What good is physical activity if you fuel up with junk food and sugary drinks? One leader in Arlington County, Va., realized that the absence of healthy drink and snack options at parks and public buildings was sending an unclear message to the community about the importance of proper nutrition for an active lifestyle. With overwhelming community support, he drove good-for-you options into vending machines in county-owned property and local schools, creating an environment that weaves both nutrition and physical activity into the fabric of neighborhood health.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: Families in Arlington County, Va., come from many different cultural backgrounds.
Among the county’s 16% Latino population, this diversity is apparent. “The Latino population is probably a bit ...
Healthcare systems across the country are reevaluating the types of beverages served on their campuses, and the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS) is the latest institution wanting to help their community make smarter, healthier drink choices. This September, five JHHS-affiliated facilities—Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Howard County General Hospital, Suburban Hospital, and Sibley Memorial Hospital—will implement the Healthy Beverage Initiative, a program meant to help faculty, staff, and guests choose healthy options. Stickers will categorize every drink sold in vending machines, cafes, and cafeterias and at hospital-sponsored events. The lowest-calorie beverages, like water and unsweetened tea, will have a green sticker next to them. The sugary ...
Check out this new infographic about how health can be a daily routine. The infographic, from our friends at the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living and the CATCH program, ties together several tips to incorporate healthy changes into your life every day. Tips include things like: Walk or bike to school to get moving early.
Encourage your kids to drink water throughout the day instead of sugary drinks.
Playing catch or soccer with the family are easy ways to stay active after school and provide a great opportunity to talk with your kids about their day. See the full infographic ...
A hospital is a place for healing illness, and promoting health for new moms. However, many hospitals across the country still offer a wide range of sugary drinks in vending machines, gift shops, and cafeterias. Latino kids on average drink more of these sugary drinks their White peers. One hospital in Boston used a beverage policy to not only help patients make healthy drink choices, but also hospital administration, staff, patients’ families, and the local community.
The Obesity Crisis
Dorchester is a diverse inner-city community in Boston, Mass., where almost 20% of residents are Latino. Many of Dorchester’s low-income, high-risk factor patients get their medical care at Carney Hospital, a member of Steward Health Care, the largest fully integrated community care ...
State parks are great places to get active and enjoy the outdoors, but junk food sold at state parks can send mixed messages. The Michigan Environmental Council recently partnered with the Healthy Kids, Healthy Michigan coalition to study how easy it is to get healthy foods in state parks and whether visitors want them. The study found that while many visitors would like to have healthier options, the current options in vending machines, concession stands, and at camp stores are far from healthy. In fact, 86% of the snacks at concession stands were in the lowest nutritional quality category and only 1% were of high nutritional value. The study also found that soft drinks were 63% of the the less-healthy options in the machines. Water represented 41% of the healthy ...
Many state and local government have begun tightening-up their food and beverage polices, ensuring that healthy options are in the mix of food and drinks sold on city property. Most recently, the District of Columbia has joined the ranks. D.C. will soon require that at least half of the foods and beverages sold through vending machines and elsewhere on D.C. property meet healthy nutrition standards. The proposal was part of the recently-passed D.C. budget. It sets nutrition standards for the food and drink sold in vending machines, retail establishments, and at meetings and events in D.C. owned and operated buildings and grounds. The standards, modeled on existing federal guidelines, encourage the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-calorie beverages, water and ...
When Cecil Whisenton of San Antonio, Texas, transitioned his career from the restaurant industry to the installation of healthy vending machines, he learned of the tremendous burden of obesity across the country. So, in his work with HUMAN Healthy Vending—a Los-Angeles-based company that has franchisees working to place healthy vending machines across the country—Whisenton brought the machines to local YMCAs and a San Antonio high school. He hopes to bring the healthy vending machines to more schools in the future to give kids healthier snack and drink options earlier in life. He believes schools facing the pending changes under the USDA’s Smart Snacks standards can turn to companies like Human Vending to redesign the snacking for students.
EMERGENCE Awareness: Cecil Whisenton ...
NPR's online blog The Salt discusses the highlights of a new study published online in June in the journal Nutrition about the nutritionally difference of fruit juice versus soda. Eliza Barclay writes for The Salt and wrote the recent commentary on the study "Fruit Juice Vs. Soda? Both Beverages Pack In Sugar, Health Risks." When it comes to choosing between sodas and juices in the beverage aisle, the juice industry has long benefited from a health halo. We know that juice comes from fruit, while soda is artificial. In particular, the sugars in juice seem more "natural" than high fructose corn syrup — the main sweetener in so many sodas. After all, we've gotten rid of most of the soda we used to offer kids at school, but we still serve them lots of juice. But a published online ...
Studies have found that Latino kids drink more sugary drinks a day than their White peers, putting them at a higher risk for diet-related diseases, like obesity.The City of Livingston, CA has a Latino population of over 70%, and health activists in the city were looking for a way to reduce sugary drink consumption and promote healthier drinks. In April 2014, the city officially adopted a healthy beverages policy. The healthy beverages policy was introduced to the city by the California Health Collaborative, a program that focuses on promoting wellness through community education The Police Department, Department of Public Works and City Hall employees have begun participating in the program. Healthy beverages choices that are now served at meetings and events include ...
