Restaurants want a piece of food stamp pie
The number of businesses approved to accept food stamps grew by a third from 2005 to 2010, U.S. Department of Agriculture records show, as vendors from convenience and dollar discount stores to gas stations and pharmacies increasingly joined the growing entitlement program.
Now, restaurants, which typically have not participated in the program, are lobbying for a piece of the action.
Louisville-based Yum! Brands, whose restaurants include Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver's and Pizza Hut, is trying to get restaurants more involved, federal lobbying records show.
STORY: More retailers say yes to food stamps
That's a prospect that anti-hunger advocates welcome, but one that worries some current food stamp vendors and public health advocates.
Federal rules generally prohibit food stamp benefits, which are distributed under the USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), from being exchanged for prepared foods. Yet a provision dating to the 1970s allows states to allow restaurants to serve disabled, elderly and homeless people, USDA spokeswoman Jean Daniel said.
Between 2005 and 2010, the number of businesses certified in the SNAP program went from about 156,000 to nearly 209,000, according to USDA data.
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U.S. Rejects Mayor’s Plan to Ban Use of Food Stamps to Buy Soda
Federal officials on Friday rejected Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposal to bar New York City’s food stamp users from buying soda and other sugary drinks with them.
The decision derailed one of the mayor’s big ideas to fight obesity and poor nutrition in the city. Mr. Bloomberg and the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, were quick to criticize the ruling by the United States Department of Agriculture as a disservice to low-income residents.
Dr. Farley, who said he was “very upset” by the decision, said that it “ really calls into question how serious the U.S.D.A. is about addressing the nation’s most serious nutritional problem.”
In October, city and state officials proposed a two-year experiment to see if the prohibition would reduce obesity among people who buy their groceries with food stamps. Dr. Farley said that about 57 percent of adults in the city and 40 percent of the children in its public schools were overweight or obese, and that obesity was especially rampant in low-income neighborhoods. Limiting consumption of sodas and other drinks with high sugar content, he argued, could help reverse that trend.
But in a letter to a New York State official, an administrator of the food stamp program in Washington said the city’s proposed experiment would have been “too large and complex” to implement and evaluate.
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Cutting short lunch time in school may contribute to obesity
School districts across the country are revamping their menus to serve healthier fare, but most schools give students so little time to eat that they could be contributing unwittingly to the childhood obesity problem.
Healthy food can take longer to eat, and research shows that wolfing down a meal in a hurry often means people eat more.
A new national survey by the School Nutrition Association shows elementary kids have about 25 minutes for lunch; middle school and high school students about 30 minutes. That includes the time students need to go to the restroom, wash their hands, walk to the cafeteria and stand in line for their meals.
Many students may have only about 10 to 15 minutes left to eat their meals, school nutrition directors say. But students should have at least 20 minutes to eat their lunch, the government recommends.
"It's a problem in a lot of districts. There's not a lot of time to get their food, sit down and eat their fill," says Helen Phillips, president of the School Nutrition Association, and senior director of school nutrition for Norfolk (Va.) Public Schools.
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Bike Sharing Can Save Lives
From LA Vitamin Report
An interesting study just released by the British Medical Journal reveals that bike sharing in the city of Barcelona saves upwards of a dozen lives per year. Researchers followed Barcelona's Bicing initiative for four years and found that, from a public health standpoint, extra exercise among city dwellers and reduced traffic and carbon emissions more than compensated for the increased bicycle-related accidents that occurred as a result of having more bikes on the street.
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Potential Economic Consequences of Local Nonconformity to Regional Land Use and Transportation Plans Using a Spatial Economic Model
To achieve the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets that are required by California’s global warming legislation (AB32), the state of California has determined that recent growth trends in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) must be curtailed. In recognition of this, Senate Bill 375 (SB375) requires regional governments to develop land use and transportation plans or Sustainable Community Strategies (SCSs) that will achieve regional GHG targets largely though reduced VMT. Although the bill requires such a plan, it does not require local governments to adopt general plans that conform to this plan. In California, it is local, not regional, governments that have authority over land development decisions. Instead, SB375 relies on democratic participatory processes and relatively modest financial and regulatory incentives for SCS implementation. As a result, it is quite possible that some local governments within a region may decide not to conform to their SCS. In this study, a spatial economic model (PECAS) is applied in the Sacramento region (California, U.S.) to understand what the economic and equity consequences might be to jurisdictions that do and do not implement SCS land use plans in a region. An understanding of these consequences provides insight into jurisdictions’ motivations for compliance and thus, strategies for more effective implementation of SB375.
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Mobile Devices Remove Barriers to Fresh Food
From Stanford Medicine, Kris Newby
It’s just a third of a mile from the East Palo Alto farmers’ market to Runnymede Garden Apartments — the city’s only housing facility for seniors and adults with disabilities — but to the building’s residents, it might as well be a trek up Mount Everest. Conditions can be challenging for those using wheelchairs or walkers, with a trip to the market requiring residents to travel down a busy street, and to navigate around sidewalks blocked by parked cars, poorly lit streets and a crosswalk light too brief for them to cross the four-lane intersection. These physical barriers to fresh-food sources are often overlooked by city planners, said Matthew Buman, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar, and Sandra Jane Winter, PhD, a research associate at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, after the center’s Active Aging Studies team conducted an audit of 40 senior housing facilities in Northern California.
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For Want of a Crosswalk, a Life was Lost
From Huffingtonpost.com
A mother crosses in the middle of the street carrying her baby, with her four year old separate and adrift. The four year old is hit, and, horrifically, killed by a drunk driver... who was under the influence of alcohol and painkillers, also had a previous record of hit-and-run. And now, the mother is threatened with years in prison.. we ask how do we hold the mother accountable? What is the proper punishment for the driver? But no one is asking what can be done so that this doesn't keep happening. How can we claim it's moral to blame the mother when we don't also take responsibility for fixing the problem?
We shouldn't design highways where pedestrians who need to cross have no safe places to do so -- no lights and no cross walks within reasonable distances, and with cars going too fast. Streets where cars are all that matter and people (especially ones who are poor) don't matter... Instead of wasting our time debating who should be punished and how much, we need to invest our traffic safety funds in efforts that keep our children and families safe.
If we spent our money on smart transportation planning, that prioritizes pedestrians and bicyclists as well as cars, we could meet all these needs... It's a common sense investment. Of course, it cost some money, but far, far less than the costs of the injuries and deaths, and we spend money on our roads every year. It's a question of whether our priorities are saving lives.
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Alex Steffen: We Can’t Avert Climate Change Without Dense Cities
From Streetsblog DC
With a rapidly urbanizing planet and eight billion people projected to live in or near cities by midcentury, Alex Steffen asserts that it may just not be possible to generate enough energy to power all those cities – if those cities continue to look like the ones in the developed world today, anyway. The solution, he said, is density.
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Chain restaurants to offer healthier kids' food
From MSNBC.com
Nineteen U.S. restaurant chains, including Burger King and DineEquity's IHOP, are backing an industry effort to serve and promote healthier meals for children.
The announcement on Wednesday from the National Restaurant Association comes as public health officials and consumer advocates pressure restaurants to reduce calories in, and improve the nutritional value of, meals for U.S. children -- nearly one in three of whom are either obese or overweight.
The 19 chains collectively operate some 15,000 restaurants that will participate in the trade group's "Kids LiveWell" initiative, it said.
Other participating brands include Au Bon Pain, Brinker International's Chili's Grill & Bar, Cracker Barrel, Denny's, El Pollo Loco, Outback Steakhouse OSI and Sizzler.
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Across the Bay Area, streets are getting a makeover -- with less room for cars
From the Mercurynews.com
Ever since Dwight Eisenhower moved into the White House six decades ago and gave a green light to the interstate highway system, the car has been king.
But today there is a new focus, one drawing howls of protest from some motorists but cheers of relief from pedestrians and bicyclists. Across the Bay Area and California, cities are removing or narrowing lanes and redesigning hundreds of streets to add bike lanes, speed up transit and improve pedestrian safety.
The car remains king, but the crown is slipping.
"There is a strong national and international movement to provide transportation for people and not just cars," said Hans Larsen, director of San Jose's Department of Transportation. "For decades, planning has focused on the efficient movement of cars. The result has been communities that are dependent on cars and are not conducive to walking and biking and transit."
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BART Vending Machines Now Compatible with Clipper Cards
From SanMateo.Patch.com
Clipper card users can now refill their cards at BART ticket vending machines, transit officials announced Wednesday.
Customers can refill their all-in-one transit cards at any of BART's 302 ticket machines throughout its 44 stations, transit officials said.
The upgraded ticketing machines are the result of BART and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's five-year, $10.6 million program. Clipper cards are used for more than 450,000 boardings each weekday on Bay Area transit and more than 100,000 boardings each weekday on BART alone, which accounts for roughly 30 percent of BART's fare payments, transit officials said.
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RWJF, Trust for America's Health Release F as in Fat 2011
From RWJF.org
Adult obesity rates increased in 16 states in the past year; have doubled or nearly doubled in 17 states since 1995.
Adult obesity rates increased in 16 states over the last year and did not decrease in any, according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2011, a report from Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The obesity epidemic continues to be most dramatic in the South, which includes nine of the 10 states with the highest adult obesity rates.
For the first time, the report tracks adult obesity rates in each state over the last two decades. Twenty years ago, no state had a rate above 15 percent. Today, more than two out of three states, 38 total, have obesity rates over 25 percent, and just one has a rate lower than 20 percent.
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HHS announces the winners of 2011 Healthy Living Innovation Awards
From hhs.gov
HHS announces the winners of 2011 Healthy Living Innovation Awards
Winners of an awards program that highlights innovative health promotion projects that have demonstrated a significant impact on the health of the community within the past three years were announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The 2011 Healthy Living Innovation Awards winners will receive an award from the HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in Washington, D. C. The winners will also share information on their innovations by presenting at a national conference later this fall.
“The 2011 Healthy Living Innovation Awards represented an exciting chance to foster the spread of effective, community-based efforts that employ innovative approaches to promotehealthy weight, physical activity and nutrition,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Communities across the United States submitted creative, replicable and sustainable innovations that demonstrate outstanding leadership and promising results.”
The awards are a part of Secretary Sebelius’ Healthy Weight Initiative and HHS’ continuing focus on highlighting preventive health and recognizing organizations that implement innovative approaches to address chronic diseases and promote healthier lifestyles.
Nominated organizations had to have an innovative project in at least one of three health promotion areas: healthy weight, physical activity, and nutrition. Awards were granted based on the criteria of creativity and innovation, leadership, sustainability, replicability, and results/outcomes. The 2011 Award winners are:
Read full articleResource protection gets boost
From HMBreview.com
In a major boon to San Mateo County Resource Conservation District, on Thursday night the district accepted more than $1.3 million to help the agency in its efforts to protect natural resources on the coast. Executive Director Kellyx Nelson said she didn't know of a time when a district board meeting brought in such a sum.
"We are thrilled that funding has become available to assist landowners with critical resource protection in our region," Nelson said. "Like everyone else, we have felt the pinch of the economy these last few years. We are hopeful that this is an indication of better times just around the corner."
San Mateo County Resource Conservation District gets only $50,000 in property tax money each year from the western part of the county. The district relies heavily on grant funding. The $1.3 million comes from a hodgepodge of sources including California Department of Fish and Game, Caltrans and San Mateo County.
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Building Donation to Second Harvest Food Bank
From News el-observador.com
Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: CY) announced the donation of a 75,000-square-foot, one-story office building on five acres of land to Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. Valued at approximately $9 million, the building and land, located at 4001 North First Street in San Jose, is the single-largest corporate gift made to the Food Bank to date.
The announcement comes at a time when Second Harvest Food Bank is facing growing demand for services in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Requests for assistance have increased nearly 42% over the past three years, forcing the Food Bank to expand into rented warehouse space. The new facility will nearly double the Food Bank’s overall space and increase its food distribution capacity by at least 50% over the next five years, from 46 million pounds of food to 69 million pounds, translating to 18 million additional meals provided. In addition to enabling fresh produce warehousing and distribution, the building will also become the Food Bank’s new Santa Clara County volunteer services hub. Once in operation this fall, the site will provide the Food Bank with a presence in the heart of Silicon Valley, centrally located between its main facility in San Jose and its San Mateo County operation on Bing Street in San Carlos.
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Alliance for a Healthier Generation Receives $23 Million Grant to Expand Healthy Schools Program
From healthiergeneration.org
(Little Rock, Ark.) June 13, 2011—The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, founded by the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, announced today it has received a $23.2 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to expand and extend its Healthy Schools Program through 2014. Since 2006, RWJF has awarded the Alliance more than $51 million to transform schools into healthier places, making the Healthy Schools Program the largest single investment of its $500 million commitment to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. The Healthy Schools Program helps schools develop and implement policies and practices that promote healthy eating and increase physical activity before, during and after school for students and staff.
President Bill Clinton will celebrate the RWJF renewal grant in a speech this evening at the Healthy Schools Forum at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Ark. The event also will honor 275 schools from across the nation that have transformed their campuses into healthier places and met rigorous healthy school benchmarks established by the program.
“Even though these schools do not have abundant resources, their teachers and staff are dedicated to the health of their students. Every school in America should emulate these educators by making healthy eating and daily exercise a priority,” said President Bill Clinton. “It takes this kind of collaboration between schools, their students, and national partners to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States.”
Read full articlePescadero Farmer's Market Debuts Today
From Half Moon Bay Patch
Despite its place as a hub for sustainable farming in San Mateo County and the Bay Area, Pescadero and the South Coast had yet to host their own farmer's market — until now.
Today, the Pescadero Grown! Certified Farmer's Market will open for the first time, featuring local growers.
"There has been talk about starting a farmer's market in Pescadero for many years but many people didn’t feel that they could take a risk to start a market," said Kerry Lobel, Executive Director of Puente, a Pescadero-based nonprofit organization that provides services for low income communities and farmworker families of the South Coast. "They feared that the South Coast might not have enough customers to sustain a market," she said.
The plan was to get it off the ground next year, Lobel said. "But the lettuce, kale, and strawberries were flowing. The farmers and producers said that they wanted a Farmer's Market close to home," she said.
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Games With No Screens and Food That’s Not Fast
From the New York Times
On Monday, more than 100 children in Redwood City sweated on the AstroTurf behind Hoover Community School.
“Who likes to play?” yelled Shannon Carrithers, a volunteer with the Network for a Healthy California — Children’s Power Play! Campaign, a statewide initiative aimed at children from low-income families. “I’m not talking about Nintendo. I’m talking about playing with a real ball.” With temperatures soaring over 90 degrees on the first day of summer day camp, health advocates armed with footballs and Hula Hoops were on hand in hopes of inspiring the children to “power up your summer!” Translation: Play actively at least an hour every day, eat more fruits and vegetables, and drink water instead of soda.
The campaign had come to Hoover, which is hosting one of the city’s summer camps, to spend an active afternoon with the 5-to-11-year-old campers in an effort to counter a summertime slide.
“Kids are twice as likely to gain weight over the summer as during the school year,” said Tuline Baykal, regional coordinator for the campaign in the Bay Area. “For many students, summer break is also a break from healthy habits fostered in the structured school environment.”
In 2010, nearly 30 percent of fifth graders in public schools in San Mateo County were at an unhealthy weight, according to data from the California Department of Education. About one-quarter of children and young adults, ages 5 to 20, in San Mateo are overweight, according to the county health department.
“During the summer, kids are less active,” said Sandra Hernandez, program representative for Bay Area Children’s Power Play. “They’re spending a lot more screen time, watching TV, playing video games and on the computer.”
To fight summer sloth, the campers at Hoover ran an obstacle course, doing jumping jacks and push-ups. There was a Zumba fitness workout and a “carrot hop” game, in which the children did the bunny hop with a plastic vegetable between their knees.
In the sweltering heat, the campers flocked to a counselor to be hosed down, giggling and squealing as they were blasted with the cool water.
Just behind a chain-link fence, a shuttered public pool beckoned. This will be the fourth summer the pool has been closed because of budget cuts.
“That was a central activity for a lot of our kids in the summer, and that is not available anymore,” said Amanda Rothengast, principal of Hoover Community School, where 90 percent of the 880 students qualify for the free or reduced-price lunch program.
At home, many of her students are not allowed to go outside by themselves to play, because their parents fear for their safety.
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Your Commute Is Killing You
From Slate.com
Long commutes cause obesity, neck pain, loneliness, divorce, stress, and insomnia.
"This week, researchers at Umea University in Sweden released a startling finding: Couples in which one partner commutes for longer than 45 minutes are 40 percent likelier to divorce. The Swedes could not say why... But perhaps the Swedes are just telling us something we all already know, which is that commuting is bad for you. Awful, in fact.
Why do people suffer through it? The answer mostly lies in a phrase forced on us by real-estate agents: "Drive until you qualify." Many of us work in towns or cities where houses are expensive. The further we move from work, the more house we can afford. Given the choice between a cramped two-bedroom apartment 10 minutes from work and a spacious four-bedroom house 45 minutes from it, we often elect the latter
For decades, economists have been warning us that when we buy at a distance, we do not tend to take the cost of our own time into account. All the way back in 1965, for instance, the economist John Kain wrote, it is "crucial that, in making longer journeys to work, households incur larger costs in both time and money. Since time is a scarce commodity, workers should demand some compensation for the time they spend in commuting." But we tend not to, only taking the tradeoff between housing costs and transportation costs into question.
Given the choice between that cramped apartment and the big house, we focus on the tangible gains offered by the latter. We can see that extra bedroom. We want that extra bathtub. But we do not often use them. And we forget that additional time in the car is a constant, persistent, daily burden-if a relatively invisible one.
Do not take it lightly. People who say, "My commute is killing me!" are not exaggerators. They are realists." Read full article
South San Francisco and San Bruno Residents Asked to Participate in Transportation Plan
From SamTrans.com
The San Mateo City/County Association of Governments, the City of South San Francisco and the City of San Bruno, supported by the San Mateo County Transit District, have launched a study to improve transportation in the eastern neighborhoods of these cities.
The South San Francisco/San Bruno Community-Based Transportation Plan will identify transportation needs in the area and come up with possible solutions. Solutions may include such things as expanding bus service, introducing a community shuttle, or making it easier to use a bike in the neighborhood. Other possible improvements include amenities like bus stops, benches or shelters. Funding opportunities and an action plan will be included in the plan.
Citizen participation is an important component of the plan. People can participate in the study in a number of ways: Information about the plan, as well as an on-line survey, is available at: www.ssfsbcbtp.com. The deadline for participating in the survey is May 25, 2011.
A committee that includes representatives from community organizations has been formed to give input on the plan. Presentations for community groups and organizations can be scheduled by contacting Emily Betts, project manager, at 650-508-6327 or bettse@samtrans.com.
A draft of the plan is expected to be completed by November 2011 and will be presented to the City Councils for adoption in January 2012.
The study is funded by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and administered by the San Mateo City/County Association of Governments.
05/11/11
Media Contact: Christine Dunn, 650-508-6238 See Article
Health Dept: New Yorkers Get Their Exercise By Getting Around Town
From Streetsblog.com
The New York City Department of Health is out with a new bulletin articulating the public health benefits of walking, biking, and taking transit. Encouraging those modes — and curbing the amount we drive — will reduce deaths and injuries from traffic crashes, prevent lung disease by lowering exposure to air pollution, and improve cardiovascular health by increasing exercise.
The evidence is pretty overwhelming — just 30 minutes of walking or biking each weekday reduces your risk of premature death by 20 percent — and the department’s recommendations are clear: New Yorkers should drive less, and the city should build the infrastructure to make walking, biking, and riding transit as safe and convenient as possible.
Most of the Health Department’s factoids have already been reported, like the life-saving improvements in air quality as a result of closing parts of Broadway to traffic. But one caught our eye as a new reminder of the importance of daily commute habits for your health. Read full article
U.S. Parents want Kids more Active During School Day: POLL
From health.usnews.com
A new poll finds that almost all parents of young children believe it's important for elementary school kids to get exercise during each school day. However, one-third said their children don't get enough physical activity at school.
The survey findings come at a time when U.S. schools continue to cut back on physical activity due to budget cuts. Obesity is thought to affect one out of every six kids in the United States.
The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, which asked parents of children aged 6 to 11 for their views about physical activity in schools, found that about one-third of parents think their kids' elementary schools don't devote enough time to physical education, 26 percent think playground equipment is lacking and 22 percent believe recess is too short. Read full article
Ray LaHood Gets Behind 2 Mile Challenge
From Streetsblog.org
LaHood started by saying that with gas at $4 a gallon, there’s no reason to use a car for the 40 percent of urban trips that are less than two miles, yet 90 percent of the time, that’s what people do. Many of these trips could easily be taken by public transit, on foot or by bicycle–saving money, helping the environment, and even affording the chance to stay fit all at the same time. At the Department of Transportation, we know these are the kinds of alternatives people are looking for, and we’re working to provide transportation options that don’t require getting into the car. That’s why I was pleased to hear about a new competition called the 2 Mile Challenge that demonstrates how many car trips could be replaced by bikes.
Here’s the upshot: between May 12 and October 31, you can log the miles you bike on the 2 Mile Challenge website. Those miles become points for the team of your choosing: either the Alliance for Biking and Walking, Safe Routes to School, or 350.org. The more you bike, the more points they get. Read Full Article
Study: Obesity prevention program working locally
From Visalia Times-Delta, Tulare Advance-Register
A program aimed at preventing obesity in Central California appears to be working, according to a state study released Tuesday.
Over the past two years, a program called the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program has focused on making people and their communities healthier.
A report released Tuesday by the California Endowment summarized the progress of the program, which also included efforts to increase health in the small communities of Pixley and Earlimart.
Both those communities have a lack of access to recreational parks and healthful food, which the program aims to change. It also focuses on educating the community about healthful choices. As a result of the program, the report found, the following changes have been made in those two communities: Read full article
This Is Your Brain on Cars—Oh, and Your Lungs and Heart and Gut, Too
From Streetsblog.org
Gerontologists in a laboratory at the University of Southern California exposed a group of mice to the same atmospheric conditions that humans encounter when driving along the freeway. Horrifyingly, they discovered that the mice’s brains showed the kind of swelling and inflammation associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The researchers didn’t super-dose to get these results: The mice were exposed to freeway air for the equivalent of 15 hours a week — less than the 18.5 hour average Americans spend in their cars. Jokes aside about getting those darn mice off the road, the study suggests that driving less may reduce our risk of brain damage. Read full article
Seniors and the City
From Governing.com
Have you ever thought the walk signs at street corners weren’t long enough? Probably not. But if you’re over 65 years old, it may be a different matter. What seems like a reasonable amount of time to cross a street is more like an Olympic sprint for the elderly. It’s one of numerous issues that have grown in importance as our population not only ages but becomes increasingly concentrated in cities.
In 2006, just 11 percent of the global population was over the age of 60, but the number is expected to double by 2050, according to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, the number of people living in cities continues to rise. In North America, 81 percent of the population lived in urban areas in 2005, and is expected to reach 87 percent by 2030.
Despite the clear trend toward an older, more urban population, most experts agree little is being done to make cities more age-friendly. Some of the necessary changes will be challenging. It won’t be easy or cheap to provide more public transportation or to build more affordable and accessible housing for seniors who are on fixed incomes and are less mobile. Read the full article
More States Took Action to Prevent Childhood Obesity in 2010
From RWJ.org
Making schools healthier, increasing access to fresh, local produce highest priorities.
More states took legislative action to address nutrition, physical activity and physical education in schools in 2010 than 2009, according to a new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). Twelve states enacted legislation relating to school nutrition, compared with seven in 2009, and eight states and the District of Columbia acted on physical activity and physical education in school, compared with five in the previous year.
State legislative action also increased around farm-to-school programs and farmers’ markets from 2009 to 2010. Six states and the District of Columbia developed policies on farm-to-school efforts, and six did so on farmers’ markets, compared with five and four, respectively, in 2009. Within these broad categories, states enacted a variety of policies, including ones that sought to:
- improve access to healthy foods and beverages in a variety of school venues, including meals, à la carte lines, stores and vending machines;
- require schools to preserve time for physical activity during the day;
- create new statewide programs to get locally grown produce to schools, and help schools get the equipment they need to prepare fresh foods; and
- make it easier for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to use their benefits to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers’ markets.
The findings are part of the 2010 edition of Reversing the Trend in Childhood Obesity: Policies to Promote Healthy Kids and Communities, an annual analysis conducted by NCSL examining state legislative action to address childhood obesity. Read the full article
Teens Talk to their Town about Sugary Drinks
From HealthyCal.org
Childhood obesity is a big problem in Merced. A group of local teens are doling out a dose of reality about the link between sugary drinks and obesity to parents and children—and talking about a proposed remedy. The teen group wants to educate locals about a soda tax introduced in the Assembly this February.
Six young adults are spreading the word about why children should swap soda for water through a prevention program funded by a Project Lean grant, won by the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program. Although the agency was responsible for securing funds, Claudia Corchado, CCROPP’s local program manager, said this is definitely a youth-driven project.
The group members know what it feels like to be a kid lured by sweet drinks. “That actually used to be my favorite drink,” group member Christian Belton, 13, said of Mountain Dew. “I’m really going to cut down on soda now that I know how much sugar it has.” Read full article
National Park Service Director Announces Healthy Foods Strategy
From National Park Service Press Release
On April 7, National Park Service (NPS) Director Jon Jarvis announced a major new service-wide Healthy Foods Strategy, to provide healthy food options to all national park visitors.
Jarvis made the announcement as part of the Healthy Parks Healthy People US conference, a two-day forum in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area co-hosted by NPS, the Institute at the Golden Gate and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Attended by more than 100 leaders in health care, the environment, nonprofits, government and business, participants discussed how the NPS can most effectively help drive health and wellness initiatives in America’s local, state, and national parks, and how parks can promote healthy lifestyle changes.
“The food we eat plays a critical role in our health, and providing healthy food choices is one way the NPS is working to promote healthy lifestyles,” Jarvis said. “The Healthy Foods Strategy will help ensure that our 281 million annual visitors have access to healthy, sustainable, and high-quality food at reasonable prices, while reducing our overall impact on the environment.
“This initiative furthers one of our goals of Healthy Parks Healthy People US, to educate visitors on food and potentially influence the choices they make after they leave the parks,” Jarvis added. Read full article
Mayor Lee Signs Urban Agriculture Legislation for Greater Local Food Production In SF
From the San Francisco Mayor's Office
Mayor Edwin M. Lee today signed into law an amendment to San Francisco’s planning code that will explicitly allow for “urban agriculture” in all areas of the City and the sale of produce from urban gardens in all zones.
“The Urban Agriculture Ordinance will allow for greater local food production within City limits,” said Mayor Lee. “This legislation will not only help support our community through the increased production of fresh, locally grown produce, but will also revitalize vacant arable land and create green jobs.”
“Urban agriculture provides significant health, environmental and economic benefits,” said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, who co-sponsored the Ordinance. “This bill puts San Francisco on the map as a national leader in urban agriculture, and is a tangible example of how government can create more sustainable communities.” Read full article
Model Streets Manual on Its Way — Move Over Old Traffic Handbook
Adapted from Streetsblog LA
A group of urban planners, transportation engineers, and public health advocates recently convened to preview the fruits of an intensive process to create a new and visionary streets manual for the streets of Los Angeles County. The goal of the working committee was to tear down the old design standards that require such inhospitable streets, and in their place, create standards that encourage the designing of great streets. The new manual considers the full gamut of street design issues from the neighborhood scale right down to the material of the streets themselves! The following is a list of the new manual’s twelve chapters, which were previewed in three-minute presentations during the during the preview workshop:
- Street Network Design
- Traveled Way and Intersection Design
- Universal Pedestrian Access
- Pedestrian Crossings
- Bikeway Design
- Traffic Calming
- Transit Accommodations
- Streetscape Ecosystem
- Re-placing Streets
- Land Use & Urban Design
- Retrofitting Suburbia
- Getting It Built
To drive the point of this process home, a member of the working committee asked, “when you go on vacation, do you go to a suburban strip mall? No, we go to great walkable places! And that is precisely what this manual will help planners and engineers create.
And now, just a few final details on the manual: Everything will be professionally edited and laid out and should be available by this summer. The manual will be published digitally on the LA County website in two formats — as a Microsoft Word Document and an Adobe InDesign format — so that, in Snyder’s words, cities can “use it, adopt it, steal it, and plagiarize it.” Read full article
Income disparities in obesity trends among California adolescents
From The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
While some indications suggest childhood obesity rates could be leveling off nationally, disparities persist, especially among African-Americans and Latinos, and those who live in poverty. Using data from the California Health Interview Survey telephone survey, researchers tested that hypothesis among adolescents by socioeconomic status in California. Read full article
How to Feed Redwood City Kids Nutritious Food
From Patch.com
March is National Nutrition Month, and a great reminder to keep our kids munching on fruits and veggies. Let’s celebrate by checking out what our very own community has to offer! My kids often grab some extra grub at snack time from the school cafeteria, though since we’re vegan (we don’t consume meat, eggs, or dairy) their options are pretty limited. Our personal preferences aside, 64 percent of kids in our district (most qualifying for free and reduced lunch) rely on the school lunch program - many eating more than half their daily calories on campus. So how are the schools working to keep kids healthy? Anna Lague, a Registered Dietitian and our Redwood City School District Wellness Coordinator, is center stage on this topic. She’s employed by Sodexo, the company that supplies food for our district, and by the school district itself (they partner with Sodexo). She’s the woman behind the pen, responsible for planning the menu each month. Read full article
San Mateo County students struggle to keep fit, but still healthier than peers statewide
from Bay Area News Group
San Mateo County's public school students struggled to stay fit yet remained healthier than their peers statewide, according to an annual state physical-fitness report released Thursday. Overall, just one in three California students is considered healthy by the state's standards. That low mark has prompted state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson to launch a new campaign to improve children's fitness….The state tests the fitness of students in fifth, seventh and ninth grades in six major areas -- aerobic capacity (cardiovascular endurance), body composition (percentage of body fat), abdominal strength, trunk strength, upper-body strength and flexibility. According to the 2009-10 report, the county's fifth- …Although the county's students gave mixed results at best compared to last year, they performed up to several points better than their counterparts throughout the state. Read full article
Berkeley co-op aims to educate about food choices
From the San Francisco Chronicle
The brightly colored mural of farmers loading fresh fruits and vegetables onto a train illustrates the mission of the city's newest food co-op: to provide healthful alternatives to junk food while educating the UC Berkeley community about the benefits of sustainable agriculture. The Berkeley Student Food Collective, where the mural is painted, recently opened across the street from campus on Bancroft Way. The store is small but has big aspirations. It wants to inform its customers about the environmental, social and political issues related to food, and it hopes to inspire similar student-run food collectives at campuses across the country. "The idea is for this to be a living classroom," said Alex Stone, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 2009 and manages the store. She said plans are under way to bring local farmers to the store to discuss their growing and labor practices with customers. "It's important to get people to connect with their food and where it's coming from," said Stone. "Do you really want to eat chocolate that was raised with child labor?" Shoppers at the co-op can drink a 50-cent cup of fair-trade coffee while buying fresh produce - all grown within 150 miles - Straus bottled milk, organic eggs and juices, bulk grains and prepared sandwiches. The store will remain vegetarian until it finds a supplier that meets its standards of providing locally and humanely raised meat at an affordable price."We want to offer healthy products that are sustainable for everyone involved, including the people who are consuming them, the people who are raising them, the animals and our planet," said Stone....The collective grew out of a protest two years ago over a proposal to bring the first fast-food chain restaurant to campus. Students who opposed the opening of Panda Express on Lower Sproul Plaza argued that it was culturally offensive to Berkeley and that its food was filled with unhealthful amounts of fat and sodium. The students prevailed and went to work on creating a healthful alternative. Read full article
New Report Sees Safety Benefits in Bike Paths
By Colin Heyne, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition
Original Article: Journal of Injury Prevention, February 2011
Risk of injury for bicycling on cycle tracks versus in the street, By Lusk, et al.
For six cycle tracks and comparable reference streets, vehicle/bicycle crashes and health record injury counts were obtained and use counts conducted. The relative risk (RR) of injury on cycle tracks, compared with reference streets, was determined. Overall, 2.5 times as many cyclists rode on cycle tracks compared with reference streets and there were 8.5 injuries and 10.5 crashes per million bicycle kilometres. The RR of injury on cycle tracks was 0.72 (95% CI 0.60 to 0.85) compared with bicycling in reference streets. These data suggest that the injury risk of bicycling on cycle tracks is less than bicycling in streets. The construction of cycle tracks should not be discouraged. Contrary to AASHTO’s safety cautions about road-parallel paths and its exclusion of cycle tracks, the study results suggest that two-way cycle tracks on one side of the road have either lower or similar injury rates compared with bicycling in the street without bicycle provisions. This lowered risk is also in spite of the less-than-ideal design of the Montreal cycle tracks, such as lacking parking setbacks at intersections, a recommended practice.Public health and bicycling advocates in the USA have faced a dichotomy, believing from surveys and European experience that cycle tracks encourage more bicycling, yet being warned that they lead to higher crash and injury rates. The study results suggest that cycle tracks lessen, or at least do not increase, crash and injury rates compared with the street. The construction of cycle tracks should not be discouraged. Read full article Read original article
As Minneapolis Bike Use Climbs, Rate of Crashes with Vehicles Falls
From the Star Tribune
"The more people bike in Minneapolis, the safer they seem to be. Recently crunched city data show the reported cyclist-motorist accident rate dropping as the number of bike commuters grows. For 2008, the most recent year for which complete data were available, the crash rate was one-quarter that of 10 years earlier. Moreover, a trend line shows a steady decrease in the crash rate even as the number of commuting cyclists more than doubled." Read full article
Sefton (UK) Teenage Girls Engaging with Bicycles
From the Department of Transport, Cycling England website
According to the Feb. 8th Monthly Update from Cycling England, "A group of girls aged 12-14 from Greenbank High School in Southport spent three months producing a film called 'Pedal Power: The Way Forward,' it shows how they have explored cycling and the role it can play in local people's lives. The film was premiered at a special event at Southport Arts Centre. Read full article
Reversing the trend, more kids walking and biking to school
From the Boltage website
School kids participating in Boltage, an innovative program that encourages kids to ride and walk to school, have recently logged a huge milestone, having covered a distance of 525,000 miles, which is roughly the distance to the moon and back or 21 times around the earth! Started at one school in 2005, the program is now in place at 35 schools in 13 states. To date, participants have logged over 367,000 round trips totaling over 525,000 miles. That translates to over 46,000 gallons of gas saved, over 922,000 lbs of CO2 saved and over 22 million calories burned! "Boltage believes that repetition is the key to changing habits, and the comprehensive and kid-friendly Boltage program combines innovative technology and sociology to change kids' behavior. Kids are given a Zap Tag -- a small RFID tag (radio frequency identification) attached to the child's backpack. Each day, before or after school, a child rides or walks under the ZAP -- the Boltage proprietary solar-powered RFID tag reader -- to log their trip. View video
Don’t Fear Riding a Bicycle, Fear Sitting in that Chair
From the Grist website
"Afraid to ride a bicycle? You're not alone. We know that bicycling is good for public health: More bicycling and less driving leads to improved air quality, noise reduction, fewer car crashes, and reduced carbon emissions. But what about personal health -- that is, YOUR personal health and safety? Many people don't bike out of fear -- with the most significant terrifying factor, of course, being cars. As many as 60 percent of people in U.S. cities would like to ride a bicycle if it weren't for traffic-related concerns. " Read full article
MacArthur Foundation Awards $5.6 Million to Support Housing Research
from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today announced nine grants totaling $5.6 million for research to explore the role housing plays in the long-term health and wellbeing of children, families, and communities. Recipients will mine and connect existing data sets, such as the U.S. Census and school statistics, in new ways to reveal insights into the effectiveness of housing policies and related public programs. The nine grant recipients are a mix of studies on the relationship between housing and a series of social and economic concerns including education, health, and economic opportunity. View full article
More Californians See Childhood Obesity as Major Health Problem
From California Healthline
Californians increasingly consider obesity to be a "very serious" problem for children, and many believe the state should pursue policy changes to address the issue, according to a recent Field Poll survey, the Los Angeles Times (Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times, 2/8). For the survey, which was funded by the California Endowment, Field Poll researchers interviewed 1,005 registered California voters in October 2010 (Lin, California Watch, 2/8). The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points (Weintraub, HealthyCal, 2/8).
Key Findings
Additional Findings
Researchers asked voters about possible policy changes to address childhood obesity and found that:
- 89% of voters supported requiring physical education classes for four years in high school, up from the two years currently required;
- 61% said all drinks with added sugars should be banned from schools (California Watch, 2/8); and
- 56% said they would support a soda tax to raise funds for efforts to combat childhood obesity.
In addition, researchers asked voters how children today compare with children five years ago and found that:
- 60% said the average child in the state today is less active than the average child five years ago; and
- 47% said the foods eaten by the average child today are less healthy than the foods eaten by the average child five years ago (HealthyCal, 2/8). Download article
CX3 Project Update—Sharing Data with Stakeholders and Taking Action
By Jenn Gross
Health System staff and El Concilio worked with community members to implement the Communities of Excellence in Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention Project (CX3) which examined the nutrition environment in and around stores in these four neighborhoods: North Fair Oaks, Pescadero/La Honda, northern San Mateo, and East Palo Alto. For more information about this project, visit page two of the February 2010 Get Healthy San Mateo County (GHSMC) newsletter: http://gethealthysmc.org/uploads/pages/14_ghsmc%20newsletter%20feb_10.pdf.
Throughout 2010, Health System staff presented findings to community leaders at the Redwood City Prevention Partnership/Redwood City 2020, Youth Leadership Institute, Puente de la Costa Sur (Puente), Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center, and the Evaluation Committee of GHSMC.
After reviewing this data, YLI and Redwood City Prevention Partnership/Redwood City 2020 and Puente de la Costa Sur applied for and received funding from GHSMC to take action in their communities. YLI and Redwood City Prevention Partnership/Redwood City 2020 will conduct a healthy corner store makeover with two stores in North Fair Oaks. They have found many storeowners who are interested in providing nutrition education and improving their stores. YLI and a youth adult workgroup of the Redwood City Prevention Partnership are identifying two stores for a healthy corner store makeover to increase fresh, attractive and healthy options in a primarily Latino North Fair Oaks neighborhood. They are also producing a documentary of their work with one corner store. Look out for their video in summer 2011!
In addition, as no stores in Pescadero/La Honda accept WIC or Calfresh (food stamps), Puente will assist 3 stores to become eligible to accept WIC and/or CalFresh. In March, data will also be presented to community members at Puente de la Costa Sur (Puente) and the Pescadero Municipal Advisory Council. To encourage consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, all stores will receive point of sale information cards that describe their health benefits. For more information about CX3, please contact Eliana Schultz at eschultz@co.sanmateo.ca.us or (650) 573-3511.
Lessons Learned from Evaluations of California’s Statewide School Nutrition Standards
From the American Journal of Public Health
While the Child Nutrition Act of 2004 tightened requirements to limit unhealthy foods in schools, "competitive foods"—such as candy, cookies, chips and soft drinks—offered in vending machines and snack bars are not required to comply with National School Lunch Program nutrition guidelines. State and local policymakers have begun enacting additional school nutrition standards. Read full article
Income disparities in obesity trends among California adolescents
From The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
While some indications suggest childhood obesity rates could be leveling off nationally, disparities persist, especially among African-Americans and Latinos, and those who live in poverty. Using data from the California Health Interview Survey telephone survey, researchers tested that hypothesis among adolescents by socioeconomic status in California. Read full article
USDA Unveils Critical Upgrades to Nutritional Standards for School Meals
USDA Press Release
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2011 —The U.S. Department of Agriculture today published a proposed rule to update the nutrition standards for meals served through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 13, 2010. The new proposed meal requirements will raise standards for the first time in fifteen years and will make critical changes to school meals and help improve the health and nutrition of nearly 32 million kids that participate in school meal programs every school day, an important component of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative to solve the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation. Read full article
Wholesome wave: Farmers markets and SNAP benefits
From The Faster Times
When I talk to Slow Foodists, locavores, and leaders of this country’s sustainable food movement about the need to ensure that fresh, seasonal produce is accessible and affordable to low-income families, they often reply that farmers’ markets universally accept food stamps. That used to be true. But ever since the advent of the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card in 1999 (a debit card that replaced paper food stamps nationally) many farmers stopped accepting food stamps because they couldn’t afford to buy a wireless EBT machine (they cost around $1000). As a result, today only 21% of the country’s farmers’ markets accept food stamps, according to the Community Food Security Coalition. (Food stamps, by the way, are now known as SNAP benefits, which stands for the none-to-snappy Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.) Read full article
Bike lanes create more jobs than other road projects, per $ 1 million spent
from the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition
According to a new report, building bike lanes and pedestrian projects, and bike boulevards, creates more job per million dollars spent than road repairs and road resurfacing. While road construction projects create approximately 7 jobs per $1 million spending, pedestrian projects create over 11 jobs for the same level of spending, and bicycle projects create up to 14 jobs. Read full article View case study
Childhood Obesity ‘Very Serious’ in California, Poll Finds
From the LA Times
"A growing number of Californians consider obesity to be a 'very serious' problem facing children in the state and believe unhealthy fare in schools should be restricted, according to a statewide poll released Tuesday. 'They recognize the seriousness of the childhood obesity epidemic and understand that changing public policies is the key to creating healthier communities,' said Dr. Robert K. Ross, president and chief executive of the California Endowment the Los Angeles-based nonprofit that funded the Field Poll survey." Read full article