October 6: Join Us on Twitter for a Chat on Breast Cancer Awareness‏

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Patricia Thao

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Join the conversation on Twitter this Tuesday October 6th at 1 PM (ET). We’ll be discussing prevention, warning signs and more. The chat will be in English and Spanish.

Follow the hashtag #SaludTues to submit questions in advance or join the conversation on Tuesday. You can also follow these Twitter accounts for more information: @USAgov @GobiernoUSA, @FDAWomen @FDAenEspanol and @SaludToday.

Quick facts:

About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. (http://www.breastcancer.org/)
The second most common cause of death from cancer among white, black, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native women. (http://www.cdc.gov/)
About 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women. (http://www.cancer.org/)
The strongest risk factor for breast cancer is age. A woman’s risk of developing this disease increases as she gets older. (Check out more contributing factors on the development of breast cancer here: http://www.cancer.gov/)

If you have questions, contact us.

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MN’s Obesity Rate Rises

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Patricia Thao

“MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Obesity rates across the country are still high despite the billions of dollars being spent on programs aimed at lowering than number, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control.

Minnesota is one of only five states that saw an increase in adult obesity rates last year – just shy of 28 percent.

Despite the rise, Minnesota’s rate is the 15th lowest in the U.S.

Overall, more than two-thirds of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese.

The average American today is 24 pounds heavier than his or her counterpart in 1960.” – http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/

Obesity is a real health issue arising in Minnesota. Sometimes, it is about the choices of a unhealthy lifestyle that affects people’s. So what can we do as a community to lower the rates of obesity?

Encourage your family, friends, and community to exercise! Whether it’s a daily or once a week, it is much better for your health than not being physical at all.
Buy groceries and foods from your local farmers and markets! There are actual organic and affordable food on the market. One just have to research a little bit to get information on where to get healthier food alternatives.
Stray away from fast food as much as possible. Although they’re cheap, fast, and easy to get, fast foods have more fat and sodium than you need on a daily basis. You can try to reduce the amount you eat fast food as you go on.
Join community marathons! These opportunities are a great way to exercise, support organizations, and meet new people. You will learn that there are many people out there who share the same cause as you do.
Living healthy is making smart choices! Being obese is a physical struggle and a mental challenge. Anyone can be healthier just by making healthier choices. It is always hard in the beginning, but once you make it a habit to life it won’t seem as difficult as before.

The Truth About Restaurant Food‏ & Eating Out Tips

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Patricia Thao

AMA’s STEP UP Youth 2015

Eating out can be a fun and social activity thing to do. But of course, it is not always healthy and cheap to eat out. Be aware that restaurant food can be just as unhealthy as fast food. Here are some reasons why:

Dishes can contain up to the same or more amount of salt, fat, and calories like fast food. Think about the total intake that comes from the appetizers, main dish, and side dishes.
Sometimes, it’s best to skip out on appetizers. Often time, people can’t finish their main course because they’re already full from the appetizers.
Are the food cleaner? This can vary from restaurants to restaurants. If you’re interested where the restaurants you eat at source their foods from, you can always ask the owner or do your own research.
Try not to order anything to drink besides water. Water is your body’s best friend and is an essential part of your diet. It’s free and keeps you hydrated.
Big plates equals big servings. Psychologically, when you have a big plate you feel like you need to fill it up with food. It relates to the old saying “your eyes can eat more than your stomach”. So it’s wise to portion your food and not over eat.

National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and Fruits & Veggies

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Patricia Thao

“One in 3 children in the United States is overweight or obese. Childhood obesity puts kids at risk for health problems that were once seen only in adults, like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.” – http://healthfinder.gov/

Children obesity is a real problem and still exist. There are reasons why obesity is still common in the U.S. Such as organic and healthy food tend to be more expensive so lower income families tend to buy lower quality food. Fast food and high calorie snacks are very cheap to buy and widely available everywhere. And many people are still not informed or knowledgeable on how food can affect their health. As much as it is a financial and informative issue, it is also a mental struggle. People have to change the way they think about food within themselves, their family, their friends, and so on.

But no worries, obesity can be prevented! September is the National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and organizations hope to spread the word of helping others! Here are so helpful resources that you can use and please share with others on social media:

National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

Sample content for blogs, Facebook posts, and Tweet and resources for websites and social media sites – see attached Word files
Healthfinder.gov toolkit with a sample newsletter announcement, tweets, e-cards, web badge, and more – http://healthfinder.gov/NHO/Septembertoolkit.aspx
CDC social media badges – http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/resources/multimedia.html

Fruits and Veggies – More Matters Month

Healthfinder.gov toolkit with a sample newsletter announcement, tweets, e-cards, web badge, and more – http://www.healthfinder.gov/nho/SeptemberToolkit2.aspx
CDC social media badges – http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/resources/multimedia.html
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Team Nutrition – http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/features-month/september/national-fruit-veggies-more-matters-month

Effective Cross-Cultural Communication and Health Literacy

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Patricia Thao

Communicating effectively across cultures is important for public health professionals. People’s ideas about health and illness can vary by cultural group and sub-group, and can affect which health literacy skills are considered culturally necessary. When communicating with diverse cultural groups, public health professionals should be aware of and adjust for linguistic differences, beliefs, values, customs, and behaviors that can affect if the audience receives your intended message.

Here are some tips to make sure you and your materials are well understood:

Try not to treat culture as a negative or barrier that must be overcome. Your cultural background may not be the same as your audience’s, but you can learn about and adjust for language, beliefs, and customs as you would for other factors, such as age or gender, that might affect how the audience interprets the messages.
If your messages aren’t in the audience’s preferred language, consider if interpretation of oral information, translation of written materials, or a complete redesign to address cultural differences is necessary.
Adapt messages and materials for the literacy and numeracy skills people have in their preferred language.
Refer to the National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards as you plan your communication strategy.

To read more about the role of culture in health literacy, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/culture.html

Stay Motivated in School

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Patricia Thao

www.annarborfamily.com

Many students return to school with new motivation, but it is quite hard to maintain it! Sometimes, you just want to give up because many things can affect you. But don’t worry, you’re not alone as many other students are going through the same problems. These tips will help you get through the year!

To feel good and energized, you need at least 8 hours of sleep! If your body is on a stable sleeping cycle, you will fall asleep much quicker. You’ll find that you will feel better the next morning as you won’t wake up exhausted.
Eat a balance meal with healthy snacks. It’s normal for students of all ages to feel constantly feel hunger throughout the day. Chances are you may be tired, didn’t get to eat a proper meal, or too busy to worry about eating right. But you can try to avoid unhealthy snacks and meals. Try to bring healthy alternatives to satisfy your cravings!
Along with eating well, try to live a balance life. That means make time for your education, family, friends, exercising, and free time. It will assure you more freedom to do what you need and want. So having a planner and being organized helps out a lot!
Ask questions in class! You probably don’t want to stand out or feel less smart than other students in class, but chances are other students are wondering the same. It’s all about trying to educate yourself without worrying what others may think of you.
Build positive relationships with peers and teachers! The closer you are with the people around you, you all can help and educate each other. Also, they provide new perspectives and knowledge that you may not know or have.
Take effective notes! Everyone has their own styles when it comes to note taking. But don’t relentlessly write down notes without proper organization . You won’t be able to find things easily when you need them to study. A popular note taking style is Cornell notes.

Picture credit linked here.

STEP UP Youth 2015 Postcards

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Patricia Thao

STEP UP youth made an amazing collection of postcards this summer. Topics range from anti-tobacco to domestic abuse and more. We hope to promote bi-culturalism and positive messages to the community. Please check them out down below. Share this post with your friends and family!

Go Back to School Tobacco-free!‏

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Patricia Thao

Let’s go back to school with a positive mindset on living healthy! One thing to encourage your peers and friends is to be tobacco-free. Although statistics shows that tobacco use is gradually decreasing, many are still at risk.

Use some of these tips to support this cause:

Set yourself or others to be a good role model. It can help change people’s perspective that tobacco usage is not cool or good for your body.
Say no to tobacco! Don’t let peer pressure get to you or to your friends! Only do what you want to and not what others say to you.
Quitting it sooner is better than never! If you are currently using tobacco or know someone who is, try to convince yourself/them to stop. Extensive research has show that by using tobacco it can cause diseases like lung cancer, breathing problems, stroke, and more.

Here are some quick facts to help you learn more about being tobacco:

From 2011 to 2014, current cigarette smoking declined among middle and high school students.^4,5
Nearly 3 of every 100 middle school students (2.5%) reported in 2014 that they smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days—a decrease from 4.3% in 2011.
In 2014, more than 12 of every 100 high school students (12.7%) and approximately 3 of every 100 middle school students (3.1%) reported use of two or more tobacco products in the past 30 days.⁴
In 2014, nearly 25 of every 100 high school students (24.6%) and nearly 8 of every 100 middle school students (7.7%) used some type of tobacco product.⁴

Credits to www.cdc.gov

Nutrition and the Health of Young People

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Patricia Thao

www.trueactivist.com

Benefits of Healthy Eating

Proper nutrition promotes the optimal growth and development of children.¹
Healthy eating helps prevent high cholesterol and high blood pressure and helps reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.¹
Healthy eating helps reduce one’s risk for developing obesity, osteoporosis, iron deficiency, and dental caries (cavities).^1,2

Consequences of a Poor Diet

A poor diet can lead to energy imbalance (e.g., eating more calories than one expends through physical activity) and can increase one’s risk for overweight and obesity.^1,8
A poor diet can increase the risk for lung, esophageal, stomach, colorectal, and prostate cancers.⁹
Individuals who eat fast food one or more times per week are at increased risk for weight gain, overweight, and obesity.¹
Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages can result in weight gain, overweight, and obesity.¹
- Providing access to drinking water gives students a healthy alternative to sugar-sweetened beverages.
Hunger and food insecurity (i.e., reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns because a household lacks money and other resources for food) might increase the risk for lower dietary quality and undernutrition. In turn, undernutrition can negatively affect overall health, cognitive development, and school performance.^10-12

Eating Behaviors of Young People

Most U.S. youth
- Do not meet the recommendations for eating 2½ cups to 6½ cups* of fruits and vegetables each day
- Do not eat the minimum recommended amounts of whole grains (2–3 ounces* each day)
- Eat more than the recommended maximum daily intake of sodium (1,500–2,300 mg* each day) .^1,3,7
Empty calories from added sugars and solid fats contribute to 40% of daily calories for children and adolescents aged 2–18 years, affecting the overall quality of their diets. Approximately half of these empty calories come from six sources: soda, fruit drinks, dairy desserts, grain desserts, pizza, and whole milk.⁵
Adolescents drink more full-calorie soda per day than milk. Males aged 12–19 years drink an average of 22 ounces of full-calorie soda per day, more than twice their intake of fluid milk (10 ounces), and females drink an average of 14 ounces of full-calorie soda and only 6 ounces of fluid milk.⁶

Diet and Academic Performance

Eating a healthy breakfast is associated with improved cognitive function (especially memory), reduced absenteeism, and improved mood.^13-15

Credits to www.cdc.gov

Edible Lotus?

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Patricia Thao

by Tanya Zhu

The lotus is an amazingly delicious plant. Aside from the medicinal uses of the lotus plant, the entire plant is edible. After the flower blooms, the golden seed pod turns a vibrant green, which grows larger as the seeds fatten. Eating fresh lotus seeds from a newly picked pod is heaven on earth. The seed germ has not yet developed its signature bitter taste, so you can pop the whole thing in your mouth. The stem of the lotus can be sauteed, as can the lotus root. The root and seeds are the most commonly used parts, but the lotus leaf is great for eating (with scrambled eggs) or wrapping (zong zi!) or as a tea, while the flower can also be lightly battered and fried (not unlike elephant ears). Yum.

Bicultural Healthy Living

A Balanced Approach to a Bicultural Healthy Life

Tag Archives: health

MN’s Obesity Rate Rises

The Truth About Restaurant Food‏ & Eating Out Tips

National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and Fruits & Veggies

Effective Cross-Cultural Communication and Health Literacy

Stay Motivated in School

STEP UP Youth 2015 Postcards

Go Back to School Tobacco-free!‏

Nutrition and the Health of Young People

Benefits of Healthy Eating

Consequences of a Poor Diet

Eating Behaviors of Young People

Diet and Academic Performance

Edible Lotus?