The blog School Bites is run by a mom who wants to provide the healthiest and most nutritious food for her children. At home she can help teach them healthy eating, but at school her children and other students are exposed to a lot junk food. Over the past couple of years she has been fighting to make the food culture a healthier place in her local school district and here is what she had to say on her blog about what she accomplished:
What finally worked was a stronger district wellness policy combined with teacher education (SEE Healthy Classrooms Initiative: Educating Teachers on Healthy School Celebrations, Non-Food Rewards & More). I managed to get a spot on a committee that was convened to update our policy according to the ...
The Navajo Nation, faced with rising rates of obesity, has decided to take make some healthy changes. On Jan. 30, 2014, the Navajo Nation Council voted in favor of the Healthy Diné Nation Act to increase the sales tax on junk food, by two percent and eliminate the five percent sales tax on healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, water, nuts and seeds. What is considered junk? Sugary drinks and snack foods that are highly processed and low in nutritional quality including chips, candy, pastries and the like. Revenue from the tax would be deposited into a special fund that will help develop projects such as wellness centers, community parks, basketball courts, running trails, community gardens and health education classes. The bill was sent to Navajo Nation President Ben ...
Spanish-language TV advertising for sugary drinks and energy shots increased by 44% over the past few years, according to a new report. The report, Sugary Drink FACTS 2014, updates the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity's 2011 research on sugary drinks and advertising to children. The report highlights industry progress but also indicates that companies still have a long way to go to improve their marketing practices and the nutritional quality of their youth-marketed products. This is particularly relevant to Latino youth, who consume more sugary drinks than their white peers, with 74% of Latinos having their first sugary drink before age 2. Some progress was made in marketing to Latino kids: On Spanish-language TV, Kraft Foods and Red Bull eliminated virtually ...
Latino children tend to drink more sugary beverages than their peers, but folks across the country, including elected officials, are trying to make healthier beverages the easier option. A handful of cities in California have tried to pass legislation that would tax sugary sodas. Now it's San Francisco's turn joins the ranks. In early November 2013, San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener proposed a 2 cents-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. If the board passes his proposal, San Francisco voters will see it on the ballot November 2014. Wiener's proposal would add a tax of 2 cents per ounce on all sugar-sweetened beverages, defined as drinks with 25 or more calories that have added sugary sweeteners and are less than 50 percent fruit or vegetable juice. The money ...
The science that links excess sugary drink consumption and obesity is clear, especially for Latino kids. As the summer seasons draws to a close, have you and your kids been hydrating with healthy drinks? There is still time to make healthy changes before school starts! PreventObesity, an online national network of people dedicated to reducing childhood obesity, is currently running a campaign to ask folks to pledge to cut out sugary drinks this summer. They ask: What will you do to give your community a sweeter summer with fewer sugary drinks? Some individuals have already committed to: - Ask community leaders to improve water quality in parks and schools.
-Serve or bring no-sugar drinks to the next community event.
- Ask a local business to offer more healthy drink ...
Latino kids drink more sugary drinks a day than their White peers, which increases their risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases. Many cities and states have considered placing a tax on drinks with excess sugar as one way to reduce consumption and raise money for kid-focused healthy living programs. The Alliance for a Healthier Vermont is gearing-up to push for a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and has hired Anthony Iarrapino, formally with the Conservation Law Foundation, to shepherd the initiative through the Legislature next year.
Public health advocates in Vermont have tried to pass a tax on sugary drinks before, but they are hoping to be more successful in the 2015 legislative session. The Alliance for a Healthier Vermont is made up of more than 30 health care ...
Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut introduced a national soda tax bill on July 30, 2014. The bill would amend the I.R.S. code and charge a penny per teaspoon of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup or other caloric sweeteners — “to be paid by the manufacturer, producer or importer of such products.” The law would not include drinks like milk and 100 percent fruit juices. DeLauro believes the tax would help curb sugary drink consumption, a source of excess sugar and calories in many Americans' diets, leading to various chronic disease issues like obesity and diabetes. According to a Chicago Tribune article, DeLauro knows the chances of the bill passing are slim, but she wants to bring the debate to Washington, perhaps bolstering local efforts to curb sugary drink ...
Mexico is restricting television advertising for high-calorie food and soft drinks, as part of its campaign against obesity, the government says.
Such ads will be banned with immediate effect on terrestrial and cable TV between 14:30 and 19:30 on weekdays and between 07:30 and 19:30 at weekends. Restrictions will also be imposed on similar ads shown at the cinema.
Seventy percent of adults and 30% of children in Mexico are obese or overweight, official figures suggest. Mexico is going further than any other country in restricting advertising. The UK, Norway and Quebec province in Canada, all have bans on advertising junk food in children's television. However, this has not stopped the adverts appearing in more popular "family" programming. So the fizzy drinks and greasy ...
Chicha Limeña, a sugary drink mainly targeted at Hispanics in the Tri state area, has been ordered by the New York State Attorney General to stop making unfounded health claims. Marketers of the non-carbonated fruit drink claimed that the beverage could cure diabetes, cancer, and other diseases. "While soft drinks may market the advantages of their products, they may not make unsubstantiated claims that their products have the potential to prevent or cure serious health problems,” said state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a New York Daily News article. The Chicha Limena website now reads: “This product is not intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease.” According to an article in Medical Daily, one bottle of Chicha Limena accounts for two days’ ...
