Nutrition News and Updates
Adding Better Nutrition to Cultural Dishes Doesn’t Have to be a Challenge (CHWs Know How)
Community Health Workers in our healthy living initiative programs are helping Hispanic families change the way they approach food by providing essential education around nutrition that teaches them how to build healthier meals with the foods they know and love. Having knowledge around nutrition that is readily available is an important tool that has the potential to improve dietary habits and reduce the risk of chronic disease throughout a person’s life. But in many of the predominantly Spanish-speaking communities we serve, finding nutritional information that has been adapted to align with their language and culture can be challenging.
Blog Topics
Announcing Our NEW CHW Training Workshops!
We are excited to announce the launch of our new training workshops. These 4-hour training sessions function similar to electives within our L.E.A.D. curriculum, which provides comprehensive training for Community Health Workers and individuals across the organizations they serve. Unlike the central curriculum, which seeks to educate and empower participants according to their role, workshops instead aim to enable an entire team within an organization to design and implement their own Community Health Worker program that addresses a specific issue within their community.
What is a Food Desert?
This lack of access could be a result of many factors. For some communities, healthy food isn’t available. There may not be a grocery store within 10 or 20 miles and food is often purchased from fast food restaurants or convenience stores where many items are highly processed and have lower nutritional value than fresh produce. In some cases, healthy food may be technically available but not accessible.
Inside Texas’ Border Communities: What are Colonias?
Many of MHP Salud’s direct service programs operate inside the Rio Grande Valley’s colonias, which are defined by The Texas Office of the Secretary of State as residential areas along the Texas-Mexico border that may lack basic living necessities like potable water, septic or sewer systems, electricity, paved roads, or safe and sanitary housing.
