Mayor Stephanie Rawlings began a movement toward healthier vending machines in city-owned facilities back in 2013 when she announced a Healthy Vending pilot project with a full commitment of implementation by 2015. On October 23, 2015, the city officially launched their Healthy Vending in all vending machines across the city. Now hundreds of public vending machines in libraries, community centers, parks, pools, museums, and skate rinks are full of healthier options including fifty percent of foods that are: Low fat: not more than 35% of total calories from fat and not more than 10% of calories from saturated fat.
Low sugar: not more than 35% total weight from sugars and caloric sweeteners.
Low calorie: no more than 200 calories per label serving. Beverages also must have ...
School gardens are not new, according to researcher Suzanne Teghtmeyer. School gardening within the United States started as early as the 19th century and is still thriving today. But how are school gardens growing and changing students' health and education today? Helping school gardens grow through network opportunities, online tools, and resources, is a new network called The Edible Schoolyard Project. Founded by Alice Walters, their mission is to create and build a national edible education curriculum that runs from pre-k education through high school. Thier efforts support a network of current school gardens with a map showing all the new school gardens growing around the nation and the world. They also provide stories and resources like math and science ...
In 2013, Florida (24.1% Latino) had the highest drowning rate of 1- to 4-year-olds and the second highest for 1- to 14-year-olds. Near-drowning accidents left three out of four victims suffering brain damage. Today, 70 percent of African-American and 60 percent of Latino children cannot swim, compared to 40 percent of white children. Low-income and Latino kids face additional barriers to access physical activity opportunities, such as swimming facilities; therefore they have a disproportionately higher risk of drowning and high risk of obesity and obesity-related disease. SWIM Central aims to reduce the drowning and near-drowning rate and teach young school children water-safety education. Beginning with $82,000 as part of the Broward County (27.5% Latino) Parks and ...
Sugary drinks, which can represent up to 40% of a child's total caloric intake, are a leading cause of obesity among children, reported an article from Los Angeles, where new water campaigns are popping up throughout the city. Leading the country with the highest obesity rate for children between the ages two and four, California (38.6% Latino) is trying to help parents and kids put the sugary drinks and sodas down the drain with their new water campaign. The campaign, "Water: The Healthiest Choice", is geared at helping bring information to parents, caregivers, and kids to choose water over sugary drinks. Dr. Simon, the director of Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health advises parents in a recent article, "We ...
Latino kids saw substantially more ads for unhealthy snack foods in the past five years, according to the new Snack FACTS study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. On Spanish-language TV, 89% of snack food ads pushed unhealthy food in 2014, up from 39% in 2010. Spending to advertise healthier yogurts declined by 93%, while cookies, fruit snacks, and snack bars increased 30% and chips and crackers 551%. Latino kids also were more likely to visit the most popular snack food company websites. “Food companies must stop marketing practices that disproportionately target unhealthy snack foods to young people of color,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America!, a Latino childhood obesity prevention network funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ...
Serving up healthy options like local turkey hot dogs, and farm fresh beet hummus, food trucks are now becoming the trend for healthy foods on school campuses across the states. Boulder Valley School District in Colo. was one of the first districts in the U.S. to serve school lunches through a food truck with a $75,000 grant from Whole Food Market. Students are taking advantage of the fun and fresh options to eat on campus in a new way. The director of food services at the district, Bertrand Weber stated in an article that the demand for the food trucks is so high, that the districts are challenged to keep up with it. Minneapolis School district is now planning to do the same this spring to help keep high school students on campus for lunch, and offer up healthy fresh options in ...
Known as the Tomato Garden Tax Break, the Urban Agricultural Incentive Zone Program (UAIZ), will help LA locals by allowing vacant and privately owned land in the county to be transformed into urban farms. Approved on September 22nd by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, this policy will not only add more green spaces, and but also help create healthy local foods and possibly help decrease food deserts. The potential access and security to healthier foods could benefit the largely urban and Latino population (48.4% Latino) in need of healthy food options. Since July 2014, the UAIZ program took sprout in San Francisco, one of the first jurisdictions to take advantage of the "tax break." The support has come from all angles of the community, and may help move entrepreneurs into ...
Grants for school gardens are now being given for up $1,000 to $2,000 from the Nature Works Everywhere program. Accepting applications for garden grants for the 2015–16 school year, funds will be used to support schools needing assistance for garden building, amendment, or revitalization of their on-campus garden. Preference will be given to rain, pollinator, native habitat, and other natural infrastructure projects. For more information on guidelines, requirements, and eligibility, please check out the full description of the Garden grant ...
“What you drink can either positively or negatively impact your mind, your body and your health,” said Vish Vasani, a public health specialist with the Minneapolis Health Department, in a recent news article. “Low-income communities and communities of color are more likely to regularly consume sugary drinks.” Latino Teens are more likely to drink sugary beverages like sodas. Minneapolis has had a growing young Latino population according to an article in 2014. Unfortunately, the city is has also grown in rates of obesity according to Vasani. The state is trying to slim down on their consumption of sodas and sugary beverages with a statewide educational campaign, "Rethink Your Drink". The campaign has shown progress as restaurants are changing menus to include more healthy ...
