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The purpose of this newsletter is to provide quick contacts to KNN partner agencies and to other resources that might be helpful to our partners. You should be able to read this newsletter in less than 5 minutes – that’s our goal!

KNN June Newsletter

Welcome to the June 2005 issue of KNN’s email newsletter. Please visit our web site at www.kansasnutritionnetwork.org We are always interested in how our partners are “partnering” to improve nutrition and physical activity education throughout Kansas.
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The KNN partnership list has been updated on our website. Please check out your mailing address, phone, e-mail etc. and let us know if there are corrections.

Upcoming KNN Meetings:

Locations to be announced. Please get these dates on your calendar!

September 23, November 18, January 27, 2006, March 31, May 19, July 28

Experts Blame Loss of 'Traditional' Diet for Growing Obesity Rates Among Latinos
International health experts from the United States and Mexico gathered at a conference in Mexico City recently to address the factors that have caused roughly half of Mexican and Mexican-American women to be overweight, citing inactivity among urbanized Latinos and the exchange of traditional foods for high-fat "modern" fare as the primary contributors, the Associated Press reports.

According to Tawny Stottlemire, executive director of the Kansas Association of Community Action Agencies, as many as 25 percent of Kansans are struggling to provide food, shelter and housing to their families. A report released by her agency highlights the state of low-income working families. The report notes that while the federal poverty level rates 11 percent of Kansans as poor, by using a Basic Family Needs Budget, factoring in real costs of food, housing and child care, more than 25 percent qualify as poor. Stottlemire, in a speech at the League of Women Voters state convention, said that working hard and following the rules hasn't been working for thousands of Kansans. http://tinyurl.com/anzfe See the entire report "Living on the Edge: A report on the state of low-income working Kansas families": http://tinyurl.com/9no7h

Go to the Center for Weight and Health Website
http://nature.berkeley.edu/cwh/activities/child_weight_coal.shtml
for information about our own Early Childhood Action Team (ECAT), which is completing a General Mills Champions grant.

Produce Companies Repackage Fruits to Improve Convenience, Consumer Appeal
In order to compete with unhealthy snack foods, produce companies are working to make fruits and vegetables quicker to eat and more attractive to consumers by introducing produce lines in special "grab-and-go" packaging, the Associated Press reports.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/may05/sarco0505.htm Resistance or "strength" training has repeatedly been shown to be a safe and effective method of reversing sarcopenia, or muscle loss, in the elderly.

The National Council on Aging publicizes its on-line BenefitsCheckUp website. If you work with elderly individuals, you can refer them to this website so they can find out quickly if they qualify for nutrition programs. It is the first of its kind- a free, confidential, web-based service designed to identify benefits and help people over 55 determine how to claim them. BenefitsCheckUp can also help seniors find health care programs, prescription drug assistance, in-home services, energy assistance, financial assistance, legal services, housing assistance and property tax programs, as well as employment programs and volunteer opportunities. For more information, visit www.benefitscheckup.org

http://winterstorm.net/winterstormcd2005.html
Go to “Download a tune” for 3 minutes of really good piping.

Healthy lifestyles begin with Small Steps. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the Advertising Council, reminds all of us that healthy lifestyles begin one step at a time with the release of new television advertising. The hilarious and entertaining PSAs feature another round of lost body parts resulting from the small steps people are beginning to take each day around the country. To watch "Spare Tire" and "Thunder Thighs", visit www.smallstep.gov and click on the View Campaign link.

CNN.com - ABCs mean apples, broccoli and carrots - May 18, 2005*


This is an interesting article about preschool nutrition education.

A little humor -- http://storewars.org/flash/index.html

I think our 5 minutes is just about up. Send an email to Karen Fitzgerald kfitzger@ksu.edu if you have information you want to include in next month’s KNN email newsletter.
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