When you see a problem as challenging as childhood obesity, you might wonder if anything can truly be done to reverse it. Fortunately, there are groups here in Florida who run towards the problem with expertise, compassion and dedication. The Creating a Healthier Sulphur Springs for Kids initiative tackles childhood obesity by using a multi-faceted [...]
Editor’s Note: The following article was written by the Angel Alvarez, the food and nutrition program coordinator of Centro Mater Childcare Services, at our request. This organization received funding from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Foundation’s Embrace a Healthy Florida initiative addressing the causes and prevention of childhood obesity. Every school year, [...]
I am a breastfeeding advocate. The one, maybe only, thing I was sure of as I prepared to have a baby was that I wanted to breastfeed. I had daydreams of my baby and me cuddling in a sunny corner, me gazing lovingly into his eyes as he nursed happily away. Those dreams have since [...]
I was an obese child. I often wondered why my parents fed me the way that they did. One day, after the fat was gone, my mother and I were looking through a photo album. There I was as a baby, completely naked. Funny thing was, I was skinny. Not “kid with malnutrition” skinny, but [...]
Celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, the Girls Scouts of America has a long tradition of empowering young women throughout the country by teaching them the value of honesty, confidence, courage and sisterhood. One of these extraordinary young ladies is 16-year-old Joslyn Simmons of the Florida Girl Scouts of Gateway Council, troop #143 in Jacksonville. [...]
