- Author: Eli Israel Figueroa
- Editor: Andra Nicoli
CalFresh Healthy Living (CFHL), University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) in Contra Costa County promotes healthy communities with a nutrition education curriculum designed to improve teens' eating and fitness choices. Of the 117 middle school youth who participated in EatFit, 30% increased the number of times they ate vegetables.
The Issue
Food and beverage companies invest over $1 billion in marketing each year to advertise their food products to Black and Hispanic consumers, specifically the youth. Students at Hillview Jr. High School (HJHS)–which is located in a low-income neighborhood of Pittsburg and has a 60% Hispanic and 19% African American student population– are not exempt from these widespread and targeted food marketing campaigns. Fast food restaurants, convenience stores, and gas stations line the main street avenue near the school, attracting hungry teens.The easy availability and promotion of these foods, which are linked to negative life-long consequences, influence the food choices made by youth every day. When hunger strikes, healthy eating and active living are out of sight and out of mind to many teens.
How UC Delivers
CFHL, UCCE in Contra Costa County partnered with HJHS to deliver EatFit during the 2022-2023 school year. EatFit is a nutrition education goal-setting curriculum designed to challenge middle school students to improve their eating and fitness choices. The program reached 149 students who participated in activities focused on goal setting, nutrition facts label, energy, breakfast, exercise, fast food, and the media's influence on food choices.
In one of the EatFit lessons, students learned about food marketing. They were asked to name a commercial or ad on the Internet about water or healthy food. None could. However, when asked for examples of fast food or soda ads and commercials, all hands went up. Some students even sang the jingle or acted out the commercial. Students realized that food companies target young people and hardly promote healthy foods. Instead, TV commercials and advertisements on the Internet and social media try to persuade teens to eat and drink unhealthy foods and sugary beverages that harm their health. In the same lesson, students also learned about food marketing techniques and were encouraged to create fruit and vegetable posters to promote healthy choices at school.
With support from the principal, the school's busiest hallways were decorated with students' colorful fruit and vegetable posters. Not one poster was vandalized or torn off.
The Impact
One hundred and seventeen students in grades 6-8 completed the Eating and Activity Tool for Students (EATS) pre-post survey at Hillview Jr. High to assess changes in their behaviors after participating in the FY 2023 EatFit lesson series. Respondents were ten to thirteen years old, and identified as Latino or Hispanic (48%), Black or African American (18%), or more than one race (27%). After taking part in EatFit, the student survey results included the following:
- 34% increased the number of time they ate fruit yesterday.
- 30% increased the number of time they ate vegetables yesterday.
- 50% reduced the number of times they drank sweetened beverages yesterday - with the largest decreases seen in fruit drinks, soda, and sweetened coffees and teas.
- 40% increased the number of days they were physically active for 60 minutes or more last week.
“One change I made to eat healthier/be more physically active is to exercise/stretch when I wake up and lower how much unhealthy food I eat (high fat food, high calories etc) and start eating more fruits and veggies.” — EatFit Participant
This work is vital in adolescents as they begin to become more independent in the way they think, learn, and interact with food. Likewise, nutrition education intervention efforts in majority Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities are of particular importance because these groups have been expressly targeted as potential consumers of nutrient-poor food while also facing barriers to accessing affordable and convenient healthy food. By supporting students to reflect critically on how unhealthy food and beverages are advertised to them and then develop their counter-messages to promote healthy choices, inclusive SNAP-Ed-approved programs like EatFit and others can help improve nutrition behaviors among low-income adolescent Californians and prevent the chances of developing chronic disease later in life.
CFHL, UCCE staff will continue to partner with Hillview Jr. High to deliver quality nutrition education during the 2023-2024 school year. The fruit and vegetable posters made by students serve as a friendly reminder to all that food marketing does not steal your independence; you can still make a healthy, tasty choice.
“Before, I use to just get snacks to eat them but a lot of them were unhealthy and I got cavities. During the lesson we learned that the labels are actually important. Now I check the label to compare and buy the snack that is more healthy. It is working I am more healthy and happy.”— Jacob Ponce, EatFit Participant
- Author: Fox News Latino
Common Sense Media released an exhaustive survey Tuesday outlining how young people spend screen time. One concern: the number of youngsters who feel comfortable multitasking while doing homework.
Two thirds of teenagers said they listen to music every day, and 58 percent said the same about watching television, the study said. By contrast, 45 percent reported using social media every day and only 36 percent said they enjoyed that activity "a lot"; Twice as many said they really enjoyed their music.
Television is the favorite activity of preteens, with 62 percent of respondents aged 8 to 12 saying they watched every day, the study said. Tweens said they spend just under six hours a day of media time. Exactly half of the time teenagers spend with video involves watching a TV program at the time it originally airs. The rest is parceled out among time delayed viewing, DVDs or online video, the study said.
Boys are much more likely to play video games than girls. The survey found male teenagers spent an average of 56 minutes a day gaming, while girls devoted only seven minutes. Girls spent more time on social media or reading than boys. Half of the teenagers said they watch TV or use social media either "a lot" or "sometimes" while doing homework, and 76 percent said they listen to music while working. Half of the teens say that listening to music actually helps their work, while only 6 percent said they thought it hurt.
"As a parent and educator, there's clearly more work to be done around the issue of multitasking," said James Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, an organization that monitors youthful media use and gives recommendations to parents. "Nearly two thirds of teens today tell us they don't think watching TV or texting while doing homework makes any difference to their ability to study and learn, even though there's more and more research to the contrary.
"More kids said their parents have talked to them about the content of what they watch or listen to rather than the time spent on media, the study said. Poor children have less access to computers, tablets and smartphones than wealthier kids, but spend more time on devices when they have one, the study said. Common Sense Media conducted a survey of 2,658 young people between Feb. 6 and March 9. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus nearly 2 percent.
Source: Published originally on Fox News Latino as Study: Teens spend nearly 9 hours a day absorbing media, and Latinos even more, November 4, 2015.
- Author: Norma De la Vega
Latino children—92 percent of whom are U.S. citizens—are the fastest-growing population in the country. As the country’s future adults, workers, taxpayers and voters, they are central figures in a changing demographic landscape, and the nation’s well-being depends upon their success. Yet Latino youngsters increasingly find themselves surrounded by a discourse and environment that is hostile and detrimental toward both Hispanics and immigrants, according to a report released by the National Council of La Raza.
“Speaking Out: Latino Youth on Discrimination in the United States” examines the ways in which Latino adolescents perceive and engage with formative social settings or institutions—school, work, law enforcement, and the juvenile justice system—on a daily basis. It reveals findings from a series of focus groups undertaken in 2009 with 60 Latino youth ages 15 to 17 in different regions of the country, including Los Angeles.
A significant majority—close to 83 percent—of Hispanic youth reported in a recent national survey that discrimination is a personal problem for them.
The report’s findings point to the following themes:
- Latino youth tend to have an optimistic outlook on the role of education and a strong desire to achieve successful careers. These attitudes are often associated with the hopes and expectations of their immigrant parents.
- Teenagers expressed a pervasive sense of being negatively stereotyped by teachers, employers, and public officers.
- One of the most consistent findings across the focus groups was the teenagers’ pervasive sense of being ‘racialized’—or construed as different, as “other”—on a regular basis, and in practically all realms of experience. Such stereotyping is manifested or reinforced through institutional practices and systemic discrimination.
- Young Latinos are struggling to shape a sense of belonging and forge future aspirations despite being surrounded by numerous barriers.
Research shows that principles such as a strong work ethic, family- and community-oriented values, respect for culture and nation and, above all, a strong desire to fulfill the American Dream, form the basis of many Latino youngsters’ capacity to excel and become productive adults and citizens.
Source: National Council of La Raza, “Speaking Out: Latino Youth on Discrimination in the United States”, October 21, 2010.