Camp Cauliflower is a cooking camp in Novato, Calif., where young students are learning what healthy cooking looks like for one week. Created by 17-year-old high school senior, Elena Dennis, the camp encourages young students to create healthy meals from the garden to the kitchen. Students harvest, cut, chop and cook alongside their older peers throughout the classes, all while learning what it takes to create a well-balanced meal. Elena, interested in starting this camp to encourage healthier diets for younger classmates, wanted to use her passion for cooking and nutrition in her school. She set out to make her dream of Camp Cauliflower become a reality in 2014 by asking food and nutrition director of Novato School District, Miguel Villarreal, to help her start her ...
Water bottle sales have nearly tripled compared to the falling rates of soda consumption, reports the New York Times. This prompts the question, do the studies showing the link between obesity and consumption of sugary beverages make an impact? J. Alexander M. Douglas Jr., president of Coca-Cola North America, was quoted in the same article: “Health and wellness are a major enduring trend and each brand has to compete in that environment." But healthier beverage options are not just trending across certain states. They are being proven as recent market reports show a noticeable decrease in soda consumption. Sugary beverage taxes are not popular in all states, as in California, but a growing amount of sugary beverage consumers may be realizing the health warnings associated ...
Some kids consume more sugary drinks than average. This contributes to high rates of overweight/obesity. What can be done? You're invited to join a webinar at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, Sept. 30, to learn about new local and national efforts to improve kids' access to healthy drinks. The webinar, sponsored by the national Council of La Raza (NCLR) and including Salud America!, is bringing together a panel of experts to highlight successful efforts from across the country to improve beverage choices and healthy environments in schools and other community settings: Rosalie P. Aguilar, MS, Project Coordinator, Salud America!
David Thomsen, Policy Analyst, Health Policy Project, NCLR
Anisha Patel, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of General Pediatrics, University of California, ...
The Endocrine Society recently published research that reveals exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is associated with increased risk of developing diabetes and obesity. These common chemicals are found in everyday items like food can linings, cash register receipts, plastics, cosmetics, flame retardants and pesticides. “The evidence is more definitive than ever before – EDCs disrupt hormones in a manner that harms human health,” said Andrea C. Gore, Professor and Vacek Chair of Pharmacology at the University of Texas at Austin, in a recent Newswise article. Gore went on to state that, “Hundreds of studies are pointing to the same conclusion, whether they are long-term epidemiological studies in human, basic research in animals and cells, or research into ...
RJ Manchester and Erica Asti, staffers at the Florida Hospital for Children, along with Dr. Angela Fals and her team, spent years working with obese children and families in their Central Florida CCFW clinic. The local childhood overweight and obesity rates ranged from 32% in Orange County (28.7% Latino population) to 64% in Osceola County (48.6% Latino). The team was growing increasingly concerned about younger and younger patients with obesity-related health complications. “We were having some of the youngest patients we’ve ever had in the weight and wellness clinic with pre-diabetes and diabetes,” Asti said. They wanted to step up in a big way.
An Underlying Issue: No P.E. Asti and Manchester and the CCFW team discovered that many parents misidentified their ...
How does math calculate with gardening? Giving students a hands-on approach to calculation, social studies, science and more, schools like Hannah Elementary School in Beverly, Massachusetts (17% Latinos in MA) are opening their doors to a garden classroom education. Students are able to conceptualize life cycles of bugs and anatomies of seeds. School gardens become places of inspiration for creative writing or art. Green City Growers, City Sprouts, and Berkeley's Edible Schoolyard project are all about gardens being interactive classrooms where students learn to grow their minds and their knowledge of healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. Learning about healthy foods and incorporating these foods into kids' diets and classrooms are important in areas where healthy food ...
Schools are part of a community. Schools also make a huge influence in a child’s health. How can schools help build health within their communities? Let’s use #SaludTues to tweet information, resources, and tips that help schools, teachers, families and students take charge of health in their communities. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Building Healthier Communities Through Schools”
DATE: Tuesday, September 22, 2015
TIME: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT)
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: It’s Time Texas (@ITSTIME), Shape America (@Shape_America), Healthy Kids Today (@HealthyKids2Day) and our special guest, Transformative Schools Network (@Cr8HlthySchools) Be sure to use the hashtag #SaludTues to follow the ...
Many students don’t meet daily recommendations of physical activity. They often lack access to quality activity opportunities during school and they are burdened by challenges for quality activity opportunities after school, such as safety, availability and cost. Kids that don’t meet daily recommendations of physical activity are at increased risk for obesity and other adverse health outcomes. Jennifer Hershey and Jennifer McCloughan, two PE teachers in Edmonds School District in Washington, developed a before/after school program as well as a recess program to help kids reach 60 minutes of recommended daily activity on most days of the week. They developed these programs to be implemented in schools to reduce challenges associated with safety, availability, and cost.
PE ...
Getting kids to eat vegetables isn't always an easy job, especially when some families are more likely to live in neighborhoods that have little to no access to local grocery stores. However, a recent research study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests that Latino kids who consume more vegetables in their diets, are healthier overall, even if they are overweight. The study reveals that kids who are eating vegetables, like spinach, broccoli or carrots, even for just a fraction of their diet, can reduce bad fats in the body. The study focused on a group of overweight Latino children, monitored by a researchers from The Keck School of Medicine, and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). They found that children who consume one or two fist-size ...
