<p> Underserved populations suffer the highest rates of overweight and obesity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Americans have the highest obesity rates followed by Latinos (47.8% and 42.5% respectively). In the City of Long Beach, 40.9% of adults are overweight and 24.6% are considered obese. Overweight and obesity are major risk factors that contribute to chronic diseases. In an effort to help curtail these unhealthy trends, The Beach Community Wellness Program (BCWP) was created. During the second year of the program&rsquo;s implementation, the author realized additional resources could help supplement the classes being offered. The purpose of this project was to create a free fitness and nutrition manual for the BCWP participants. The manual is divided into two parts; fitness information to help increase participant&rsquo;s daily levels of physical activity and nutrition guidelines to help improve their eating habits. Recommendations for future BCWP manuals are provided.</p>

<p> This study investigated the effects of acute versus chronic beetroot supplementation on maximal exercise, resting blood pressure, nitrates, oxidative stress (TBARS), and antioxidant capacity (SOD) in the blood. Thirty participants were placed in one of three groups; consuming beetroot for 7 days (BR7), 1 day (BR1), or the Control. Data was analyzed using ANOVA and <i>t</i>-test (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). There were no changes in maximal exercise or blood pressure after supplementation. Nitrate levels increased significantly after 7 days of beetroot consumption (<i>p</i> = 0.04) but not after a single dose. Additionally, both a prolonged use and a single dose of beetroot supplementation increased antioxidant capacity (<i>p</i> = 0.02). Long term beetroot consumption minimized the normal exercise response in both nitrate levels and SOD activity. TBARS varied by group. This study suggests that the potential for increased lipid peroxidation associated with beetroot supplementation appeared to be mitigated by increased antioxidant capacity.</p>

<p> While adolescent endurance runners are at risk for energy deficiency, limited studies have evaluated the effect of a nutrition education intervention. We evaluated the effect of a 4-week nutrition curriculum on adolescent cross-country runners&rsquo; nutrition knowledge, dietary behaviors, and self-efficacy to optimize intake of nutrient-dense carbohydrate foods, using a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design. Runners (<i>n</i> = 45; <i>n</i> = 26 F, <i>n</i> = 19 M; age 15.7 &plusmn; 0.2y) attended 4 weekly 30 to 60-minute lessons. Baseline body weight and composition were measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Paired samples t-tests measured difference in nutrition knowledge and self-efficacy scores, before and after each lesson. Mean nutrition knowledge scores significantly increased from pre- to post-test for lessons 1 and 2 (<i>p</i> &lt; .001). Mean self-efficacy scores significantly improved pre- to post-test for all lessons (<i>p</i> &lt; .001). Findings suggest a benefit of the curriculum to increase nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy, and support dietary behaviors promoting increase in nutrient-dense carbohydrate intake among adolescent runners.</p><p>