"Sugary beverages are the number one source of sugar in our diets", stated May Okihiro, a local Pediatrician speaking in a film about the need for the new water bottle filling stations in the state of Hawai'i. The partnership between the University of Hawai'i Manoa John A. Burns School of Medicine and Kaiser Permanente Hawai'i has provided a water bottle filling station to 25 schools in the state and reusable water bottles for the students. The partnership hopes to incorporate educational awareness about healthier beverage consumption as a part of the school's wellness policies. All students received a colorful new water bottle, encouraging them to use it daily at the water bottle refilling station. The Be Well @ School project is an initiative for the Hawaiian schools to offer ...
Fresh produce can be a rare commodity in Nogales, Ariz. (95% Latino), where 17% of children are food insecure. Yolanda Soto saw the need for Latino homes and families all across Arizona to have fresh produce to improve nutrition and fight obesity. When Soto saw still-edible fresh produce being dumped into landfills every day, she had an idea for a fresh produce distribution program that rescues this food and provides it to food, insecure families. The program, Produce on Wheels - With Out Waste (P.O.W.W.O.W), now gives families, churches, communities and schools more access to fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be considered garbage.
Food a Crisis in Nogales
Yolanda Soto started helping Latino families in food-insecure areas of Nogales, Ariz. (95% ...
The Minneapolis Health Department is working on educating schools and consumers to 'ReThink Your Drink' when it comes to sugar-sweetened beverages. Dentists associations are also taking a stand to bring more knowledge on the issue and supporting the campaign. The 'ReThink Your Drink' campaign, popular in other cities in Calif., and now across many state's public health departments has become a slogan for healthier beverage consumption education. Educational resources are provided online by many sites, and can also be found at the California Health Department sites, which include guide materials to use at and festivals, along with helpful recipes on how to make healthier beverage alternatives. The campaign is educational and the public health department hopes to help University ...
California teen Elena Dennis wanted to help kids have healthy diets, and what better way than to encourage them to learn how to make fresh foods? Dennis, while a high school senior, cooked up an idea for a camp that helps kids discover the fun of learning how to cook, and how to prepare and eat healthy foods from scratch. Bringing kids awareness of healthy foods, she also took the camp on local field trips to farms and farmers’ markets.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: At the young age of 12, Elena Dennis of Novato, Calif. (23.1 % Latino), started developing a passion for cooking thanks to her father’s home-cooked meals and her attendance at Operation C.H.E.F., a nutrition-based cooking summer camp for kids and teens. “I’ve always been a believer in home-cooked meals, and my Dad taught ...
In Palm Desert, Calif. (22.8% Latino) the Desert Sands School Districts are encouraging students to have a hands-on education about agriculture, gardening, health benefits of plants and more. Incorporating science, math, nutrition, language arts and art, students are learning integral lessons about gardens, farming, and how to incorporate farm-to-table solutions for a healthier lifestyle. Starting in elementary schools like Ford Elementary School, where each class has their own gardens, to middle schools like La Quinta Middle school where students go on farm field trips, all the way up to high school like Palm Desert High School, where handicap students have had a garden for over six years. Incorporating a culture of health, students have been encouraged to use the vegetables, ...
Did you know Applebees and IHOP restaurants have taken soda off kids menus and New York City Restaurants now show consumers which items are high in sodium? Choosing the healthier option when eating out can sometimes be confusing as most restaurant foods have high levels of either fat, sugar or sodium. MomsRising.org and Center for Science in the Public Interest are holding a #FoodFri Tweet Chat, Friday, December 18th, 10-11am PT/1-2pm ET to discuss how to eat healthfully while eating out. Participants will offer helpful suggestions for eating out, discuss efforts to improve restaurant kids' menus, and highlight ways to support access to healthier options in the community. To join this discussion, follow #FoodFri on ...
New healthy food and activity standards have been passed in Colorado child care centers thanks to the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) Office of Early Childhood and the Colorado Board of Health. Children will now have access to healthier foods, beverages, and enjoy more physical activity and less screen time. Rules set for the governing of licensed child care facilities are as follows: meals and snack must meet current USDA nutrition requirements
no sugary drinks are allowed except 100% juice, twice a week.
60 minutes of physical activity will be required, part time centers are required 30 mins a day of physical activity
Screen time will be limited to 30 minutes a week for TV, and 15-minute increments for tablets and computers for no more than 30 minutes a ...
Some Members of Congress, food companies, and trade organizations are urging Congress to roll back school nutrition. Have they considered what that would mean for kids’ health? Here are 9 reasons rolling back school nutrition is a bad idea. ...
New Research from the University of Melbourne, declares that sugar-free drinks with acidic components may be just as damaging to teeth as sugary beverages. Sugary beverages have been known to cause decay, but new research states that dental erosion can happen with sugar-free products as well. The research was tested with 23 different types of sugar-free drinks including sports drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, and sugar-free Coca-Cola. Drinks that include ingredients like acidic additives like citric acid, and phosphoric acid, are huge components of dental erosion. The study's co-author, Eric Reynolds recommends that after drinking these products, rinse your mouth with water and wait one hour to brush to prevent removal of the softened tooth layer. To learn more about this ...
