New Guide: How to Promote Better Health for All



Low-income communities, particularly communities of color, are more likely to lack access to healthy foods, smoke-free air, and safe places to play and be active. But these health inequalities are preventable. A new tool, A Practitioner's Guide for Advancing Health Equity, can help public health practitioners work at the community level to tackle health inequities through policy, systems, and environmental improvements designed to enhance tobacco-free living, healthy eating, and active living among the underserved. The guide, from the Prevention Institute and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, has practical tips on how you can build change for health equity: Tips to help you and your colleagues build organizational capacity; develop partnerships; foster meaningful ...

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Healthy Kids Today Prevent Cancer Tomorrow



It's never too early to start healthy habits, especially when those habits can reduce kids' chances of heart disease, diabetes, and other serious conditions. The American Institute for Cancer Research crafted six toolkits to teach kids how easy and fun healthy eating and activity changes can be. Each toolkit contains a recipe, an activity, a lesson plan, and cooking and safety tips. Adults can bring these toolkits into homes as well as into the community. From yummy blueberry smoothies to a shopping cart challenge, these toolkits are informative but also just plain fun! Check out each toolkit and download the materials to begin helping kids fight cancer and obesity. Toolkit 1: Eat Powerful Plant Foods Toolkit 2: Go With Whole Grains Toolkit 3: Healthy Protein Toolkit 4: Get ...

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Spanish Resource: Raising Awareness of Diabetes Among Latinos



The American Diabetes Association (ADA) continues to raise awareness among Latinos of the seriousness of diabetes. The group has launched a new Spanish-language blog about diabetes and those inspired to stop it, called No Más Diabetes. The have a great Facebook page in Spanish, too. Also, the ADA's por tu familia program, described in this video, contains Spanish-language, culturally relevant information on diabetes risk factors and warning signs. Contents focuses on healthy eating, understanding the link between heart diseases and diabetes, and the importance and impact of increasing physical activity. The program also encourages appropriate testing among those at risk and treatment for those diagnosed with ...

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Story: How a Latino Family is Eating Healthier



Check out these videos about how a Latino family—the Eguez Hopkins family—is planting their own produce garden and eating healthy on a budget. The videos are from Manantial de Salud, a federally funded Latino grassroots health network sponsored by the Latino Healthcare Forum in the Dove Springs neighborhood in Austin, ...

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The Bexar County Community Health Improvement Plan



One of the top five priorities of the Bexar County Community Health Improvement Plan is to promote Healthy Eating and Active Living. Increasing the availability of healthier food options, meeting with county officials to promote strategies in the Active Living Plan, promoting the adoption of Safe Routes to School programs, and promoting policies to support infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, are all examples of policy recommendations featured in the plan. This plan was organized by the Bexar County Community Health Collaborative and the City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District in an effort to serve as a framework for creating a healthier county. Recommendations for partnerships, and ways to take on an active role, to improve the health of the community are also ...

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Study: Targeting Obesity Control in Latin America and the United States



A new pubcast, "Obesity Control in Latin American and United States Latinos: A Systematic Review," examines research programs that combined physical activity and healthy eating to address obesity can help guide efforts to tackle the epidemic in the United States and Latin America. The pubcast, published by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, is from the Institute for Behavioral and Community Health at San Diego State University. Read more about this research ...

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Video: Healthy Eating Design Guidelines for School Architecture



Creating school food environments that support healthy eating among children is a recommended national strategy to prevent childhood obesity, and is shown to have positive effects on student behavior, development, and academic performance. To help children learn life-long healthy eating habits, researchers developed the Healthy Eating Design Guidelines for School Architecture. These guidelines provide practitioners in architecture and public health as well as school system administrators with a practical set of spatially organized and theory-based strategies for making school environments more conducive to learning about and practicing healthy eating behaviors. Watch how the Buckingham Elementary School redesign project in Dillwyn, Va., used the tool to improve its ability to ...

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Videos: Healthy Eating and You



Check out these healthy eating videos from ...

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San Antonio Restaurant Program Helping Latinos Get Healthy, Lose Weight



¡Por Vida!, launched in October 2010, is a San Antonio restaurant recognition program that aims to help adults and children make healthier food choices by identifying menu items that meet certain nutritional guidelines. The obesity prevention program is one arm of a larger city effort that implores residents to "Find Your Balance" and get healthy. Since it started, a dozen restaurants have joined the program. Watch these videos to see how San Antonio residents Pedro Garcia and Sylvia Niño are dropping pounds thanks to the ...

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