In Oakland and other California cities, education leaders have launched a new initiative to provide students with clean water through water bottle filling stations in schools. These filling stations aim to provide not only filtered drinking water to students, they also combat unnecessary plastic waste. In the era of Climate Change, these kinds of programs can often be the first step in making wide-sweeping changes in communities. Water bottle filling stations can make a big impact on student health and academics, according to water bottle filling station group, FloWater. “Well-hydrated students have a better chance of performing better in school due to increased focus, improved energy, and added health benefits for the body,” the group writes. “A more sanitary place to fill ...
Lots of people will make a New Year's Resolution to live healthier in 2021. A healthier lifestyle has many benefits, from lower risk of health problems to improving mental health to spending less on expensive junk food or cigarettes. That is why our team at Salud America! works to promote news, stories, and action opportunities for health equity, where everyone has a fair, just opportunity to live their healthiest lives. Here are some unique New Year's resolutions.
1. Get More Physically Active...and Help Other People Do the Same!
The risk for obesity is a problem for many Latino children and adults. Physical activity can help. A New Year's resolution to increase your physical activity can improve health, quality of life, and reduce healthcare costs. Becoming more ...
Are you making a New Year's resolution for 2021? It might be spending more time outside. It might be quitting smoking. Or you could be trying to eat healthier. What we eat and drink affects our body’s ability to prevent, fight, and recover from infections, like COVID-19. Let’s use #SaludTues on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, to tweet about how we can keep our New Year's goals of eating healthier, getting more physical activity inside and outside, and quitting smoking! WHAT: #SaludTues: How to Start 2021 with a Healthier Lifestyle!
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. EST (Noon-1 p.m. CST), Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: @UsA2_Latinos, @VocesenSalud, @SAresearch, @Wellmedgives, @PublicHealthMap, @MotherToBaby, @Ashorg
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Does your town have a farmers market? How is it operating amid COVID-19? Farmers markets are a path to healthy food access. They are especially important now as the coronavirus pandemic worsens food insecurity. Fortunately, the Farmers Market Coalition is stepping up to support farmers markets. They're pushing for federal aid for markets, creating resources, and sharing how markets increase access to healthy, fresh produce and social connections, and engage farmers in the local economy. “There are benefits to visiting a farmers’ market in light of coronavirus … you’re outside, there’s fresh air moving, and the supply chain is shorter,” Yvonne Michael, an epidemiologist at Drexel University, told WHYY. For National Farmers Market Week on Aug. 2-8, 2020, we at Salud ...
Spending on sugary drink TV advertising aimed at black and Latino youth is up, according to Sugary Drink FACTS 2020, a new report from the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Overall, the report found that in 2018 companies spent a whopping $1 billion (26% increase since 2013) in sugary drink advertising. These drinks include regular soda, sports drinks, iced tea, fruit drinks, flavored water, and energy drinks. Pepsi and Coca-Cola accounted for the largest share of sugary drink advertising in 2018. In the report researchers also explored the nutritional value of sugary drinks advertised by large companies. "These analyses of the nutrition content and advertising of sugary drinks and energy drinks demonstrate that beverage company advertising of sugary drinks to young ...
55,564 people—including members of Salud America!—submitted public comments to help shape the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A federal advisory committee will consider the public comments, collected from March 2019 to June 2020, as they create a scientific report to inform the new dietary guidelines. Our members made over 250 comments to add water to the MyPlate/MiPlato graphic, reduce added sugars, and promote dietary equity. The USDA and HHS will use the scientific report and comments to draft the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. But don't worry if you missed commenting! USDA and HHS will open a new comment period for the advisory committee's scientific report around July 15, 2020. "We're excited that so many people spoke up for equitable ...
A soda tax aims to reduce sugary drink consumption and boost public health. In a new twist, Seattle is using soda tax revenues to give emergency $800 grocery vouchers for 6,250 families amid the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Next City reports. City leaders mailed a $400 voucher in March 2020 for families to buy groceries at Safeway. They will send a second $400 voucher this month. Mayor Jenny Durkan called this rapid-response to coronavirus "remarkable." “As schools and child care facilities close, we need to do everything we can to support families and ensure they can put food on the table,” Durkan said, Next City reports.
Sugary drinks do not contribute to good health, especially among Latinos, according to a Salud America! research review.
Let's examine how soda ...
The EPA wants to roll back water protections — again. In 2015, the Obama-era administration enacted the Coal Ash Rule, which provided water protections against toxic waste from coal-fired power plants. Now, the current EPA administration is hoping to diminish those protections, and give the plants more time and power to dump waste continually — all of which will impact the surrounding areas' groundwater. Environmental justice leaders say these rollbacks would worsen damage that has been done for years. "Instead of having a single strong national set of public health protections for this polluting industry, we are going to be left with federal regulations that are riddled with loopholes," Tom Cmar, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice, told NPR.
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A soda tax can stir up controversy. Health experts say they curb consumption of unhealthy sugary drinks. Detractors say they're bad for local businesses. Many don't like taxes in any instance. But most people miss what happens after soda tax revenue comes in. That's why we are excited to share a new video series, Health Investments for Berkeley, which celebrates the community-led public health work paid for, in part, by the nation's first-ever soda tax enacted in Berkeley, Calif., in 2014. The series, created by the Praxis Project, an Oakland health justice group, has four parts: Berkeley Unified School District
Healthy Black Families
Multicultural Institute
Ecology Center "This series is intended to flip the national narrative around soda taxes that ...