The USDA announced proposed new guidelines for school wellness policies as part of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 this week. The new policies set goals in nutrition, physical activity, and other school-based activities promoting student wellness. Additionally, the school wellness policies include a guideline on food marketing in schools, setting a standard that [...]
As the Olympics begin, Chef and Registered Dietitian Allen Tran’s words come to mind, “nutrition can make a good athlete great or a great athlete good”. I think his view holds some truth for all of us. Allen knows because he is the High-Performance Chef for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. He is in [...]
CDC’s 2013 Prevention Status Reports have just been released publicly on CDC’s website. You’ll find reports specific to Arizona on topics like nutrition, physical activity, teen pregnancy, tobacco use, HIV, heart disease, motor vehicle crashes, and prescription drug abuse. Reports include a few data indicators of how we compare to the U.S., as well as [...]
There’s increasing evidence that whether a person will have a healthy weight as an adult is influenced by nutrition and physical activity in the first 5 years of life. In fact, a new study this week in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that overweight 5-year-olds are 4 x more likely to become obese [...]
Home visiting programs are highly effective at coaching new parents to be better parents. Home visiting is particularly effective in building skills needed to be an effective parent as well as providing support for breastfeeding, nutrition, child development, fussy babies, oral health, and access to community resources. Arizona has a long tradition of supporting home visiting. Arizona's coalition of partners [...]
I was fortunate to attend the 2nd annual “El Congreso Internacional de Promoción de la Salud (CIPS)” last week in Hermosillo. There were more than 400 public health attendees from 17 countries at the conference. I presented our pre-school Empower program…. which empowers kids to make good choices about nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco using age-appropriate vehicles including costumed characters and a coloring book. [...]
Every so often- you run into a resource guide that stands above the rest. I discovered one of those awhile back called the Guide to Community Preventive Services – and it’s a free resource to help you choose programs and policies to improve health and prevent disease in communities. The easy-to-read resource guide answers questions [...]
Nearly 32 million U.S. kids get meals at school every day- and the meals are based on new nutrition standards from the USDA. Kids attending the schools that participate in the program will have more vegetables and fruits, less fat and salt, and more whole grains. Portion sizes will better meet the needs of growing children. [...]
If you’re a product of the 60s and 70s like me… you probably remember that the President’s Council on Physical Fitness was a big deal in elementary school. At least it was in Tucson where I grew up. By practicing things like chin ups, rope climbing, and running a mile in a certain time you could qualify [...]
Congratulations! You just found out you’re going to have a baby. It can be an exciting time for a family, but there’s also so much to learn. Thankfully there are free resources to help, including on your phone from Text4baby. When you sign up for Text4baby you’ll get 3 text messages a week timed to your due [...]
