School Rules on Sugary Drinks Helps Lower Access to Unhealthy Beverages



A study from Preventing Chronic Disease showed that after district-wide policies were implemented across Boston schools, students had less access to sugar-sweetened beverages. The data showed that after a ban of sugary drinks in 2004, 89.6% of all schools studied met beverage nutrition standards, with elementary schools showing the most compliance at 93.6 percent. Through the study, researchers also found that when these nutrition standards were met at 85.5 percent of schools studied, only four percent of students had little to no access to competitive beverages or sugary beverages at school. Rebecca S. Mozaffarian, MS, MPH of the department of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health explained in a recent article that these findings from the ...

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Gaby Medina: Water Promoter Helps Parents Avoid Sugary Drinks



Gaby Medina, a mom and health educator in the neighborhood of Westwood, in Denver, Colo. (79.36% Latino), didn’t have a lot of faith in the safety of local tap water when she arrived here from Mexico. Much of Denver's foreign-born population similarly distrust the safety of tap water. However, Gaby eventually learned to trust the water. She then took a big step to make sure her family, friends, and fellow residents across the community understand that tap water is far safer, healthier, and more affordable than sugary drinks. Is tap water safe? Gabriela “Gaby” Medina is your average mom who wants to help her 10-year-old daughter and her family live happy, healthy lives. In Mexico, tap water is not always safe to drink. “Initially, yes, I was hesitant [about ...

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‘Cold Turkey’ Best Way to Quit Smoking, Study Finds



If you want to quit smoking, it is better to quit all at once, NBC Health reports. A study by Oxford University “randomly assigned almost 700 adult smokers to either an abrupt quitting or gradual reduction group. Each person set a 'quit day' of two weeks after they entered the study, and saw a research nurse once a week until then.” After 4 weeks of tracking 700 adults, researchers found that 40% of the gradual group were not smoking compared to 49% of the abrupt quit group. "However, with smoking, the norm is to advise people to stop all at once and our study found evidence to support that," Nicola Lindson-Hawley, lead study author told Reuters Health by email. "What we found was that more people managed to quit when they stopped smoking all in one go than when they ...

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#SaludTues Tweetchat 3/15/16: How Kids Can Eat Healthy in Child Care and Afterschool Settings


Eat Healthy in Child Care and Afterschool Settings

One of four U.S. kids already is overweight or obese by ages 2-5, making it critical find ways to help kids achieve a healthy weight early on. The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is one taking steps to meet this goal by providing nutritious meals and snacks to more than 4 million children in child care centers, family care homes, and after-school programs. On March 15, 2016, use #SaludTues to tweet with us about the importance of healthy foods and drinks for children in celebration of CACFP Week, March 13-19: WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: How Kids Can Eat Healthy in Child Care and Afterschool Settings TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, March 15, 2016 WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues HOST: @SaludAmerica CO-HOSTS: The Association for ...

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Agency’s Legal Aids Brings Hope, Stress Relief for People in Florida



Many people arrive from other countries to Broward County, Fla., with no community ties, no possessions, no (or little) money, and no prospects for employment. Aside from the everyday challenges of this scenario, they also often face legal questions or citizenship matters. That’s why Hispanic Unity of Florida (HUF) was founded to offer free legal aid to low-income families in their most troubling times, to relieve stress and, in turn, improve people’s health and quality of life. Magaly Alvarado, a program manager with HUF, knew that she and her organization could and should do more to help their community. People from other countries and toxic stress Broward County, Fla. (27% Latino), is a hub for many Latin American and Caribbean transplants. Many members of this ...

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Nonprofit Offers Bilingual Counseling to Help People Enroll in Health Insurance



Health issues plague many people in the community of Broward County, Fla. They often lack access to healthcare due to lack of insurance coverage, language barriers, and other obstacles. Magaly Alvarado, of Hispanic Unity of Florida (HUF), works to improve the lives of this population—especially in health and wellness. They began conducting special registration events and outreach to reduce the challenges local people face in enrolling for health insurance and accessing healthcare. Hard choices due to finances Magaly Alvarado, program manager of the local immigrant advocate group HUF, knows that Broward County, Fla. (27% Latino), has a geographic location that has led it to become a popular entry point into the United States for many Latin American and Caribbean people. Many ...

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8 Jobs that Can Harm Your Heart


Heartache

Eight professions are among the most challenging to a person's heart health—salesperson, administrative support staff, police officers and firefighters, transportation/material movers, a grocery/consumer store employee—according to new research, CNN reports. American Heart Association researchers studies health habits of over 5,500 people age 45 or older who did not have a history of heart disease or stroke. The habits include: blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, fitness levels, diet, smoking, and obesity. Most salespeople surveyed were determined to have poor eating habits (68%) and poor cholesterol levels (69%). Of administrative staff, less than 21% met recommended physical activity standards. Despite the fitness standards of many police and fire departments, ...

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1 de cada 3 personas no duerme los suficiente


Sad elderly woman with insomnia trying to sleep while lying in bed duerme sleep

En promedio, los estadounidenses no están durmiendo lo suficiente de acuerdo con un reciente estudio realizado por los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC). El estudio encontró que, en promedio, más del 60% de los latinos de entre 18 y 60 obtiene las horas recomendadas de sueño en comparación con los blancos (67%) y afroamericanos (54%). "Como nación, no estamos durmiendo lo suficiente," dijo el Dr. Wayne Giles, de la CDC. Según la CDC, dormir menos de 7 horas al día está asociado con un mayor riesgo de desarrollar presión arterial alta, enfermedades del corazón, y  angustia mental. "Cambios en estilo de vida tales como ir a la cama a la misma hora todas las noches; despertarse a la misma hora cada mañana; y apagar o retirar televisores, ...

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Why Junk Food Cravings Increase After a Sleepless Night


Sleepless Night junk food

Not getting enough sleep at nights may be causing your junk food cravings, according to a  study. After scanning 23 young adults after a normal night’s sleep and after a sleepless night researchers at UC Berkeley found “impaired activity in the sleep-deprived brain’s frontal lobe, which governs complex decision-making, but increased activity in deeper brain centers that respond to rewards. Moreover, the participants favored unhealthy snack and junk foods when they were sleep deprived.” “What we have discovered is that high-level brain regions required for complex judgments and decisions become blunted by a lack of sleep, while more primal brain structures that control motivation and desire are amplified,” said Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and ...

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