique in the body," Dr. Christopher Starr, an ophthalmologist at Weill Cornell Medical Center told CBS News "We can examine blood vessels, we can even examine the brain - the optic nerve is part of the brain - and we can see that in great detail on our eye exams. It's the only place in the body where that's ...
An announcement has been made from Local Foods and Local Places, about a grant opportunity for those wanting to build strong local food systems. Spurring on economic growth and health of the community, grantees will receive $800,000 to change their communities access to healthier local foods. Since 2014, the Local Food and Local Places program has existed to assist communities throughout the nation with plans for new farmers markets, to enhance neighborhoods' access to food hubs, to provide SNAP benefits, and to develop walkable community gardens. Various projects funded from the grant from 2014 can be found here. This federal initiative is a partnership between USDA, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the ...
