Want to drink more water? Win a free water bottle by using social media! The Drink Up campaign by Parntership for a Healthier America is asking twitter, facebook and instagram users to #DrinkUP and include the hashtag #MissionH20 to tell friends on social media outlest about what goals they have for the 2016 year! Make sure to use the hashtag #MissionH20 to post on facebook, Twitter or Instargram @urh2o to enter the giveaway. Winners will be announced on the social media pages from January 26th to February 26th. To learn how you can win a free water bottle, click ...
Five years ago, Christina Abuelo began an afterschool garden club at Sherman Elementary, an urban school located near downtown San Diego. Today the Sherman Garden Club flourishes with plant life, a tiny oasis in a neighborhood with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables. The club has since grown to over 90 excited members who rotate through the garden every Friday afternoon and has inspired students and their families to live healthy lives.
Students have learned valuable gardening lessons such as composting, planting, and mulching. Farmers, beekeepers, and garden educators from the community have been invited as special guests, and most recently a chef-in-training visited the club to host a cooking demonstration of “Plant Part Tostadas.” The club had previously gone through a ...
Nicolas Rivard and Allison Hu, urban designers in San Antonio and members of Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association, learned about an upcoming street construction project that lacks walkable streetscape elements in their largely Latino neighborhood, and decided to act. The urban designers mobilized and empowered community members to get involved and request walkable streetscape elements, and the city responded by adding street trees, separated sidewalks, and landscaping. Today, through their recent project, Place Changing, the designers use “design activism” or “participatory design” processes to build urban literacy and equip residents with strategies to continue to get involved in city planning and development projects.
Walkability Low in East San Antonio Neighborhood
Nicolas ...
How do small retail stores enhance sales of healthy foods? A new report by Healthy Eating Research called, Minimum Stocking Levels and Marketing Strategies of healful foods for Small Retail Food Stores, reveals ways retailers can enhance sales of healthy foods in their stores. Marketing tips along with stocking level procedures show retailers how to adopt practices to enhance sales of healthier food items. Recommendations in the report were developed by national experts in food retail, nutrition and obesity prevention. Click here to read the full report. Register for the Webinar on the Minimum Stocking Levels Report today by ...
A study from BioMed Central Public Health simulated and reviewed the impact on health by taxing a twenty percent tax on sugary-sweetened beverages and internalizing the cost of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs). The tax scenarios showed consumers would be more likely to purchase more environmentally friendly meats including poultry and pork and more fruits and vegetables. However, unhealthy foods high in sugar and salt, such as cakes also resulted, not completely improving diets. In the four scenarios of models, all taxes would be passed onto consumers. Two of the tax scenarios included a sugar tax and two scenarios left the sugary tax out. Estimations showed that over 2,000 deaths could be averted, as diets would consist of reduced sugar and fat and increased ...
A new report from the Heartland Alliance’s Social IMPACT Research Center has uncovered that racial disparities persist in Illinois across a wide-spectrum of quality-of-life measures. Across Illinois, nearly 2 million live in poverty, representing nearly 14% of the overall population. For Latinos, the numbers are somewhat higher, with 19.9% of the population living in poverty. According to the report, the Illinois school districts with the highest numbers of minority students receive 16% less a year in funding than other districts with fewer minority students. Racial and ethnic minority Illinoisans are 2-3 times less likely to have health insurance. Also, poor Latinos are more likely to live within a mile of a hazardous chemical facility compared to poor whites. “The consistency ...
Derek Dimas, a registered nurse had a fun idea to get kids to eat healthier. Believing that kids needed a fun and positive environment to learn about fruits and vegetables, he invented a program called "Fun with Fruits." While in their physical education classes, students within the Corpus Christi School district learn how to create easy-to-make fruit and veggie kabobs. Dimas also invites parents to attend the classes, hoping to inspire healthy eating for the whole family. In a recent article, Dimas explained the need for this type of program, "I felt moved because these kids may not outlive their parents because of obesity. I've heard of three-year-olds with diabetes and young people with heart disease," he said. Dimas spends his own money to provide the fruits, vegetables, ...
Minnesota annually ranks as one of the healthiest states in the nation, but there still remains a wide gap in health outcomes among ethnic and racial minorities. To help address this, the Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota has recently awarded approximately $4 million over the next three years to support initiatives aimed at reducing health inequities. “The challenges our state faces are multi-faceted and complex. A multi-sector approach is needed to close the gaps and improve the health of all Minnesotans,” said Janelle Waldock, vice president of community initiatives and health equity at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. “What inspires me is the number of organizations that want to step forward and play a role. Blue Cross is proud to join ...
A recent news article stated that children in San Marcos, Texas have higher rates of obesity and overweight rates than the rest of the state and the nation. A new model for healthier kids menus, called Best Food For Families, Infants and Toddlers (Best Food FITS) can help restaurants implement change with healthier kid's menu alternatives. Researchers from Texas State University created the model with Nutrition and Professor, Sylvia Crixell. The Students with a grant of $150,000 reached out and discussed the new model of kids menus to various restaurants, encouraging them to implement the Best Food FIT's Menu to help combat obesity. Crixell explained that removing sugary beverages from kids' diets were significant. Latinos compromise 37.8 percent of the San Marcos population. ...
