Whoever said school lunches had to be boring? Schools in Mountain Lake, Minn. want to make sure students not only enjoy healthier school lunches but also hope to let kids experience different cultural foods and flavors from around the world. The new flavors come from Taher Regional Chefs who have visited other parts of the world and then visit the schools to recreate the flavors within school lunches. Students are intrigued by the flavors, as the Chefs have brought back inspirations from France, Turkey, India, Vietnam, Singapore and Jakarta to the schools lunches. Fresh fruits that have been a popular hit among students are jamaica and mango. Having culturally diverse lunches could be a fun and innovative way for kids to try new fruits and vegetables to their diets, ...
New research, reported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has determined that access to safe neighborhood spaces for physical activity can help families and kids maintain a healthy weight, but it is not often enough. According to a recent estimate, nearly 40% of U.S. Latino youths ages 2-19 are overweight or obese, compared with only 28.5% of non-Latino white youths. Also, the percentage of those who are overweight or obese between ages 2-5 is nearly 30% for Latino children compared with only 21% of non-Latino white children. According to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana healthcare economist Mike Bertaut, healthcare providers—and health insurers—play a critical role for families and children at high risk for obesity and/or obesity-related disease. “Obesity is the ...
Las mujeres con los genes que están relacionados con el cáncer de mama pueden reducir significativamente el riesgo de la enfermedad siguiendo un estilo de vida saludable, de acuerdo a un nuevo estudio publicado en el Journal of American Medical Association, reporta ABC news. Los factores claves de estilo de vida, los investigadores encontraron que los más importantes fueron: "El mantenimiento de un peso saludable; no fumar; limitar el alcohol; y no usar la terapia hormonal después de la menopausia.” "Las mujeres en la categoría más alta de riesgo debido a factores no modificables, las que tuvieron un índice de masa corporal bajo, no beben no fuman, y no utilizan la terapia hormonal de la menopausia su riesgo es comparable a una mujer promedio en la población general, ...
Schools across eight Kentucky counties now get to enjoy fresh food from local farmers in their school lunches. The counties involved are Grayson, Boyle, Clark, Oldham, Harlan, Martin, Morgan and Pike. All are now part of the new initiative for healthier and tastier school lunches. Chefs worked with local food service staff in March to launch the "Chefs in Schools Collaborative", where six schools were trained with local Chefs to come up with their own way of spicing up traditional fairs like tacos and meatballs. Kristy Hodges, the school district food service director has worked with Chef Chris Byrd to create lunches that include produce from local farms and are lower in sodium, less processed and use more natural seasonings. According to Hodges, as stated in a ...
In nearly every community across the country, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is working to increase access to affordable, quality health care. For Latinos, an estimated 8 in 10 who were previously uninsured qualified for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), or lower costs on monthly premiums through the Health Insurance Marketplace. To date, over 4 million Latinos (ages 18-64) have gained health coverage, lowering the overall uninsured rate among Latinos by nearly 8%. Also, over 913,000 Latino adults 19-26, who would have previously been uninsured, now have coverage under their parents’ plans. Getting health insurance is an important first step for overall better health. Once you have your coverage, how do you make it “work” for you? The U.S. Centers for ...
Southern California schools are about to get help and funding from an unexpected source, a local grocery store. According to a recent article, the ALDI grocery store has recently partnered with Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) to invest in 15 Southern California area schools to improve overall wellness environments through grants and technical assistance for the 2015 to 2016 school year. The investment from ALDI of $175,000 will go towards helping the schools expand and implement school wellness programs like AFHK's Game On program, and engage community members, parents and ALDI employees to promote wellness at school and home environments. In 2011, the company helped schools through partnering with AFHK in Chicago and hopes to continue to expand and benefit the more than 11,000 ...
Zika virus. A $73 billion debt crisis. Puerto Rico has been in the news a lot lately, but what's the truth about health in this unincorporated U.S. territory with a 99% Hispanic population? Our friends at the Kaiser Family Foundation put together a fantastic 8-part Q&A about Puerto Rico, including several health indicators. Here are some key takeaways: People are older. The percentage of adults age 65 and older rose 22% from 2006-2014. People have worse health overall. About 35% of adults in Puerto Rico report fair or poor general health, compared to 18% in the U.S. They also have higher HIV rates. More people have health insurance. Less people are uninsured in Puerto Rico (6%) than in the U.S. (12%). But almost half are covered by Medicaid due to high poverty, ...
A new program called Students for Nutrition and Exercise (SNaX) is helping obese students in Southern California have healthier weights for longer periods of time. According to a recent article, SNax combined school-wide environmental changes, encouragement fo healthy eating, healthy foods in cafeterias and peer-led education and marketing to help students change their body mass index (BMI). Over 1,368 students heights and weights were assessed before and after two years of the program in over five schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District where thirty percent of the students were classified as obese at the start of the program. Two years later students showed a "significant decline" in BMI, around nine pounds lower in body weight, according to the article. The ...
Women with genes that are linked to breast cancer can significantly cut the risk for the disease by following a healthy lifestyle, according to a new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, ABC News reports. The key lifestyle factors, researchers found to be the most important were: “Maintaining a healthy weight; not smoking; limiting alcohol; and not using hormone therapy after menopause.” “For women in the highest decile of risk owing to non-modifiable factors, those who had low BMI, did not drink or smoke, and did not use MHT [menopause hormone therapy] had risks comparable to an average woman in the general population,” the authors ...
