Improving health isn't limited to the doctor's office or to a lab. Quite the opposite, in fact. The zip code you grow up in is a better predictor of your health than your genetics. This is due to social and environmental factors that influence health behaviors. Take street trees, for example. A recent study, Neighborhood Greenspace and Health in a Large Urban Center, found that street trees have numerous economic and health benefits. Exposure to greenspaces can reduce sedentary time, promote physical activity, and reduce blood pressure, which is important for low-income and minority neighborhoods because they often lack aesthetically pleasing active spaces, yet are disproportionately burdened by increased rates of obesity and chronic disease. "We find that having 10 more ...
Why grow a garden? Various studies have shown the benefits of growing and maintaining a garden including better mental health, and physical health. Having healthy food access, along with space for physical activity are just to name a few. Having a healthier heart depends on eating right and having daily physical activity. The American Heart Association (AHA) encourages, at least, two to three segments of moderate to vigorous exercise in segments of 30 or 15 minutes a day. Doing gardening activities like digging, raking, weeding, watering, planting and sowing are considered healthy for the heart, as researchers found that these activities were considered moderate-to-high-intensity physical activity, according to a recent article. Stress-fighting benefits were also shown ...
A webinar focusing on a new report from Healthy Eating Research will be presented on Wednesday, February 10th 2016, at 12pm CST. Healthy Eating Research is a national program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that supports research on environmental and policy strategies that have strong potential to promote healthy eating among children. The free, 1 hour webinar will be on Minimum Stocking Levels and Marketing Strategies of Healthful Foods for Small Retail Food Stores. Presenters include Professors and Research Assistants of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and Tracy Fox, President of Food, Nutrition & Policy Consultants, LLC. To learn more and sign up for the webinar, click ...
As part of the Community Eligibility Provision, free breakfast is given to 40 percent of eligible kids. Not only is breakfast free or reduced price for kids eligible, but also and healthy, following the Healthy Hunger-Free kids Act of 2010. The breakfasts include whole grains, fruits and vegetables. However, chocolate milk is still being offered which, Carol Labonte, the schools food service manager disagrees with, stating that kids don't need the sugar. It's true, Latino kids consume sugary beverages more often than thier peers. Drinks like chocolate milk, and sodas have been linked to higher health risks like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Labonte still encourages kids to try new vegetables cooked in different ways, and the school works with a nutrition educator in ...
Sugary sweetened beverages, also known as SSB's are well known now for the health risks associated with consuming them daily. Latino kid's are even more at risk for these health risks as they consume on average more soda's and sugary drinks than their white peers. Studies also show, they are also more likely to live in food desserts where junk food and soda ads are targeted directly to them daily. So if ads are directed to parents and kids, what would happen if parents were directed to warning labels? In a recent study, researchers found that parents were less likely to choose soda or juice for their child if those drinks had health warning labels. Only 40% of the parents who saw the warning labels still chose the sugary drink option compared to 53% of parents who saw a ...
Last year, researcher Brian Elbel supported a proposal for healthier kids meals, after finding that 98% of receipts from kids meal purchases did not meet nutritional criteria outlined in legislation. Now, pushing towards legislation that would regulate foods that come in kids meals that offer a toy, health committee officials discussed with legislators for over three hours on how to approach the child hood obesity issue within the city. Ben Kallos supported the "Happy Meal" bill that would require nutritional rules to be set on any kids meals that offer or target children with toys. Referring back to a 2014 study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Kallos supported his belief that the bill would assist the obesity problem, as more than one-in-five New York City ...
Two architecture and urban planning graduate students from the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) recognized good fruit from fruit trees were being left to rot in urban areas of San Antonio, Texas, (63.2% Latino), where many Latino families live in need of fresh foods. Working together for a class project, the friends created a blossoming non-profit to make sure families in need can access a variety of fresh fruit.
EMERGENCE
Awareness/Learn: In summer 2013, UTSA grad student Melissa Federspill started a class focused on health planning, called “Health in the Built Environment.” Students in the class were advised to visualize solutions to inner-city health problems. The class analyzed a predominately Latino neighborhood close to campus, the Avenue to Guadalupe neighborhood ...
The Wild Farm Alliance (WFA) has offered a guidebook to help farmers understand and co-manage conservation and food safety efforts. Farmers following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) new rules for produce farms, can click here to see the full guidebook, "Co-managing Farm Stewardship with Food Safety GAPS and Conservation Practices: A Grower's and Conservationist's Handbook. Creating sustainable farming practices can help achieve more access to healthier foods and safer farming practices for ...
A new Direct Farm Ownership Microloan will now be a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Microloan Program, helping speed the way for farmers to process real estate loans and expenses for new farms. Credit for farmers is necessary for new farms, just like starting a new small business, access to funding, capital, and loans is necessary to help the business get off the ground. New loans will be readily available for small operators, as the USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) hopes to offer reduced application requirements, a more timely application for processing loans, and added flexibility for youth loan borrowers. The smaller loans of $50,000 can be used to finance purchase of a farm, expand operations, construction for improved structures or farm buildings and ...
