Health Disparities-"Health is a right not a privilege"

Today I attended UCLA's11th Annual Health Disparities Symposium at the California Science Center. The speakers all gave important insightful information regarding the many of the health problems that our modern society faces. The speakers are all distinguished scholars who have done extensive research on an array of health issues. Dr. Toni Yancey and Dr. Bastani from UCLA were the two coordinators who put this together with Kaiser Permanente. I have to digress for a bit to talk about one of my all time favorite people, in academia, that is-- Antronette Yancey( MD, MPH). She has made numerous contributions to health and specifically the prevention of disease through exercising and eating healthy. Her resume consists of 25 pages of (how do I put this), awesomeness. One of her most recent projects is the WORKING project which I have the pleasure of being a data collector for. Her main focus is wanting to get people off their chairs for at least 10 minutes a day to exercise. I can go on and on about her magnificence but I suggest you just read more about her here.

The central theme the speakers spoke about was the importance of eating healthy foods and exercising regularly.One point that was of contention was the issue of exercise. Does it really matter? What about those who do not have the proper environmental resources to exercise?
The answers were spread out but basically I learned that nutrition and eating healthfully is more important than exercise.  A study done on a group of people showed that those who exercised more gained more weight. Why did they gain weight? Exercising obviously builds ones appetite and those would eat more unhealthy fatty foods. OK, so your probably wondering, these people are now telling me not to exercise? No. This is not the case, the true answer is finding the equilibrium between the two. Exercising and eating nutritious, high-fiber foods can lead you in the right direction.

Did I mention that we did a mini stretch break!!!???  Oh and the CA Science Center had a beautiful rose garden. Enjoy some picture below...

Anyways, I challenge you to think more about what you can do to think and be healthy. Health is not only defined as physical health, but it is important to take into account mental and spiritual health.

"Health is a gift, you can't insure it"
- Dr. David Martins

Healthy wishes,
Farah