Redevelopment on San Antonio’s Eastside to Include Urban Farm



The Wheatley Courts neighborhood on San Antonio's Eastside has seen better days. Run-down public housing, unsafe neighborhoods, and poor access to healthy foods have made life more difficult for folks who live there. The City of San Antonio took notice, and secured federal grant funding to redevelop the area. The community-driven Wheatley Transformation Plan will create a viable and sustainable neighborhood with quality housing, education, employment, healthcare, and economic development opportunities----including better food access. In fact, an urban farm is planned to take-over currently vacant lots in Wheatley Court. Spearheaded by the San Antonio Housing Authority(SAHA), the farm will be built alongside the new housing units, to be finished as folks move in and can begin ...

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Celebrity Chef Helps Latinos Manage Diabetes



U.S. Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes as non-Hispanic whites, and diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death within the Hispanic community, according to federal stats. Latina celebrity chef Leticia Moreinos Schwartz is working with Merck on Desafiando La Diabetes: Logra Tus Metas, a program urging Hispanics with type 2 diabetes to know their A1C - average blood sugar level over the past two to three months - and to work with their doctor to attain their personal A1C goal. “After struggling with type 2 diabetes for many years, my grandfather passed away from a stroke, one of the serious complications of diabetes,” says Moreinos Schwartz. “That’s why I’m passionate about empowering Hispanics to learn how to reach their blood sugar ...

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New Music Video ‘Salta, Salta’ Inspires Kids to Jump & Dance Their Way to Better Health!



Opportunities to get kids up and moving exist at schools, parks, and even at home. Sometimes all you need is a little music and inspiration! This new music video, Salta, salta (jump, jump), which provides Latino kids and their families with a culturally relevant and engaging opportunity to stay fit, launched via YouTube, November 3, 2014. "When the family exercises together it teaches the kids that being active is fun," said singer and songwriter Andrés Mauricio Salguero in a Facebook post. Salguero is the founder of Uno, dos, tres con Andres a program that combines early music education with Latino culture, all while getting kids singing, shaking, learning Spanish, and dancing to the sound of traditional Latin dances.  According to the Uno, dos, tres con ...

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Healthier Food for WIC Participants in Alabama? It’s at the Drive-Thru



Latinos comprise 41 percent of participants in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food assistance program. The WIC program in Mobile County, Alabama has been working to encourage participants to use their food assistance to purchase healthy food for their families and to stay away from junk. In fact, Mobile’s program, one of the largest in the state, was responsible for infusing more than $11 million into the county in the form of vouchers for fresh fruits and vegetables last year, among other healthy food choices. Now they are working to make healthy eating even more convenient. The WIC program at the Mobile County Health Department opened the state’s first drive-thru window Wednesday, Oct. 22, at the Southwest Mobile Health Center. WIC participants that don’t need ...

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6 Ways Hispanics Can Protect against Eye Disease



The number of Hispanics with diabetes-related eye diseases is expected to double from 1.2 to 3 million by 2030, according to the National Eye Institute (NEI). All diabetics can develop eye problems. But Hispanics and older adults with diabetes are at higher risk of losing vision or going blind from diabetic eye disease—a group of eye problems that people with diabetes may face as a complication of the disease and includes cataract, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness among adults ages 20-74. Here are seven tips from the NEI to reduce or detect diabetic eye disease: All diabetics should have a dilated eye exam at least once a year to detect vision problems early. Take your medications. Reach and maintain a healthy weight. Add physical ...

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Update: San Francisco Soda Tax Barely Falls Short



Latino children tend to drink more sugary beverages than their peers, but folks across the country, including elected officials, are trying to make healthier beverages the easier option. A handful of cities in California have tried to pass legislation that would tax sugary sodas. Now it's San Francisco's turn joins the ranks. In early November 2013, San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener proposed a 2 cents-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. If the board passes his proposal, San Francisco voters will see it on the ballot November 2014. Wiener's proposal would add a tax of 2 cents per ounce on all sugar-sweetened beverages, defined as drinks with 25 or more calories that have added sugary sweeteners and are less than 50 percent fruit or vegetable juice. The money ...

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Research: Genetics may Play a Part in Hispanic Obesity



Researchers are now reporting that they have identified a protease (protein) responsible for weight gain and the one that can inhibit fat generation, reports The Latin Times. The researchers from Mexico and Spain — who hail from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM), the National Institute of Genomic Medicine (IMEGEN) and Landsteiner Scientific Laboratory with the Spanish subsidiary Neopharm Obesity — have disclosed that the new information will help them create an effective drug to fight obesity in target populations. "Obesity is one of the major problems that we will 'attack' with the use of genomic medicine," said Francisco Kuri Brena, director of new developments from the laboratory. "There are already companies ...

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First Ever Trails Stewardship Summit for Youth To Be Held In Mississippi



The Heritage Trails Partnership of the Mississippi Gulf Coast will be hosting its first ever Youth Trails Stewardship Summit on November 21, 2014.  Youth, ages 16 to 24, are invited to attend the summit where they will discuss ways to help students re-connect with the outdoors. At the meeting they will also be provide input on how they might be able to expand on existing plans for the Mississippi Coastal Heritage Trail, a 100+ mile multi-use path trail that will link Louisiana to Alabama along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In previous years, a group of youth representing Mississippi and Alabama attended an Outdoor Nation Summit. Upon returning in 2012, that same group organized a retreat where they mapped out ways to get more youth connected with nature. One of the ideas that came ...

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‘Let’s Go! Gulf Coast’ Launches 5-2-1-0 Campaign in Jackson & Harrison County Mississippi 



Partners hope to bring healthy changes to the youth of Mississippi by working together as part of a new childhood obesity prevention coalition. The initiative led by the Mississippi Gulf Coast Youth Health Coalition will work to reduce childhood obesity in Jackson County and east Harrison County as part of an obesity prevention campaign called Let's Go! Gulf Coast. So far, coalition partners include representatives from Gulf Coast Health Educators, the Mississippi Gulf Coast YMCA, Singing River Health Systems and the Salvation Army Kroc Center. The Let's Go! Gulf Coast campaign which was inspired by the nationally-recognized program Let's Move!, will serve to get children to follow the 5-2-1-0 guide: eat 5 of more fruits/vegetables per day limit recreational screen ...

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