This blog post originally appeared in MomsRising.org.

Photos from left to right: From rolling out bike stations to increasing the number of salad bars in schools, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro’s Administration has made public health a top priority; a photo of a bike station in San Antonio — something I have never seen anywhere else.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — I just got back from the 4th annual Salud America! Latino health summit. Researchers, policy analysts, public health advocates and elected leaders gathered to discuss the most pressing health concerns facing the U.S. Latino community.

Once under the auspice of “childhood obesity”, grassroots activists and researchers painted a much broader and more complex picture: many of the health challenges facing the Latino community is systemic and environmental. We must implement policies that bring physical education back to schools; build parks and bike lanes to promote outdoor activity; make sure that all communities have access to fresh produce; and curb junk food marketing to children — which is increasingly becoming digital and harder for parents to monitor on their own.

“Don’t reduce obesity to a disease that needs to be cured,” said Dr. George Flores, program manager for The California Endowment’s Healthy California Prevention team. “It’s an opportunity for equity.”

Photo on right: Here is a man who takes public health very seriously: New York Assemblyman Félix Ortiz. From the time he was a child and circulated his first public petition asking the Governor of his native Puerto Rico to support the formation of a youth baseball league, he has successfully helped draft and implement public health policies in New York: the first law in New York — and the country! — to prohibit hand-held cell phones while driving; a law that provides farmers with economic relief by requiring schools to purchase locally grown produce; a law to ensure that nutritionally based education programs be a part of every classroom; and a law to create five eating disorder centers across the state to help those who suffer from eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia.

Latinos are the largest minority group in the country, accounting for 50.5 million people in 2010. “The increasing presence of Latinos in the United States will impact all institutions,” said Dr. Rogelio Sáenz, Dean of the College of Public Policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

I was heartened by the promising statistics and stories that came out of the summit. The high school dropout rate among Latinos in the last 10 years has been cut in half and Latino youth are going to college at a faster rate than even their Caucasian counterparts. The Latina teen pregnancy rate and fertility rate, in general, has dropped with upward mobility.

In terms of health epidemics facing the community, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, there is a lot of grassroots energy on the ground to turn this around. Latino elected officials with the help of their constituents are helping transform “food deserts” and neighborhoods dotted by crime and blight into healthy-living hubs. Latino youth and parents especially are empowered and demanding that healthy food options be available in their local supermarkets and schools.

Photo on left: Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, Director of Salud America! and Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, has moved mountains in the area of Latino health. All the research, the amazing speakers we got to network with and the summit could not have happened without her. Photo on right: Paul Lopez, a Denver City Council member and a member of the board of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), gave an inspiring presentation with “before” and “after” pictures of his childhood neighborhood, which now has a grocery store, community gardens at its schools, and soon, a park.

On a personal note, it was my first time in San Antonio and I fell in love with the city. What is a health conference without downtime to explore the great outdoors? Enjoy!

Photo: The outside space of the South Texas Heritage Center at the Witte Museum is lush and beautiful. In general, I was pleasantly surprised at how much green space San Antonio had — not at all what I expected with the punishing heat.

Photos: My friend Elsa took me to Mi Tierra, a Mexican restaurant in the market and hands-down the best place I’ve eaten chicken enchiladas verdes. I loved the decor of the restaurant, too, especially the mural of Latino leaders and celebrities.

Photo: And how could I visit San Antonio without stopping at the Alamo?

This open thread has been corrected. Thanks, Swiss Clogs! -Elisa

What’s up?

Let’s keep our Music Teacher and her family in our hearts and prayers today as A’s wake hours are this afternoon. Tomorrow morning is the mass funeral at 10 a.m. ET — Thank you to LiturgyGeek, Vegas and all who are going. We will have a virtual vigil here and on Facebook at the same time.

Also, let’s light a candle for the victims of the Oklahoma tornadoes. As of last night, 24 people, including 9 children, were killed in the tragedy.

Peace and love all. xxoo

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Sorry for the paltry post, but soccer has been taking over my weekends. Ari is now in a competitive league, which means a lot of travel. The good news is he is quite adept at his position as sweeper and is passionate about the sport, playing it constantly at home and parties and watching it on TV.

Yesterday he scored his first goal of the season! He came off the field at the end of the game, asking me, “Mami, did you see it? Did you see me score a goal?”

What makes me especially proud is that he has found something that he really likes. I’ve paid for all kinds of classes and extracurricular activities — and I think we’ve got something here.

As for me, I am starting to set my alarm again at 5 a.m. to run. I have a half marathon coming up in two weeks. I am trying to avoid the flared up sciatic nerve that struck in my last race. We’ll see…

How are you this morning?

What’s up?

Here is a story that, on the face of it, doesn’t seem intuitive. But looking back on the supplemental formula I gave my babies until my milk came in — this was exactly my experience.

Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco found that giving newborn babies a little formula took pressure off of the mother while she waited for her milk to come in and increased the time that she breastfed.

The study enrolled 40 full-term newborns between 24-48 hours old who had lost more than 5 percent of their birth weight. The babies were randomly assigned either to receive early limited formula (ELF), which consisted of one-third of an ounce of infant formula by syringe following each breastfeeding, or to continue with their intention to breastfeed exclusively. So as not to interfere with breastfeeding 8 to 12 times a day, the ELF babies were only given small amounts of formula. The syringe was used to avoid the babies developing nipple confusion – when a baby develops a preference for a bottle nipple over the breast. The ELF babies stopped the formula when their mothers began producing mature milk, approximately two to five days after birth.

At the one week assessment, all the babies in both groups were still breastfeeding. However, only 10 percent of the ELF babies had received formula in the last 24 hours, compared with 47 percent of the control group.

After three months, 79 percent of the babies in the study who received early limited formula in the first days of life were still breastfeeding, compared with 42 percent of the babies who did not receive early limited formula. Additionally, 95 percent of the babies who received limited formula in the first few days were breastfeeding to some extent at three months, compared with 68 percent of the babies who did not receive early limited formula.

For those of you who breastfed, did your milk come in right away? Did you supplement with formula while you waited?

In other health news: I was very moved by actress Angelina Jolie’s Op-Ed in the New York Times on preventative breast cancer surgery. This is definitely worth a read!

Finally, one more New York Times story that is worth a read: “Poverty as a Childhood Disease”. I found this story disturbing in so many ways, especially the finding that, “after the first three, four, five years of life, if you have neglected that child’s brain development, you can’t go back.”

In the middle of the 20th century, our society made a decision to take care of the elderly, once the poorest demographic group in the United States. Now, with Medicare and Social Security, only 9 percent of older people live in poverty. Children are now our poorest group, with almost 25 percent of children under 5 living below the federal poverty level.

When Tony Blair became prime minister of Britain, amid growing socioeconomic disparities, he made it a national goal to cut child poverty in half in 10 years. It took a coalition of political support and a combination of measures that increased income, especially in families with young children (minimum wage, paid maternity and paternity leaves, tax credits), and better services — especially universal preschool programs. By 2010, reducing child poverty had become a goal across the British political spectrum, and child poverty had fallen to 10.6 percent of children below the absolute poverty line (similar to the measure used in the United States), down from 26.1 percent in 1999.

I hope we come to our senses as a country. As the article pointed out, there are so many links between poverty and diseases — like high blood pressure and mental illness — we can’t afford not to address poverty among our young.

What else is in the news? What’s up with you?

What’s up?

Here’s one of those health news items that clearly shows arming children with information is the best defense. Researchers at Penn State found that children whose parents talked to them about drinking before leaving for college were less likely to drink or drank less than those whose parents did not address it at all, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

And a popular list around these parts — baby names! MSN Living listed the top baby boy and girl names for 2012. Enjoy!

What else is in the news? What’s up with you?

To the smartest, funniest and most vivacious moms that I know, I dedicate to you — Mom Dance!

…Which was clearly inspired by the original “Evolution of Mom Dancing” with this fierce mom:

Last but not least, I want to thank each of you, MotherTalkers, for being great mommies to your children and children everywhere. Thank you for voting, for signing MomsRising.org petitions, for showing up to rallies and doing all that you can to help create a truly family-friendly country.

I want to give a shoutout to Ellen Bravo over at Family Values @ Work for this wonderful Mother’s Day essay, and for doing her fabulous work.

Happy Mother’s Day all!