National Healthy Weight Week is recognized on the third week of January every year and focuses on achieving and maintaining healthy weight through healthy eating, physical activity, optimal sleep, and stress reduction. Obesity affects more than 40% of Americans, placing them at higher risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Latino adults and children have among the highest rates of obesity. With this in mind, let’s explore resources that can help you start achieving a healthy weight and improve your health!
Get Help Changing Your Habits for Healthy Weight
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) provides a guide, “Changing Your Habits for Better Health,” in English or ...
8/22/23 Update: Tim is Salud America!'s latest intern. Read his stories here! 18-year-old Timoteo “Tim” Barrientez wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. It was impossible not to sweat in the hot, humid climate of Port Isabel, Texas – a small coastal town in the Rio Grande Valley. As Tim’s feet struck the pavement, he thought about how he would soon trade his athletic sneakers for military boots. He smiled. After today’s run and weightlifting workout, he would finish packing his bags to begin training as a United States Marine – a career that would last more than 20 years and take him to Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Japan, and other countries to defend our nation’s freedom. While serving as a Marine, Tim kept his passion for health and fitness close to his heart. ...
A new study found that moderate-intensity dancing can lower a person's risk of dying from heart disease, which disproportionately affects Latinos, Reuters reports. The study included questions about frequency, duration, and intensity of dancing and walking over a four-week period. Only about 3,100 of the 48,000 people surveyed reported dancing of any intensity, and nearly two-thirds said they walked at any intensity. In the study's follow-up, heart disease had caused 1,714 deaths. People who reported moderate-intensity dancing and walking were less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who did not. “It is not surprising that moderate-intensity physical activity is protective against cardiovascular disease mortality,” lead author Dafna Merom of the University ...
Eight professions are among the most challenging to a person's heart health—salesperson, administrative support staff, police officers and firefighters, transportation/material movers, a grocery/consumer store employee—according to new research, CNN reports. American Heart Association researchers studies health habits of over 5,500 people age 45 or older who did not have a history of heart disease or stroke. The habits include: blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, fitness levels, diet, smoking, and obesity. Most salespeople surveyed were determined to have poor eating habits (68%) and poor cholesterol levels (69%). Of administrative staff, less than 21% met recommended physical activity standards. Despite the fitness standards of many police and fire departments, ...
Latino millennials ages 18-34 rate their health more positively, define health as having a good diet, feeling good, and exercising, and report lower levels of stress compared to non-Latino Millennials, according to a new report, MediaPost reports. The report, The Hispanic Millennial Project, was conducted by market researchers at ThinkNow Research and the ad agency Sensis to address Latino millennials' "motivators and mindsets around health, wellness, diet, exercise, adoption of health related technology, health care insurance knowledge and enrollment and attitudes towards the ACA." Foreign-born Hispanic Millennials are more likely to define health as “having no physical problems” while U.S. born Hispanic Millennials are likely to define health as “feeling good” or ...
Find the latest in Latino health—from fighting Latino liver cancer to innovative ways to improve life for Latino cancer survivors—in the new E-newsletter from the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The IHPR E-newsletter has these stories: Story and Video: Study Links Diabetes, Obesity to Liver Cancer in Latinos (Pg 1)
Story: How a Professional Abuela Spawned a Health Career (Pg 2)
Story: Clinical Trials & You (Pg 2)
Story: Join Study Motivating Cancer Survivors to Get Fit (Pg 3)
Story and Video: Closing Health Gaps for Latino Cancer Survivors (Pg 4)
Videos: Health Novelas, Stories of Latino Diabetics, & More (Pg 10) The E-newsletter is jam-packed with even more info on the latest ...
In response to rising obesity and breast cancer mortality rates, a new local study is testing how different types of exercise—like yoga—best improve cancer survivors’ fitness, quality of life and molecular indicators of future cancer risk. The project, Improving Mind and Physical ACTivity (IMPACT), is led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Over the yearlong IMPACT study, 90 breast cancer survivors will be randomized to participate at least three times a week in: 1) a comprehensive exercise “prescription” featuring an individualized aerobic, strength-training and flexibility program; 2) a yoga exercise program; or 3) general exercise chosen at will. Study recruitment is underway. For eligibility, call ...
Check out the latest in health disparities—from new efforts by promotoras to help Latino cancer patients to a new study to see what type of exercise best prevents breast cancer recurrence—in the latest E-newsletter from the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. View the IHPR E-newsletter to see: Story and Video: Promotoras Help Latino Cancer Patients (Pg 1)
Story: IHPR Staffer Learns ‘True Meaning of Despair’ in Brazil (Pg 2)
Story: Exito! Program Trains Latino Doctoral Hopefuls (Pg 4)
Story and Video: Local Cancer Survivors Help Test Which Exercise is Best (Pg 5)
Story and Videos: Addressing Texas’ Latino Obesity Epidemic (Pg 6)
Story: Like Mother, Like Daughter: Rodriguez Duo ...
