HEALTH LITERACY INITIATIVE

 JOIN OUR DANCE PROGRAM

     Universidad Popular’s HEAlth Literacy INitiative (HEALIN) has long incorporated physical components to further strengthen its family-oriented health education initiative. Yoga, dance classes and martial arts have been at its core foundation. UP’s community kitchen has been very active during class time. The nutrition program developer, Ms. Olivia Ramirez, has been designing and implementing a variety of activities, workshops, beverages and meals that are not only nutritious but also extremely affordable. “Healthy food does not need to be so expensive that poor people can not afford to buy it,” she says.

MARTIAL ARTS

     Martial arts are systems of combat and self-defense. Practiced not only as a way to learn self defense, martial arts allows followers to increase personal fitness, reduce stress, and improve mental health. Some of the health benefits are muscle strength, increase energy, weight loss and weight maintenance, flexibility in mind and body, better posture and balance and improved agility.  Besides working wonders for your mental and emotional well being it helps: reduce stress, improve concentration and increase self confidence.
 

YOGA

     Hatha Yoga, is a particular system of Yoga introduced by Yogi Swatmarama by means of straightening and asana (pleasant and firm positions) relaxed your body, hence a preparatory stage of physical purification that renders the body fit for the practice of higher meditation. Which also enlarges your respiratory capacity and fills you of vital energy, will teach you to relax, recovering the psycho-physical equilibrium to live in peace and harmony.
 

KITCHEN AND NUTRITION

     In this class we learn the nutritious factors of the food based on the alimentary pyramid. The recipes that know and that usually we cook we re-create them to become recipes healthy, if the original recipe should be fried we modify it so that be baked or steamed avoiding the excessive consumption of fat, if the original recipe includes refined flour, we will modify it for whole wheat flour, also we do emphasis to use less salt.
In this manner we will avoid illnesses such as: high cholesterol, diabetes, high arterial pressure etc. In these classes we include vegetarian recipes, recipes with meat and vegetable and some pastries recipes.
 

AEROBICS

     Aerobics classes combine energizing music to give you great workouts and great results. Aerobic activity strengthens the heart and lungs, burns calories, lowers cholesterol levels, decreases stress, reduces the risk of some diseases and improves quality of life.