Senators and representatives in Idaho, a state with a quickly growing Latino community, are tracking their steps, water intake, and servings of fruits and vegetables as part of a month long, friendly competition aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles and fighting childhood obesity. According to a Fox9 report 50 state legislators are taking part in a competition organized by health insurance provider Blue Cross of Idaho. At the end of the competition the three legislators who track the most physical activity and record eating more fruits and vegetables will win $5,000 from the Blue Cross of Idaho to go toward providing healthier options to elementary school children in their district. Funds will provide for outdoor exercise equipment, healthier meal options, and any other ...
Watch the video to see how CHALK'S efforts are inspiring a culture of health among Latinos in upper Manhattan. Latino kids and families of a primarily a Dominican and Mexican community in Washington Heights (northern Manhattan), are living a healthier lifestyle thanks to help from the Choosing Healthy & Active Lifestyles for Kids (CHALK) initiative. The CHALK initiative is a collaborative between the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Columbia University Medical Center, and a taskforce of several community affiliates, that was started in 2008. In 2012, the program was adopted as a permanent program of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital. As part of the program, local bodegas, pharmacies, schools, restaurants and community fitness centers, provide the community with ...
The blog School Bites is run by a mom who wants to provide the healthiest and most nutritious food for her children. At home she can help teach them healthy eating, but at school her children and other students are exposed to a lot junk food. Over the past couple of years she has been fighting to make the food culture a healthier place in her local school district and here is what she had to say on her blog about what she accomplished:
What finally worked was a stronger district wellness policy combined with teacher education (SEE Healthy Classrooms Initiative: Educating Teachers on Healthy School Celebrations, Non-Food Rewards & More). I managed to get a spot on a committee that was convened to update our policy according to the ...
Many areas in central Florida lack easy access to fresh, healthy foods. Registered Dietitian Roniece Weaver recognized the problem 20-years ago in the neighborhoods around the center of Orlando. She teamed up with a few other dietitians to form Hebni Nutrition Consultants to educate people on how to prevent diet related diseases. But she wanted to do more. The group wanted to give the neighborhood better access to healthy staples like apples, lettuce, bananas, and tomatoes. So they figured they had two options: find local stores that will expand their fresh produce offerings, or try something a bit different---a mobile farmers' market. Weaver says the mobile market is a better solution. “We can expand our reach and be anywhere on any given day, and reach different ...
Spanish-language TV advertising for sugary drinks and energy shots increased by 44% over the past few years, according to a new report. The report, Sugary Drink FACTS 2014, updates the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity's 2011 research on sugary drinks and advertising to children. The report highlights industry progress but also indicates that companies still have a long way to go to improve their marketing practices and the nutritional quality of their youth-marketed products. This is particularly relevant to Latino youth, who consume more sugary drinks than their white peers, with 74% of Latinos having their first sugary drink before age 2. Some progress was made in marketing to Latino kids: On Spanish-language TV, Kraft Foods and Red Bull eliminated virtually ...
Hollin Meadows Elementary School, part of the 23% Latino 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.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: Shawn Akard, a PTA member and mother of a student at Hollin Meadows Elementary School in Alxandria, Va., appreciated the healthy changes going on in her district, Fairfax County Public Schools. She wanted to get involved. Learn: Around 2006, she talked with other parents to get ideas on how to get kids ...
Communities with successful farmers' markets can speak to how markets inspire healthier eating and promote a new-found appreciation for local farming. With so many farmers' markets across the country, it can be difficult to say exactly how a farmers' market works and what a successful one entails. A non-profit group is pulling together data on markets around the U.S., and plans to use this data to help markets begin, grow, learn, and better serve their community.
The Farmers Market Coalition is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to strengthening farmers markets across the United States so that they can serve as community assets while providing real income opportunities for farmers. Farmers Market Metrics will be a set of tools and resources that will allow market managers to easily and ...
Soda companies are notorious for using big-name celebrities to promote their beverages in TV commercials, billboards, social media, and beyond. But one up-and-coming bottled water company landed a big star to promote their line of bottled waters, hoping to garner the same attention sugary drinks receive when they enlist celeb power. Singer Ariana Grande will be the new face of a campaign for Wat-aah!, a small but growing functional water brand, according to an article in Advertising Age. The campaign, expected to launch next year, will include outdoor, print and digital ads in teen and lifestyle publications. The company is also a supporter of Let’s Move!’s Drink Up! campaign. Wat-aah! calls itself a champion for child health, but some nutrition activists point to the ...
Harris Bilingual Elementary School in Fort Collins, Colo. saw many students throwing away fruits and vegetables at the end of lunch, wasting both food and money for the school. So the school decided to make a change and let the kids pick fruits/veggies that they like to eat! They implemented a fruit and salad bar into their cafeteria, allowing the school to abide by nutrition standards while giving kids healthy foods they wanted to eat. "Alison, que quieres? Oh, broccoli, tambien," says Kate Kosakowski, a teacher's assistant at the school. She gives the pigtailed kindergartner a pat on the back and places several florets on the tray. Kids speak in both English and Spanish throughout the school week at Harris. Poudre School District, which includes Harris elementary, serves almost ...
