Latinos are at high risk for asthma because prevalence, illness and deaths are strongly correlated with urban air quality, indoor allergens, lack of patient education and inadequate medical care, according to an American Lung Association report. Both asthma and allergies are caused by the body's immune response to environmental triggers, such that some allergens can also trigger asthma, according to Kaiser Permanente. Other irritants can trigger asthma, too, such as the flu. So what can Latinos do? To make an action plan, visit Kaiser Permanente's bilingual website. You can also check out Spanish-language resources from the American Lung Association: Breathe Well, Live Well is an adult asthma self-management education program led by an American Lung Association-trained ...
About five years ago, Clara Santos opened Olivares Food Market to serve the Philadelphia neighborhood in which she lived. Offering quick meals and grab-and-go snacks, her store was popular but had few healthy snacks. With some help from a food access organization, Santos learned that offering and promoting healthy food options is not only good for the health of her customers, but for business, too.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: Olivares Food Market, a Latino-oriented corner store in South Philadelphia, owned by Clara Santos, is a lot like other similar markets in Philadelphia and across the country. That is, it lacks healthy food options and has no marketing for the few it does have. Olivares sells prepared foods—like high-calorie cheesesteaks for lunch and pancakes for breakfast—and ...
Researchers in New York say that having a school garden could boost physical activity levels by up to 10 minutes a day. In a recent study conducted across twelve different elementary schools in five New York Regions, researchers from Cornell learned that students were up to four times more active when attending schools with gardens. According to Nancy Wells, an environmental psychologist and the researcher who lead the two-year study, although kids were only spending one to two hours a week in the school's garden, significant increases in physical activity were seen. The initiative was part of the "Healthy Gardens, Healthy Youth" People's Garden School Pilot Project, which aims to introduce fruit and vegetable gardens to more than 4,000 kids in low-income schools throughout New ...
Families living in parts of Rock Island, Illinois, one of the Quad Cities, don't have a nearby grocery store, which limits their healthy food options. The University of Illinois Extension-Rock Island County hopes to make it easier for these families to get fresh fruits and vegetables through their new initiative. Beginning in March 2014, a bus will pick up residents once a month and shuttle them to the Hy-Vee Food Store, 2930 18th Ave., and Aldi Foods, 1817 38th St.. The ride is free of charge, but that's not all. While they're on the bus, an Extension educator will talk about food, nutrition, wellness, and saving money. The bulk of the funding — about $14,000 — is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutritional Assistance ...
In the small, multicultural city of Lynn, Mass., minorities make up almost half the population, with Latinos making up almost a third. With obesity on the rise in the area, many groups are stepping up to make healthy changes where they live, work, and play. Local corners stores, where many kids hang out before and after school, are well-positioned to make a positive impact on kids’ food choices—if they are marketing the right foods. A group of high-school students chose one popular corner store to help promote healthy snacks and make it easier for teens to pick apples over chips—contributing to a wave of new healthy markets sweeping over Massachusetts.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: The small city of Lynn, Massachusetts gets more diverse every day. The Latino population grew from 18% to ...
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second-largest district in the United States, serving breakfast and lunch in more than 1,200 schools daily. Since the early 2000s they have been creating a healthy food culture that teaches students about healthy eating and introduces them to many new foods, while embracing federal nutritional standards as they improve over time. LAUSD has banned soda and junk food from campus, removed flavored milks, and brought healthy breakfasts to the classroom. A recent accomplishment, pushed by LAUSD Director of Food Services David Binkle and other school leaders, is removing what they call “kid food” from their cafeterias—instead serving healthy meals with flavors and ingredients from a variety of cultures and backgrounds—including ...
Bridging the Gap, a Robert Wood Johnson funded national research program focused on understanding how policy and environmental factors affect the health of today’s youth, has created the new interactive website about school snack foods and beverages State Laws for School Snack Foods and Beverages. The website covers laws in all fifty states over the course of seven school years and displays the information in colorful, easy to understand visuals. A map of a school is found on the website, which is interactive and allows users to click on each area where foods and beverages may be served at school. By clicking on an area the user gets an up to date summary on the current national status of laws for that topic, and is given links to more specific related issues. Bridging the Gap ...
Shape Up San Francisco, a coalition of community leaders, wanted to know if kids in San Francisco were meeting state requirements for time spent in PE. They convened a group called the PE Advocates and began to study 20 elementary, four middle, and four high schools. After learning that almost 80% of elementary schools were not getting enough PE time, Shape Up SF’s PE Advocates partnered with school officials to develop a plan to change this. Now, thanks to the partnership, the district has 38 PE specialists to train teachers in the skills needed to provide students with quality PE.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: Local health advocates Christina Goette and Marianne Szeto were concerned about the city’s growing childhood obesity rates and health disparities. The number of overweight ...
A report and infographic from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) shows the mental, physical, and academic benefits of students receiving 60 minutes of physical activity per day. The IOM report says that even with busy schedules, youth can get 60 minutes of physical activity per day through taking advantage of active transportation to and from school, classroom activity time and brain breaks, recess with free play and engaging equipment, physical education class, after-school programs, and intra and extramural sports. Physical Education classes are a big contribution to the amount of active play students have in their school day, but have been pushed aside due to financial and academic pressures in recent years. IOM suggest that PE classes need to be a priority and should include a ...
