Sharing One Skin - By Jeannette Armstrong

The article is about a Okanagan member. Her name is Jeannette Armstrong and she talks about her community and their traditions. She starts by introducing herself and why it is important to her people to say what clans they come from because it tells others what their responsibilities are and their goal. To the Okanagan people, everything in life is all connected, everybody is connected. She goes into details about these things because it is so important to her people. 

Native American Fitness: Mind-Body-Spirit

“The impact of the Western Colonial Modal on Native nations, such as the implementation of boarding schools in 1879” had a huge impact on Native American health. Because children were forced out of their homes and be put in boarding schools to learn the white ways, the food they were given was of poor quality, rationed or denied if a BIA agent was displeased, and known to make tribal members sick. And now the current high incidence of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems are more closely related to contemporary junk food, fast food, and lack of exercise. But the health crisis amongst Native Nations has been met by the encouragement of pow wow dancing. Which encourages movement without losing its ceremonial importance. 

Barriers and Facilitators to Being Physically Active on a Rural U.S Northern Plains American Indian Reservation

This article is based off of a study made in 2014, that was focused on American Indians and their challenges to being physically active while living on reservations. They first talk about the percentage results found on reservations in the U.S and Canada. They found that based upon self-reported activity, 27.2% of individuals met recommendations, 22.1% had inadequate activity, and 47.9% were not active. Recent studies about the same topic were more focused on younger children, so they decided to do this study on adults. “The obesity rate among Northern Plains American Indians is 34%. Approximately 30% of American Indian adults living in the Northern Plains do not participate in any leisure-time physical activity, and 30% report being physically inactive.” Barriers that were mentioned as to why they aren’t physically active were both personal reasons and environmental obstacles. “However, the authors concluded that the literature is sparse and more research is needed to inform interventions.”

Fast food is comforting, but in low-income areas it crowds out fresher options

This article speaks about the struggles families go through that can’t afford purchasing fresher foods. Many people use fast food as a comfort or are emotionally attached to foods and routines associated with it. Catherine Keske studies food security in California’s central valley. And she states “food security means maintaining reliable, constant access to food. It requires time and resources that are often scarce in food-insecure households.” She also states that “people develop strong emotional bonds to places that they return to again and again.” And the reason why low income families experience higher rates of obesity is because most of them can’t afford fresh fruits and vegetables, including high costs relative to their household budgets. Also lack of time and resources for meal preparation along with segregation and poverty take part in the situation. “For all these reasons, many low-income and food-insecure households rely on fast-food restaurants. Worldwide, single-parents households are more likely to experience food insecurity.”

                             (Marquez, Destiny, prepping, March 1, 2023)

                             (Marquez, Destiny, competition, March 1, 2023)