Al Jazeera Report Highlights Nutrition Crisis in Navajo Nation

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One way the U.N. hopes to end hunger: encourage sustainable food production among indigenous peoples by 2030. On the Navajo Nation, some tribal citizens are already on that track. “When we raise our own sheep, we’re able to sustain ourselves,” said Aretta Begay. “We’re able to feed our own family, whether it’s big or small.” But progress in Navajo Nation, with its high poverty rates and long-standing lack of access to nutritious food, will be an uphill battle.  article in Al Jazeera America

Source: Diné Policy Institute. Map by Alex Newman/Al Jazeera America.

The problem of hunger and food insecurity in the Navajo nation has been well documented. With fewer than a dozen grocery stores to serve nearly 300,000 residents in an area about the size of South Carolina, access to nutritious food is almost non-existent.

"Gas stations and trading posts fill the vast spaces in between those stores, selling foods loaded with salt, sugar, fat and preservatives. According to the Diné Community Advocacy Alliance, a Navajo think tank, 80 percent of food sold in the Navajo Nation could be considered junk," said a report in Al Jazeera America. "One in three residents is diabetic or prediabetic, and recent studies show that heart disease is the second-leading cause of death among tribal citizens living on the reservation."

In a  recent report to Congress, eentitled “Addressing Child Hunger and Obesity in Indian Country,” researchers found that Native American children had “approximately twice the levels of food insecurity, obesity and Type 2 diabetes relative to the averages for all U.S. children of similar ages,” said Al Jazeera America.

The Navajo nation has attempted to address the problem by proposing a tax on junk food in 2014 and eliminating an existing tax on fruits and vegetables. However, making junk food more expensive only solves the problem partially. The supply side of the equation is also important. Even if fruits and vegetables are less expensive, how do you ensure that you increase availability? Some residents like Aretta Begay grow a small vegetable garden and raise churro sheep to feed their families.“We have a huge problem with having access to good, quality food,” she tells Al Jazeera America. “We don’t have access to grocery stores.”

Providing the resources for personal and community gardens would go a long way toward addressing the problem. The dilemma is common not only to the Navajo nation but to many Indian reservations are rural areas around the country.

Fortunately, the recently announced Global Goals for Sustainable Development, and in particular Goal 2 of Zero Hunger, open the door for our public officials at all levels to find creative solutions to address the problem of a lack of food access.

"The question of food access could soon be getting renewed focus," said the Al Jazeera America report. "Starting in January, the United States will be aiming to reach the United Nations’ new Sustainable Development Goals. One of the priorities is ensuring access to nutritious food. In Indian Country, achieving that goal is a long way off."

The Al Jazeera report--written by Tristan Ahtone in Red Mesa, Ariz.,and Jolene Yazzie in Lupton, Ariz., with photos by Jolene Yazzie--is very comprehensive, offering statistics, anecdotes, graphics and other valuable information. (One resident who was interviewed for the article allowed the reporters to look into their refrigerator. Check out the full article to see what was found in the fridge).

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Nutrition Important for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

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As of 2013, nearly 2.7 million grandparents stepped up to become parents to kids once again. This is an increase of about 64,100 adults from 2008. In nearly 900,000 of these grandparent-led households, no parent is present and the median income is $35,685, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.For more than 569,200 grandparents who are caring for their grandchildren, their incomes are so low that they are in poverty. In 2008, about 492,800 of these grandparents reported incomes below the poverty level. -   -Article in Equal Voice

- See more at: http://www.equalvoiceforfamilies.org/if-you-love-somebody-grandparents-raising-kids/?gclid=CjwKEAiA64uyBRCVmKyT2vuAjzgSJADfINB6S8iU4N98xhFF9pcBMbz0TTKvtq46qoNW9BhHRDXtohoCrePw_wcB#sthash.jaKSow5r.dpuf

There are many stories about grandparents raising their grandchildren full time. And there are several websites that offer resources to the grandparents who have found themselves as the parents, including Piecing Hearts Together Again and Grandfamilies. It is important that lower income families have access to public assistance including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). And we must make sure that these programs are fully funded--so that they can support everyone who qualifies.

"Eligibility for SNAP depends on the number of people in the household and the household’s total income. Other expenses, such as dependent care costs, medical deductions, earned income deduction, child support, and some shelter costs are also considered in determining benefits," said a paper published by the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance. The members of the SNAP household must also be U.S. citizens or legal non- citizens. Eligibility requirements for SNAP are not reduced for grandparents raising grandchildren; as a result, the grandparents’ income is considered."

USDA-Funded Program Helps Part-Time Caretakers in New Mexico

The not-so-extreme situation is when grandparents become the caretakers of the children during the day when the parent or parents are working. Whether a grandparent is a full-time or part-time caretaker, it is important to ensure that the children have access to nutritious meals--and this might not be possible if the household falls below the poverty level.

To help the part-time grandparents, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has developed  the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).

 CACFP provides aid to child and adult care institutions and family or group day care homes for the provision of nutritious foods that contribute to the wellness, healthy growth, and development of young children, and the health and wellness of older adults and chronically impaired disabled persons. Through CACFP, more than 3.3 million children and 120,000 adults receive nutritious meals and snacks each day as part of the day care they receive.

In New Mexico, the YWCA Providers Alliance for Nutrition (PAN) food program is set up to help grandparents who are caring for their children to gain access to healthy, nutritious meals while they are away from their parents. " Proper nutrition in childhood helps create healthy, productive adult members of society and helps to reduce many health related problems," said PAN-YWCA, which receives funding from the CACFP for the program.

To qualify a person must be caring for at least one child that doesnt live with them.  They also must be able to pass a background check and may be eligible to claim their own children under age 13 when the non-resident children are present.

Here is a three-step process for New Mexico grandparents seeking to participate in the PAN-YWCA program

1. CYFD Home Visit
To become a registered home child care provider you must contact Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD) to arrange for a Child Care Specialist (CCS) to visit your home and to give you all needed information on the registration process. Please call 841-4842 to receive a printed instruction packet and to ask any questions you may have. Follow this link to obtain an application for a background check. Follow the directions carefully and if you have any questions call 841-4842.

You will begin by having a background check completed and the charge for this process is $44  [My editorial comment: How are grandparents or parents on limited income able to afford this fee?]. The  instructions about how to complete this process can be found at the New Mexico Kids website or by calling 841-4842.

You will receive a clearance letter in the mail in up to 6 weeks. You will also need to have a brief background review for anyone in your home that is 18 or older. This process is different than the fingerprinting for you and you should call 841-4842 for more information on how to complete this process. There is no fee attached to the background check for your adult household members

2. Home Registration through CYFD
After receiving your approved background check clearance letter please call 841-4842 again to make an appointment with a Child Care Specialist. Registration costs $15 and is payable by money order at time of visit.

3. Call the YWCA PAN Food Program
After you have completed the above steps call PAN at 254-9922 and ask for a PAN staff member. You will be assigned a PAN field Representative who will visit your home and conduct an orientation to the program and help you complete your required paperwork. You have successfully completed the process and are off to a great start caring for our most precious resource – the children of our community! We are thrilled to work with you. There is no charge for this process.

Amount of Reimbursement
The average amount of reimbursement is roughly $90/month per child, depending on the number of hours you care for the child. You are allowed to claim two main meals and 1 snack for each child per day. The current reimbursement rates are listed in the box to the right and change annually. Your PAN Field Representative will discuss your specific situation with you to ensure you receive the correct amount of reimbursement.

Reimbursement Rates
Breakfast - $1.31
Lunch/Supper - $2.47
Snacks - $0.73

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Updates on Food Nutrition Human Needs from Recently Concluded 2016 State Legislative Session

5:30 AM in 2016, Aqua, concluded, food, from, human, legislative, needs, nutrition, on, recently, session, state, updates

The New Mexico State Legislature met for 30 days (the short session) this year, and the focus was to pass a budget in a revenue-challenged environment. The House approved a 2016 budget of $6.2 billion (HB2). The depressed oil market was already evident during the 2015 budget year.

"As oil and gas prices continue to plummet policymakers were forced to shave and cut program funding across most agency budgets," said Pam Roy, director of the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council. "The House of Representatives passed a budget to the Senate that needed more than $8 million in cuts to balance it...All but Public Education and Corrections received cuts."

"This budget should have addressed high unemployment, lack of good-paying jobs, and high rates of child poverty and food insecurity," said Veronica C. García, Ed.D., executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children (NMVC). "Our already-underfunded public schools, higher education, child protective services, behavioral health services, court systems, and more, will continue to be stretched beyond effectiveness. The already glacial pace of phasing in pre-K education has essentially been halted."

Budget Woes
The tight budget had an influence across the board. Some proposals for increased funding for programs related to human needs, such as the State Housing Trust Fund, were not approved or not brought to the floor. One unpopular proposal to bring back a tax on groceries (as a means to raise additional revenue) resurfaced in the Senate Finance Committee, but the measure did not move forward. And funding for some programs, such as the Double Up Food Bucks Farmers Market Program, was mostly restored despite an initial proposal for severe cuts.

The State Legislature also allocated $225,000 (instead of the $400,000 that advocates were seeking) for the state SNAP Supplement.  In fact, the Senate Legislative Health and Human Services Committee had initially proposed the $400,000 allocation, which would have brought the SNAP supplement for seniors and people with disabilities to $30 from $25 previously. Under the approved allocation, the SNAP Supplement increases to $28, which is what Gov. Susana Martinez had proposed in her budget plan.

Below are updates on selected issues dealing with hunger, food, nutrition and other human needs from the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council, the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-New Mexico and Think New Mexico.

From the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council
Double Up Food Bucks Farmers Market Program

Advocates worked hard to restore funds to the Double Up Food Bucks Farmers Market Program which received $400,000 in the 2015 Legislative session. In the first six months of the program Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients had already spent nearly $200,000 of their Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB). In a January 2016 report conducted by the New Mexico Farmers Marketing Association, there was a 200 percent sales increase that positively impacted 60 percent of New Mexico counties and 60 percent of direct market farmers statewide at New Mexicos 45 participating farmers markets.

Coming into the 2016 session the Legislative Finance Committee had only recommended $100,000. The New Mexico Farmers Marketing Association, New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council, Santa Fe Farmers Market Institute and Farm to Table worked to encourage policymakers to restore the funds back to the $400,000 level which could leverage up to $2 million federal funds through the USDA Food Insecurity Nutrition Initiative (FINI). The final budget passed by the House and Senate has $390,000 - a true win for the new program in a tight budget year.

State-Grown Produce
The New Mexico Grown Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for School Meals hung onto $250,000 (2014-5 level funding) down from the 2015-6 funds of $364,300 appropriated last year.

Coming out of the Legislative session the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council and Farm to Table will be hosting a New Mexico Grown Fresh Fruit and Vegetables for School Meals Strategic Planning Process to determine the potential of the program and commitments by partners to further develop the program over the next three years and beyond.

Breakfast After the Bell
SB 144 sponsored by Senators Gay Kernan and Mimi Stewart, passed both the Senate and the House. The legislation amends the Public School Code to clarify that schools that establish a breakfast after the bell program are not prohibited from beginning breakfast service before the start of the instructional day provided the schools also serve breakfast after the beginning of the instructional day. The bill would allow for school breakfast to be served not only in the classroom but also in the cafeteria, on the buses, or by providing hand carried breakfast. One major concern is that the legislation may provide for too much leeway and school may choose not to participate, thus leaving children without an important meal to start the day.

Read full Wrap-up from NMFAPC

From the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-New Mexico
Affordable Housing & Homelessness: SB63 
Sen. Nancy Rodriguez requested an appropriation of $5 million for the State Housing Trust Fund which provides funding to build affordable housing projects around the state. No new funding for the State Housing Trust Fund is available.

Family-Sustaining Income
LAM-NM supported increasing the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families monthly cash assistance amount. No increase is included in HB2.

SJR2 (Sen. Michael Padilla) & HJR10 (Reps. Javier Martinez & Moe Maestas)
These constitutional amendments would have allowed an increase in the distribution from the Land Grant Permanent Fund to fund quality early childhood programs. SJR2 passed the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee and died in the Senate Finance Committee. HJR10 was tabled in the House Education Committee.

Tax Policy
HB79 (Rep. Bill McCamley) Would have increased the state Working Families Tax Credit from 10% to 20% of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and to repeal the capital gains tax deduction. HB79 passed the House Business & Employment Committee without recommendation and was tabled in the House Ways & Means Committee.

Note: Ruth Hoffman, director of LAM-NM (and Louise Pocock from the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty) also provided the updates on the SNAP Supplement allocation.

See Full Legislative Update from LAM-NM

From Think New Mexico

Bill to Reimpose Food Tax Stopped In Its Tracks (Senate Bill 281)

Sen. John Arthur Smith, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced this initiative in the second week of the legislative session, and we monitored it closely until the final second. Back in 2013, legislation to reimpose the food tax was sent to the full Senate at 9:00 p.m. the night before the session concluded and we had to scramble to stop it. Fortunately, during this years session the fierce public opposition to this regressive tax prevailed, and the bill died without receiving a single hearing.

NMVC)spoke out against the initiative to reintroduce the grocery tax. “We are deeply concerned that legislation has been introduced that would increase the cost of buying groceries for New Mexico families," said Dr. Veronica C. García,. "While we agree that the state must raise new revenue in order to adequately fund programs and services that are vital for our families, communities and economy, this would be the worst possible way in which to do that." Read full report from KRWG TV

See Full Legislative Report from Think New Mexico

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Wild Greens Nutrition Comparison

6:03 AM in Aqua, comparison, greens, nutrition, wild

You might be getting tired of all our posts this spring extolling the virtues of wild greens, but we wanted to do one more before giving it a rest for a while.  In particular, we were curious to see how the nutrition of the greens we forage stacked up against the greens we grow, so we made a spreadsheet (of course) to compare.  And as long as we were answering our own questions, we figured we might as well write it up into a blog post!

Its a bit of a challenge to get an apples-to-apples comparison because not all "weeds" have nutrition info readily available, and of the ones we were able to find, not all of the same metrics were available for each (for example, some were missing vitamin K or some of the B vitamins).  On top of that, some of the benefits of eating wild greens are attributed to factors that arent quantified in normal nutritional analyses, such as content of phenolics, flavonoids, and mucilaginous substances. But, for what its worth, we can make a few legitimate comparisons.

And fortunately, theres enough data to make some charts and graphs!

First up, Vitamin A.  Actually, first we should say that the reported serving sizes vary widely across our source materials (linked at the end of the post), so we had to do some normalization.  Everything here is based on 100 g of fresh leaves, rather than a one-cup serving.  But back to vitamin A: just about all of these greens will give you a good dose of it, but if youre foraging and feeling deficient, aim for dandelion, lambsquarter, and stinging nettle greens.  These three, along with kale, are well over the 100% RDV.  Interestingly, several sources claim that mallow is a good source of vitamin A, and although 28 RDV% is nothing to sneeze at, it hardly measures up to most of the other greens.

However, those same sources claim mallow is rich in vitamin C, and the only quantitative measure we could find put it at about 1% RDV. (Although the flowers have a lot more than the leaves.)  But it looks like well have to shoot for dandelion, sorrel, or lambsquarter greens if we catch the scurvy and theres no kale around.

Protein is where the wild greens really start to shine, and finally find a metric where they can beat kale, at least for lambsquarter and stinging nettle.

Similarly, for calcium, the wild greens do well compared to typical cultivated greens.  Stinging nettle blows everything else out of the water, but lambsquarter and dandelion are also higher than anything normal gardeners grow intentionally.  Even the lowly mallow is right up there with kale.

Most of the rest of the items that show up on a nutritional label didnt have data across all eleven species, but if you want to take a look at the spreadsheet, you can find it here.  Also, recommended daily values (RDVs) were based on a 2000 calorie diet.  The RDVs we based our calculations on can be found here.

It would be a shame to spend all this time talking about greens and nutrition and leave you hanging with no evidence of them actually prepared!  So we leave you with this: the dandelion-sorrel quiche we made a few weeks ago should be an excellent source of vitamins A and C!

Did we miss your favorite wild or cultivated leafy green?  Let us know in the comments section below!


Now, the sources of the numbers, in case anyone is interested:

Dandelion, lambsquarter, purslane, and all the cultivated greens came from the self.com nutrition facts database.  In the spreadsheet, when figures were available for cooked greens, we used the no salt option.

Sorrel came from the USDA national nutrient database.

Mallow came from this paper and this paper, using the moisture content to back calculate nutrient content in the fresh leaves.  For the second paper, the moisture content was listed as only 2.8%, which is not typical of fresh green biomass!  So the moisture content from the first paper was used in back calculations of the mineral contents.  Also, vitamin A proper was not given, so the total carotenoid content, which provides an upper limit on the possible vitamin A content, was used.  Also, some interconversion between mg and IU was required for vitamins A and E, which we got from here and here.  Finally, note that the two papers analyze different species of mallow (Malva sylvestris in the first and Malva neglecta Wallroth in the second), so there is some uncertainty in the numbers reported here.  This paper also appears to have the data were after, but only for a price.

Stinging nettle came from this paper, using the spring data because in the fall, there are so many other things to eat.

EDIT 10/19/15: A recent article (covered also here) took a more sophisticated approach, but came up with chard and spinach ranking much higher than kale, which was on par with dandelion greens.  Evidently, they were able to find more complete nutritional data than we did, but they also mention that their ranking system is similarly limited by lack of data on things like phytochemicals.  But we also wanted to mention that watercress, which topped their list, is an excellent wild green, too!  Now if only they had included some of our other favorite wild greens, they would have a perfect article...

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Early Letters to Congress on Global Nutrition are Helpful This Year

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Bread for the Worlds 2016 Offering of Letters urges Congress to increase funding for the nutrition and health of mothers, newborns, and young children in developing countries.  Here is the full guide for this years letter-writing campaign.

Hellen Mbithi

We have scheduled a workshop in Albuquerque on Saturday, March 12, to examine how local churches can become involved in this campaign. Our featured speaker is Hellen M. Mbithi, a nurse who was born and raised in the small village of Ngai in Kenya. She will tell us more  about how a lack of nutrition for mothers and infants can impact the development of children.

SPECIAL NOTE: Early Letters are Helpful: A major goal of this year’s Offering of Letters is increased funding for programs for the health and nutrition of mothers and children. This spring, Congress will be considering the funding levels of key global health and nutrition programs. As Congress begins determining next year’s funding priorities, it is important for your members of Congress to hear from you with letters early in the year.  Below is an early sample letter.

WRITE TO CONGRESS
Ask Congress to Support Global Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and Nutrition
[Date]
Dear Senator__________ , or Dear Rep.___________ ,
Our country has led the way in improving the nutrition and health of mothers and children so they can achieve their full potential. We have seen tremendous progress, but our work remains unfinished. My faith calls me to urge that we continue until every mother and child has the chance to survive and thrive. Every life is precious.

As Congress considers funding for next year, I ask you to support at least $230 million for international maternal and child nutrition programs in the Department of State foreign operations appropriations bill’s global health account.

Sincerely,
[your name]
[your address]
[city, state, ZIP]

Here is a useful graphic from Bread for the World on a five step process how U.S. foreign assistance reaches people in need.  It all begins with our letters.

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