Juaregui outlines some of the plans for 2008. “Somos Mayfair is working on a diabetes campaign, trying to bring preventive measures to the community to help raise awareness,” she says. “In the Latino community, we (women) are the ones that are in the kitchen a lot of the time. We want to preserve the cultural foods, but try to work on how to keep our diets more healthy.”
Also on the Somos Mayfair agenda is closer attention to what foods kids are being served at school, and creating ways for neighborhood residents to become more aware of the health resources that already exist in their community.
While the neighborhoods of East San Jose might lack abundant economic opportunity, Zumba is a fitness program they can call their own. Nothing can replace the security of financial resources, and one aerobics class will not eradicate the risk factors for obesity and diabetes. But it’s a powerful start.
(Part 1) | Part 2
By Dena Evans
Photo of Zumba instructor Susan Armenta, Courtesy of BAWSI
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