Tag Archives: healthy eating

Vanguards of longevity

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As part of their well-rounded approach to wellness, Comunidades Unidas offers yoga demonstrations.

“Well, look, I am Mexican, so everything!” Silvia laughs as she tries to list her favorite foods. But she knows that not everything is healthy to eat, especially after she was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure.

“In the beginning I got scared,” she says. She wasn’t looking forward to thinking about what you can and can’t eat. But things became easier after she learned about Comprando Rico y Sano through Wendy Cordova, a promotora de salud (community health worker) at Comunidades Unidas of Utah, an UnidosUS Affiliate.

There are 25 Affiliates implementing the program, providing cooking demonstrations and grocery store tours to more than 12,000 Latinos. Comprando Rico y Sano also helps qualifying families apply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, helping them afford the healthy meals they’ve learned to cook.

Promotoras de salud teach the community about healthy eating.

When SNAP was threatened with budget cuts, UnidosUS’s advocacy helped protect the program, allowing it to continue being an important lifeline to more than 10 million low-income Latinos. SNAP is one of our country’s best ways to fight hunger, and around two-thirds of the recipients are children, seniors and the disabled.

But SNAP is also a fight against poverty: in 2015, at least 1.2 million Latinos were lifted out of poverty thanks to SNAP, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. That’s why our advocacy work to revise the Farm Bill without cuts in federal food assistance programs or new work requirements was such an important win for our community.

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SNAP for Health: A healthy community starts with strong partnerships

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Food insecurity impacts 40 million Americans, and Latino families are disproportionately affected. Nearly 1 in 5 Latino adults are food insecure, compared  to 1 in 10 white non-Hispanics. The rate for Latino children is even more pronounced, with 1 in 4 living in a food-insecure household as compared to 1 in 8  white non-Hispanic children. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is an important resource for low-income families, including Latinos, struggling with food insecurity and hunger.

Comprando Rico y Sano | SNAP for health | healthy eating

UnidosUS’s Comprando Rico y Sano program (“Buying Healthy and Flavorful Foods”) is a national program intended to reduce hunger and food insecurity by instilling healthy shopping and eating habits among Latinos through nutrition education and SNAP enrollment assistance. Developed by UnidosUS and supported by the Walmart Foundation, the program responds to the needs of predominantly Spanish-speaking Latino communities using the culturally-sensitive promotores de salud model.

As an immediate basic need, food is the foundation for our health and wellbeing. Living under food insecurity puts adults at risk of developing chronic conditions and diseases (obesity, diabetes, heart disease), and makes them more likely to need medical treatment and hospital readmissions. For children, being hungry affects their ability to grow, learn, and thrive.

Given that Hispanic families—almost 18% of the U.S. population—experience some of the highest rates of food insecurity in the country, this problem is not only a substantive threat to the health and well-being of Latino children and families, but also to the future success of our country.

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5 tips to get you and your family to eat healthier this summer

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By Maria Y. Diaz, Health Equity Fellow at UnidosUS

Comprando Rico y Sano, led by community health workers or promotores de salud, is a national program with the goal of reducing hunger and food insecurity and instilling healthy shopping and eating habits among Latinos through nutrition education and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment assistance. Developed by UnidosUS, the program is entering its fifth year and is currently implemented in 26 communities nationwide, thanks to the continuous support of the Walmart Foundation.

Healthy eating

In 2017, Comprando Rico y Sano made a positive impact in 24 communities across 11 states and the District of Columbia, resulting in an increase of 47% in fruit intake, 55% in vegetable intake, and 63% in healthy meals prepared at home, among program participants. Additionally, 25,636 eligible Latinos were provided with enrollment assistance in SNAP and 73,602 Latinos were reached with face-to-face nutrition education and SNAP information.

With the academic school year at an end and long summer days, our promotores de salud often hear from parents who sometimes find it challenging to manage their children’s eating habits during the summer. UnidosUS’s Comprando Rico y Sano encourages families to be healthier with a few tips that are sure to benefit the entire family.

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How to avoid uninvited guests at your summer outing

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By Archie Magoulas, Technical Information Specialist, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA

In the summertime, as the weather begins to heat up, our microscopic friends, called bacteria, begin to make uninvited appearances at our cookouts, picnics and even camping trips. Sometimes these little friends can be helpful, but other times, they just make you sick.

Bacteria will grow anywhere they have access to nutrients and water. Microorganisms that cause disease are called pathogens. When certain pathogens enter the food supply, they can cause foodborne illness.summer food safety

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Expanding where health happens: A Look at Comprando Rico y Sano’s Community Health Impact Challenge

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Being healthy is more than not being sick, and extends beyond our physical well-being, as it includes emotional and social well-being. Moreover, rather than individual choice and behavior alone, health is impacted by the places where we live, learn, work, play, and pray, also known as the social determinants of health.

Our ZIP code, for example, can help determine how long we live. A person’s health can be impacted by factors ranging from education and income level, to neighborhood safety and green spaces, to stress and access to healthy food.

Your opportunity for health starts long before you need medical care and is shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources throughout local communities, thus disproportionally affecting low-income communities.

That’s why UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza), through its Comprando Rico y Sano program designed a ‘health challenge’ among its 24 subgrantees, or Affiliated and non-affiliated community-based organizations.

Funded by the Walmart Foundation, Comprando Rico y Sano subgrantees were charged to engage in activities that demonstrated community-driven solutions in targeting where we live, learn, work, and play, and whose efforts can lead to healthier communities.

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Recent Data Shows Latino Obesity Rates Remain Stubbornly High

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Increasing access to healthy affordable foods is key to reverse this trend

By Lanette Garcia, Health Policy Analyst, UnidosUS

Latino obesity | Healthy foodsNew data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that obesity rates for adults and children in the United States have hit an historic high.

The CDC’s annual National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that the adult obesity rate now stands at 39.8%, while that of children stands at 18.5%.

The study also includes data by race and ethnicity—and findings for Latinos are particularly troubling.

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