Creating healthy school meals can be costly, but the federal government wants to help struggling schools offer healthy options that leave students feeling energized and ready to learn. This week, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce new USDA grants to fund new school kitchen equipment to help schools serve healthy meals for students. As part of the announcement, the Secretary will join local leaders, parents and teachers at Rayburn Elementary in San Antonio, Texas to serve breakfast to students in celebration of National School Breakfast Week. The Secretary will also discuss the findings of a new study showing the impact skipping breakfast has on a child's ability to learn. Read more about the new grants and the Secretary's visit to San Antonio ...
There are many different ways to help families in need gain access to healthy, affordable foods. A group of University of Houston students wants to start a "Campus Kitchen" to recycle leftover food from campus restaurants for families in need in the nearby underserved Third Ward. The students are competing for a $5,000 grant from the "Campus Kitchens Project." Food is left over every day at the dining halls at numerous restaurants across the university. The students want to take that food and recycle it into new meals for residents in need. They also want to include an educational component, like partnering with other local food recovery organizations and holding nutrition education workshops for students as well as Third Ward residents. The University of Houston would be the ...
Hispanic children have twice as many untreated cavities in their permanent teeth than white children, according to a new study. The study, which examined 3,300 kids and was led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has good news overall: the number of kids who had cavities in their permanent teeth dropped from 75% 50 years ago to 25% today. But racial/ethnic disparities persist. Hispanic kids ages 2-8 had higher rates of cavities (46%) than black, (44%), white (31%) and Asian (36%) children. Hispanic kids also had the highest cavity rates in the 6-11 and 12-19 age groups. Prevention is key to reducing these rates, expert say. That means educating parents and communities on how cavities occur in children, urging parents to get their kids at least one ...
Latina moms are 15 times more likely to give their toddlers coffee, according to a new study, VoxxiNews reports. The study found that 2% of infants were drinking coffee and 15% of 2-year-olds drink as much as four ounces of coffee a day, and that Latina moms were more likely to report giving their babies coffee, CBS Boston reports. Also, 2-year-olds who drank coffee or tea had triple the risk of being obese in kindergarten. "Our results show that many infants and toddlers in Boston – and perhaps in the U.S. – are being given coffee and that this could be associated with cultural practices,” said study leader Dr. Anne Merewood of the Boston University School of Medicine. VoxxiNews noted the cultural aspects of coffee among Latinos: "In some cultures, however, children ...
Editor's Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2014 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply now for the 2015 Èxito! program. Jose Arrezola
Fresno, Calif. When they moved from Mexico, to Fresno, Calif., in 1997, Jose Arrezola’s parents couldn’t read or write, but they strongly encouraged him to become educated. Arrazola joined a college assistant migrant program. There he worked with a mentor who provided additional support, encouragement, and opportunity, and eventually he became his family’s first-ever college grad, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in health from California State University, Fresno. To seek new ways to expand his desire to prevent disease among Mexican Americans, Arrezola applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer ...
Latinos have some of the highest rates of visual impairment and blindness, studies show. For those with low vision, the leading cause of vision loss in adults, it's difficult to see even with regular glasses, contact lenses, medicine, or surgery. Simple activities like reading the mail, shopping, cooking, and writing can prove challenging. The key is to maximize one's remaining sight. That starts with seeking help from a low-vision specialist—an ophthalmologist or optometrist who works with people who have low vision to develop a vision rehabilitation plan that identifies strategies and helpful devices appropriate for the person's particular needs. "A vision rehabilitation plan helps people reach their true visual potential when nothing more can be done from a medical or ...
Editor's Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2014 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply now for the 2015 Èxito! program. Vanessa Estrada
San Antonio, Texas Growing up in Texas with a family that whipped up delicious foods like chili using the stone molcajete, Vanessa Estrada knows the value of food in the Latino culture. And she knows that food needs to be tasty and nutritious. She wanted to bring that knowledge to others, so she became a registered dietician and earned a bachelor’s degree in community health education from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and a master’s degree in nutrition from the University of the Incarnate Word. She now teaches nutrition education seminars San Antonio as an adjunct faculty at UTSA and across ...
On March 2, 2015 Congressman Charles Rangel, New York's District 13 Representative, signed a resolution to encourage healthy lifestyle practices and raise awareness of food inequality in the US. The resolution challenges the community to do 3 things for at least 30 days: 1. Replace all sugary beverages with water;
2. Eat breakfast everyday; and
3. Eat one additional serving of fruits or vegetables per day. Read more about this here. Click here to sign the resolution. Visit the Rangel Resolution Facebook page here and use the hashtag #RangelRes to share your progress. Are you or your local leaders working to make a healthy difference in your community? Have you heard of any healthier marketing campaigns lately? Share your story with Salud ...
In an effort to expand production and consumption of locally-grown foods in schools, lawmakers recently introduced new legislation that would enhance USDA's Farm to School program. The USDA awards up to $5 million annually in competitive grants for training, supporting operations, planning, purchasing equipment, developing school gardens, developing partnerships, and implementing farm-to-school programs. The bills, introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy and Thad Cochran and Reps. Jeff Fortenberry and Marcia Fudge, would increase funding for USDA's Farm to School program to $15 million per year. Supporters hope to include the language in the upcoming reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which is set to expire on Sept. 30. The bills would clarify that all school food programs ...
