Hollin Meadows Elementary School, part of the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, has dedicated leaders and parents who value student health. A few years ago, they started a vegetable garden. Since then, thanks to the leadership of parent Shawn Akard, the school has: developed more gardens; brought in an “outdoor education coordinator” to oversee the gardens and programming; and helped students learn to grow and value new healthy produce.
The Issue of Nutritious School Food
Awareness: Shawn Akard, a PTA member and mother of a student at Hollin Meadows Elementary School in Alexandria, Va., appreciated the healthy changes going on in her district, Fairfax County Public Schools (23% Latino). She wanted to get involved. Learn: Around 2006, she talked with other ...
Editor's Note: #SaludTues is a weekly Tweetchat hosted at 1 p.m. every Tuesday on Twitter by @SaludAmerica. Health is vital. But some families face barriers to good health—lack of access to care, parks, healthy food, as well as more junk food marketing and sugary drinks—which contribute to high obesity rates. Today let’s tweet about the issues that impact our health and well-being during and what we can to create health for families at the inaugural #SaludTues Tweetchat. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “How to Create Health for Families”
DATE: Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014
TIME: Noon CST (1:00 PM ET)
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
Co-HOSTS: @SaludToday, @AHA_Vida, and @RWJF_Live! We'll open the floor to your stories and experiences as we ...
Please join #SaludTues, a new weekly Tweetchat series about health (salud)! The series, which takes place every Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET (12 P.M. CST), will feature any health issue can be a topic for the #SaludTues chat, from heart health, childhood obesity, nutrition and physical activity, access to health care, education, etc. Chats are hosted by @SaludAmerica, the health social media campaign, and two co-host experts or organizations. When is #SaludTues Tweetchat No. 1? On Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014, let's tweet about what we can to create a health for families at the inaugural #SaludTues chat and discuss our health and well-being. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: "How to Create a Health for Families"
DATE: Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014
TIME: Noon CST (1:00 PM ET)
WHERE: On ...
What good is physical activity if you fuel up with junk food and sugary drinks? One leader in Arlington County, Va., realized that the absence of healthy drink and snack options at parks and public buildings was sending an unclear message to the community about the importance of proper nutrition for an active lifestyle. With overwhelming community support, he drove good-for-you options into vending machines in county-owned property and local schools. This created places that weave both nutrition and physical activity into the fabric of neighborhood health.
The Lack of Healthy Food in the Neighborhood
Families in Arlington County, Va., come from many backgrounds. Walter Tejada, an Arlington County Board Member and two-time County Board chair, moved to the U.S. from El Salvador ...
Estrella Hernandez grew up in San Antonio, a predominantly Hispanic (63.2%) city with a 28.5% rate of obesity in its population of over 1.3 million people. When she was in middle school she began to take a look around her city and found that there was a big problem with obesity and overweight, especially with kids her age. She knew that there had to be a way to get her classmates and peers to become healthier, while still having fun. Estrella came up with the idea of an interactive mobile app she titled WeWalk, which combined active living, healthy eating, and gaming. As she worked with members of the San Antonio community she began to discover that together as a city they could change the obesity epidemic while having fun through exercise.
The Problem of Physical ...
When Cecil Whisenton of San Antonio, Texas, transitioned his career from the restaurant industry to the installation of healthy vending machines, he learned of the tremendous burden of obesity across the country. So, in his work with HUMAN Healthy Vending—a Los-Angeles-based company that has franchisees working to place healthy vending machines across the country—Whisenton brought the machines to local YMCAs and a San Antonio high school. He hopes to bring the healthy vending machines to more schools in the future to give kids healthier snack and drink options earlier in life. He believes schools facing the pending changes under the USDA’s Smart Snacks standards can turn to companies like Human Vending to redesign the snacking for students.
The Problem of Unhealthy School ...
Lonnie Sclerandi, a Spanish teacher and soccer coach at Austin Independent School District, downsized his home a few years ago and no longer had land for a garden for fresh produce. He asked his school principal if he could plant a small garden outside the portable building where he taught. The principal said, "Yes." Sclerandi then researched online about what produce would be seasonal for central Texas, and how to cultivate a garden in the area. He bought gardening tools and seeds with his own money, and got started. He tended the garden for a year. Then his students started to ask him what he was doing—which eventually grew a cool new healthy change.
How the Garden Started
Food service leaders at Austin Independent School District (AISD), which is about 60% ...
In Tulare County, many people work for little pay on large farms in California’s fertile Central Valley. Some of these families aren’t getting proper nutrition, leading to diet-related conditions, like obesity and diabetes. When the local food bank revamped their nutrition policy to encourage more fresh produce donations, Sarah Ramirez, a local health leader used her hard-earned knowledge and passion to support that policy, and implemented a creative way to get the valley’s extra fruits and veggies into the hands of those who need them.
The Problem of Unhealthy Food in the Community
Awareness: In Tulare County in California’s fertile Central Valley, fresh produce grows all over the place. But for many area residents, this healthy produce doesn’t end up on their ...
A new obesity management program will use family counseling, text messages and newsletters to control weight and spark healthier eating and physical activity habits in obese/overweight kids, thanks to a five-year $2.9 million federal grant awarded to researchers at the UT Health San Antonio. Researchers will develop and test the six-month program among 230 child-parent pairs in three pediatric clinics of the University Health System. Half the child-parent pairs will get in-clinic counseling on how to make healthy changes. The other half will get the same in-clinic counseling—plus phone counseling and culturally tailored text messages and newsletters to reinforce changes suggested through counseling. “We believe kids in the more intensive group will significantly ...
