New Study on Healthier Checkout Lanes is a Win-Win



What would you think of fruit slices or nuts in your grocery stores check out lanes? A recent study explored how consumers felt after a healthy in-store marketing study was conducted and how it can impact sales. Before the study was started, a pre-intervention study revealed many consumers had concerns and were annoyed with unhealthy snacks being placed and promoted throughout the store. Shoppers had reported a concern for many families that struggle with children pleading for unhealthy snacks at checkout, and believed stores should avoid unhealthy marketing. Candies and sugar confectionery were then replaced at one checkout lane in four stores. After four weeks interviews with consumers revealed positive attitudes towards the healthy marketing checkout lanes and ...

Read More

Latino-Led Advocates Sue Coca-Cola for Deceptive Marketing


sugary drinks in schools

Unhealthy food and beverage marketing ads are targeted more at Latinos and minorities on TV, social media and more, according to recent research. The Praxis Project, led by Latino advocate Xavier Morales, and others filed a legal complaint against Coca-Cola and the American Beverage Association for deceptive marketing practices that push sugary drinks to communities of color. The complaint was filed in federal court in California is confusing the public, and indicates “the world’s largest soft-drink maker and the trade association run ads that tout the energy boost from drinking soda, and disregard scientific findings that sugary beverages can lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart problems,” according to a CBS News report. Both Coca-Cola and the American Beverage ...

Read More

Teens Rap To Make Healthy Food Go Viral



Ever had a song stuck in your head before? Well if it's Minneapolis youth's "Grow Food" song, it may just help you think more about healthy food. Rapping to encourage people to grow healthy food, teens from Minneapolis with the non-profit Appetite For Change (AFC), have made veggies like broccoli into latest and greatest rap song of 2016, according to Vibe. After working in the summer of 2016 with AFC's Youth Employment & Training Program that also worked with Beats & Rhymes, youth in Northern Minneapolis were inspired to create the "Grow Food" song, which has garnered over 136,138 likes and counting. The catchy song that raps phrases like "pullin' veggies out the garden" and "drinking water living longer, no processed drama", inspires youth to change their unhealthy ...

Read More

Making “Smarter Lunchrooms” to Encourage Healthy Eating



In working on reducing food waste since new rules went into effect in 2012, School Lunch Advisory Councils (SLACs) are now asking students to help other students eat healthier. SLACS, which are composed of a food service director, an educator, and two or three students, are using behavioral economics like encouraging students to nudge or encourage other students to consume more fruits and vegetables at lunch. Montana food directors told The Washington Free Beacon that once the cafeteria put up creative signage like the student's life-sized version of their coach promoting apples and moved their salad bar, lunch waste decreased by 35 percent. “Smarter Lunchrooms uses the basic principles of behavioral economics (the influencing factors behind people’s choices and behaviors) ...

Read More

$60,000 in PTA Grants Awarded to Support School Meal Improvements



The Parent Teachers Association (PTA) has geared up to help ensure that students have access to and participate in nutritious school meals. Laura Bay, president of the National PTA explained in a press release that students learn better when they eat better, and a strong school meal program can help children receive more than half of their daily nutrient needs. The PTA plans to award over $60,000 in grants to schools and PTAs across the country. Three schools will receive $5000 each, and another 25 PTAs in Alexandria, VA will receive grants of $2000 each. A collaboration between The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation created the Kid's Safe and Healthful Food Project which helps fund in part The Healthy School Meals grants. The PTA also plans to help ...

Read More

Stores Listen to Latino Customers And Add Healthier Snacks to Check-outs



Cardenas, an Ontario-based grocery chain in Riverside County (47.9% Latino) that markets it's products to Latino shoppers, are now changing their store's checkouts, offering healthier snacks after listening to shoppers like Alejandra Padilla. Why? Padilla, a Latina mom of three, wants the checkouts to be filled with healthy convenient options like apple slices, nuts, trail mix and water, as many times she must deal with their kids wanting the unhealthy candy and soda's displayed at checkouts, she explained to Press Enterprise. Latinos are often more at risk for health problems like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and other diet-related diseases the American Heart Association reports, but encouraging healthier foods, may help play a part in decreasing diet-related ...

Read More

New Fruit & Veg Program Offers Up Fresh Food Breaks in School



Want a healthy break at school? Why not bite into fresh fruit. Students in some Arizona schools are now enjoying the fresh apples, cantaloupes, and other fruits and vegetables offered as part of the Dept. of Agriculture's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program,  started back in 2002. The program has opened in 94 schools in Arizona with $3.7 million dollars allocated in helping to reimburse school's healthy snack purchases, that can then be disbursed to students throughout the day during class times. Casa Grande Elementary School District (65.7% Latino) is thrilled to enjoy the fresh produce in class, like string beans, and exotic star fruit. The schools that have applied for the program are hoping to encourage students to increase healthier snacking selections even when outside ...

Read More

Looking for Healthy Snacks? Watch Out For Look-Alike Smart Snacks!



The UConn Rudd Center just released a study today in the Journal of Obesity, looking at how healthier snacks that are "smart-snack" approved, can change the attitude about the food brand and confuse parents and children when shopping for healthier snack options. The study examines how parents and children rated look-alike snacks in taste, healthfulness, and purchase intent. Smart Snacks were considered healthier, but less tasty, however, many parents and kids believed they had seen similar products for sale in stores. This can be a challenge for parents looking for the healthier options in stores, believing that the "copycat" or "look-alike" versions of junk food are in fact, approved by Smart Snack regulations set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2013. Schools are ...

Read More

Breaking: New Sugar Guidelines For Kids



Sugar consumption is a huge factor in the nation's struggle with obesity, as many kids eat soda, snack foods and other foods with hidden added sugars on a daily basis. In fact, 74 % of Latinos have had a sugary drink by age 2 and about 22% of Latino high-school students have 3 or more sugary drinks a day. An average 20 oz soda contains around 16 teaspoons of sugar,  that's almost triple the amount of sugar that is recommended! The American Heart Association (AHA) has now released new guidelines based on a scientific statement giving specific recommendations concerning children's intake of added sugars. The new guidelines offer helpful tips in understanding how much is too much when it comes to added sugars in foods and beverages. The AHA recommends: Children 2-18 consume ...

Read More