{"id":16601,"date":"2023-09-30T00:32:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-30T00:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/?p=16601"},"modified":"2023-09-30T00:37:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-30T00:37:09","slug":"when-taking-your-next-drink-think-water-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/2023\/09\/30\/when-taking-your-next-drink-think-water-first\/","title":{"rendered":"WHEN TAKING YOUR NEXT DRINK, THINK, WATER FIRST!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nHolding up his cell phone, Leroy Silva, Laguna, suggests using social media as a way to get the word out that sugary drinks are out and water is the way to go at one of last week\u2019s healthy beverage summits.<\/strong><\/p>\n

BY COLLEEN KEANE<\/strong>
\nSPECIAL TO THE TIMES<\/p>\n

ALBUQUERQUE<\/strong> \u2014 There\u2019s a choice \u2013 sugary drinks in ugly containers that put you at risk for chronic diseases, or clear, refreshing water that makes you healthier in a cool cup of your choice.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the challenge healthy drinking advocates are sending out to tribal communities in Arizona and New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Notah Begay III Foundation brought together more than 125 Native American educators, youth advocates and health workers to the first of three annual healthy beverage summits.<\/p>\n

The daylong retreat, featuring water as the drink of choice, was held at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center on Feb. 8.<\/p>\n

On and around the large meeting room there wasn\u2019t one Coke, Sprite, Pepsi, or gaudy, plastic cup in sight.<\/p>\n

But plenty of fine, crystal clear water bottles and cups of natural tea could be seen everywhere.<\/p>\n

The participants included staff from tribal organizations that received NB3 Water First Learning Community Cohort grants.<\/p>\n

The recipients are: Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment, project out of Gallup, Five Sandoval Indian Pueblos, Inc., Jemez Pueblo, the Mescalero Apache Tribe, Ramah Navajo School Board, Santo Domingo Pueblo, STAR School out of Flagstaff, Arizona, Tamaya Wellness Center, Santa Ana Pueblo, and the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project.<\/p>\n

Funding for the projects, around $30,000 a year for three years, came from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.<\/p>\n

The goal is to encourage Native children to drink less sugary drinks and more water, while promoting breastfeeding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re having an epidemic of diabetes and obesity. The main factor driving the epidemic is too much sugar in the diet,\u201d said keynote speaker Dr. Jim Kreiger, executive director of Healthy Food America.<\/p>\n

He added that most sugar intake comes from sodas, energy drinks, and sweetened coffees.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur children are consuming a huge amount of sugar through beverages,\u201d said Justin Huenemann, Din\u00e9, NB3\u2019s Native Strong executive director.<\/p>\n

He said that nationally, people consume an average of 70 pounds of sugar a year.<\/p>\n

The recommended amount is 6 teaspoons a day, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n

One 12-ounce can of soda has about 9 teaspoons of sugar. In addition to the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, there\u2019s tooth decay to think about when consuming sugary drinks, warned Huenemann.<\/p>\n

The hosts, NB3\u2019s Native Strong staff, brought the group together to share ideas on how to reach tribal members with the message of \u201cwater first\u201d and develop outreach projects customized to their communities.<\/p>\n

Dozens of ideas posted on the wall included: bring back the tradition of breastfeeding; limit sales of sodas at stores; use grandma\u2019s teachings; and educate leadership, to name a few.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fighting hard to protect water,\u201d noted participant Leroy Silva, referring to protests like the ongoing fight to stop the North Dakota oil access pipeline construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s protect it and let\u2019s also drink it!\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

Silva is an educator at the Native American Community Academy, NACA.<\/p>\n

In a break out session, he held up his cell phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has a cell phone and everyone has access to social media. This is how we get the message out,\u201d suggested Silva.<\/p>\n

So, the group suggested to watch out for memes, videos, Facebook alerts, links, tweets, and possibly hashtags such as, #NB3, #waterfi rst, and #watertime.<\/p>\n

At another break out table, health advocate Gloria Begay, Din\u00e9, suggested putting the word out through Native radio.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s several tribal radio stations in New Mexico and Arizona, including KTNN broadcasting out of Window Rock, Arizona, Alamo\u2019s KABR-FM, Ramah\u2019s KTDB-FM and Zuni\u2019s KSHI Radio.<\/p>\n

Begay said that the Food Sovereignty Alliance, a grassroots program helping communities rebuild local food sources, is in the process of creating Native American video games featuring traditional teachings.<\/p>\n

Special guest speaker Navajo Nation Vice President Jonathan Nez, who flew in from Window Rock, to present at the summit, told the group that going back to traditional ways is the key to healthy choices.<\/p>\n

Nez advised tribal members to recall the wisdom of the late very respected Din\u00e9 storyteller, James Peshlakai, who\u2019s remembered for promoting traditional ways as weapons against modern day monsters, like diabetes, heart disease, obesity.<\/p>\n

Sugar, as sweet as it is, sticks out as the main culprit for each.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not at all traditional, participants pointed out.<\/p>\n

Words like Coke and Pepsi, can\u2019t even be translated into tribal languages noted Trisha Moquino, director of the Keres Children\u2019s Learning Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday at this summit, we need to embrace the old ways of Navajo teachings. We need to bring some of that knowledge and those teachings into the 21st century. It will greatly benefit the health and wellness of all indigenous people,\u201d Nez told the audience.<\/p>\n

But, for some families, cut- ting out sugary drinks may not be that easy because of the lack of access to fresh water.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the lack of availability. The school where I go, students don\u2019t trust the water,\u201d said Mikki Metteba Din\u00e9, a junior at Window Rock High School.<\/p>\n

Jaden Redhair, also a junior there, said tribal members need to pursue specialized education to help bring clean water sources into communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne way is get more students to go into the field of hydrology so that they can help improve the water systems,\u201d Redhair advised.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s especially needed in communities contaminated by uranium mining.<\/p>\n

In the Flagstaff area, in Arizona, the Star School is working with local governments to establish a fi ltering system, since the water there is filled with minerals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t taste good,\u201d said one participant.<\/p>\n

Nez encouraged the group to take what they learned from the summit, like the recent pas- sage of the Navajo Nation\u2019s junk food tax, and share it with their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has empowered you, so you can reach another individual out there to continue this movement of healthy living and remind ourselves that we are resilient. From there, you will have the power to change your family, your community and your Nation for good,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

For more information: nb3foundation.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Holding up his cell phone, Leroy Silva, Laguna, suggests using social media as a way to get the word out<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16604,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16601\/revisions\/16604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}