OBESITY AND DIABETES IN LATINO COMMUNITY - Mitch Perry
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are reporting that many doctors are NOT advising their obese patients to lose weight despite a national obesity epidemic...The CDC reports that only about 40% of doctors told obese patients to lose weight in 2000, a slight decrease from a similar study conducted a decade earlier.
Obesity AND diabetes is a growing in the Latino community, and a community-based project is trying to work with Latinos, especially immigrants, on how to fight against it.
Project New Life-Good Health, or Nueva Vida-Buena Salud, is a community-based program of local groups ,working with the University of South Florida to provide Latino immigrants with nutritional information about adapting to food sources in the United States.
USF Anthropology Professor David Himmelgreen is the Project leader of these health and nutrition seminars, which he says the University has been involved with several other groups in the local community for close to 2 years (roll tape#1 o.q. "stretch your food dollars")
According to the U.S. Census, 61 percent of Hispanics in the country are overweight or obese, about 8 percent more than the population at large
Professor Himmelgreen says that his group tries to inform immigrants about using coupons, or purchasing generic brands....He says they may not be informed about how to get the most out of shopping experience at the local supermarket (roll tape#2 o.q."
USF Anthropology Professor David Himmelgreen says there is a concept called "food Security" which refers to those who have access to quality food......But he says Food Insecurity can be used in a different context when it comes to immigrants learning and has a different meaning .(roll tape#3 o.q. "to be able to do it")
Project New Life - Green Health conducts their seminars in 3 stages.....The First seminar works on an overview of eating healthy....Seminar number 2 focuses on
Detailed nutritional information, and Seminar number 3 discusses learning how to read nutrition fact labels.....A seminar takes place tomorrow morning in Dover at 10:30AM..... For more information, you can contact USF Professor David Himmelgreen,
At 813-974-1204.comments powered by Disqus