National BRA Day at Santana Row

Breast cancer survivors Peggy Fleming and Kim Vestal are judging a BRA Art show and decorating contest at Hotel Valencia (Santana Row) this Wednesday, October 15th from 4pm-7pm. The winners will get a shopping spree at Victoria's Secret. This is part of a national campaign to support women and their families who are living with breast cancer and undergo mastectomies. To learn more and register, click here.

Super Jardineros Greenhouse Project

Valley Verde is a small non-profit in San Jose that wants to improve access to homegrown organic vegetables while assisting low-income families. They started an Indiegogo project that will be used to fund supplies such as greenhouses that would be placed at the homes of "Super Jardineros." Valley Verde will train these gardeners on how to grow varieties of ethnic seedlings (finger eggplant, tomatillos, chayote, etc.). They will then sell these seedlings either back to Valley Verde or to local farmer's markets.

The end result should be easier (and theoretically less expensive) access to locally grown organic vegetables, all the while helping low income families with both a sustainable income stream and entrepreneurial skills.

Valley Verde is aiming to raise $10,000 which will be enough to provide 10 families with green houses, seeds, seedlings, trays, pots, domes, heating mats, and training. It's a great cause and you can learn more by watching the video below and visiting the Super Jardineros Greenhouse Project page.

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 2nd Best Swim City

Here is a fun stat for summer. San Jose is the 2nd best area for swimming in the US! We have the most swim members per 1,000 people and the largest multicultural make-up of any region. The SF metro was 5th on the list. The top 50 is below.

Source: USA Swimming, Hat tip to Barclay Livker for sending this in!

Rank	Metropolitan Area	Total Weighted Index	Population Age 6+
1.	Ann Arbor, Michigan	1,348	348,971
2.	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California	1,277	1,761,295
3.	Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina	1,235	1,476,825
4.	Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut	1,185	909,970
5.	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, California	1,133	4,160,269
6.	Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado	1,088	280,068
7.	Madison, Wisconsin	1,077	550,312
8.	Austin-Round Rock, Texas	1,016	1,521,851
9.	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, California	993	13,133,921
10.	Indianapolis-Carmel, Indiana	989	1,682,815
11.	Washington, D.C. area	956	5,377,932
12.	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, California	925	258,624
13.	Boulder, Colorado	920	284,607
14.	Trenton-Ewing, New Jersey	905	372,123
15.	Colorado Springs, Colorado	879	607,312
16.	Anchorage, Alaska	866	363,582
17.	Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota/Wisconsin	844	3,211,584
18.	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas	840	5,504,735
19.	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Georgia	816	5,186,819
20.	Santa Barbara-Santa Maria, California	811	401,253
21.	Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky	810	435,465
22.	Lincoln, Nebraska	805	286,831
23.	Richmond, Virginia	793	1,202,109
24.	Denver-Aurora, Colorado	788	2,429,088
25.	Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, North Carolina/South Carolina	751	1,598,273
26.	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington	731	3,270,270
27.	Tallahassee, Florida	726	338,800
28.	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, California	718	468,963
29.	Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, Iowa/Illinois	717	376,817
30.	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California	711	812,013
31.	Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin	704	1,519,871
32.	Omaha-Council Bluffs, Nebraska/Iowa	692	828,741
33.	Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Illinois	690	9,573,949
34.	Provo-Orem, Utah	688	483,990
35.	Reno-Sparks, Nevada	685	415,540
36.	Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Oregon/Washington	684	2,161,753
37.	New Haven-Milford, Connecticut	674	855,447
38.	Albuquerque, New Mexico	669	825,179
39.	Columbus, Ohio	657	1,742,026
40.	Baltimore-Towson, Maryland	650	2,695,688
41.	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	631	2,369,879
42.	Tucson, Arizona	630	955,724
43.	Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, California	629	2,136,139
44.	Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana	627	2,094,746
45.	Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, Florida	625	706,173
46.	Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, New York	624	685,207
47.	Fort Wayne, Indiana	622	409,934
48.	South Bend-Mishawaka, Indiana/Michigan	621	318,850
49.	Rochester, New York	617	1,039,940
50.	Salt Lake City, Utah	615	1,059,659

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the #6 Healthiest City in the US

The ACSM American Fitness Index is a scientific snapshot of health and fitness at a metropolitan level. On a national level, San Jose ranked at the #6 healthiest city. San Francisco came in a hair better at #5.

The areas San Jose excelled at include a high vegetable consumption, low percentage of people smoking, low obesity rates, high percentage of people in excellent or very good health, and a high number of playgrounds and parks per capita. Areas improvement include a higher percentage of mental health issues (all the stress from tech jobs?) and a higher rate of asthma than other metros.

You can download the full report as well as historic reports at the link below.

Source: ACSM American Fitness Index, Hat tip to Barclay Livker

Breathe Deep Bay Area 5k Walk/Fun Run on June 1st

Breathe Deep Bay Area is a grassroots event planned and managed by a small group of volunteers from the Bay Area whose lives have been impacted by lung cancer. This 5K walk and run is an opportunity for our community to rally together against lung cancer. They started in 2011 and their next run is one week from today--Sunday, June 1st--at the Discovery Meadow Park behind the Children's Discovery Museum. It's a great cause and they have already raised over half of their $30k goal!

Who: Anyone in the Bay Area!
What: Breathe Deep Bay Area, 5K walk and fun run
Where: Discovery Meadow Park in Guadalupe River Park & Gardens, San Jose (180 Woz Way)
When: Sunday, June 1st, 9:00am for the run, 10:00am for the walk
Why: To raise money for lung cancer research and to raise awareness for this disease!

For more information: www.lungevity.org/bayarea

New Urgent Care Clinic in Evergreen

Does anyone remember the Hollywood Video at the corner of Capital Expressway and Silver Creek in San Jose's Evergreen district? It was last used as a Spirit store last Halloween. This 8,480 SQFT space is being converted into an urgent care facility run by San Jose-based Action Urgent Care. The company just signed a ten-year lease so I think they will be there for quite a while.

Action Urgent Care has another location (pictured below I believe) at 1375 Blossom Hill Road. There is also a rumor that they will open another location in San Jose's Westgate Shopping Center.

The company provides walk-in services for emergencies that are not life threatening. This should be a big benefit to the community since the nearest major hospitals are 10-15 minutes away. Action Urgent Care is hoping to be ready for patients in June or July.

Source: SVBJ

Saturday Stats: San Jose has the #3 Lowest Obesity Rate in US (For Large Cities)

We all know that obesity is a growing problem in the US, but the good news is that it is much less of a problem here than it is in other places. In a recent Gallup Well-Being survey, the San Jose area ranked as having the 3rd lowest obesity rate for any metro with a population of more than one million people. If you look at the largest 189 US Metros, we still fared quite well in 8th pace.

The most obese community in the US was Huntington-Ashland, where every two out of five people is considered obese. San Jose has half that rate with one one out of every five people being statistically obese.

Source: Gallup, Hatip to Filipe Medeiros

Saturday Stats: San Jose Ranked #5 Best City for Overall Well-Being

Gallup has ranked the best and worst cities for "well-being" and San Jose did quite well. The data is based on more than 500,000 interviews where people were asked about their emotional and physical health, their job satisfactions, community safety, and access to food, shelter, and health care. In overall well-being, San Jose came in 5th while SF landed the 9th spot on the list.

The top 10 cities for overall well-being:

1. Provo-Orem, Utah
2. Boulder, Colo.
3. Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo.
4. Honolulu
5. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
6. Ann Arbor, Mich.
7. Naples-Marco Island, Fla.
8. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif.
9. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.
10. Lincoln, Neb.

Source: USA Today, Hat-tip to Barclay Livker for sending this in!

Saturday Stats: San Jose is Ranked the Happiest, Healthiest City in America!

We nailed another great stat. Prevention magazine named San Jose the happiest, healthiest city in the US! The evaluated the 100 largest metros in the US and looked at 48 different measures of health, happiness, and well-being. These include metrics such as access to green space, number of farmer's markets, disease incidence, depression, unemployment, and FBI crime stats.

San Jose scored high for people eating a ton of organic produce, 18 community gardens, easy access to healthy food, and great climate. I'm sure the employment and crime stats helped as well. San Francisco was a few steps behind us in 7th place.

Source: Prevention, Huffington Post, Hat tip to Christina Barrie and Alex Shoor

Japantown Farmers' Market

Cookbook for Special Diets Featured in San Jose

The "Finally... Food I Can Eat!" cookbook is going to be featured as part of the I Can Do It Conference in San Jose, March 16-18th. It seems like most of my friends have at least one food allergy (I have one myself) and I know quite a few people that have Celiac Disease, are diabetic, or are lactose intolerant. This is a cookbook that specifically caters to those with food allergies. You can find more information below and the book is available through all of the standard channels such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble.




About the Book

Are you frustrated and overwhelmed with trying to prepare meals that are free of
wheat, yeast, eggs, dairy, gluten, soy, corn, and sugar?

Are you tired of being on a “special diet”? Why don’t the recipes you make taste
yummy?

Well, here is the cookbook for you! It contains:

• Easy, delicious recipes that will appeal to everyone in the family—and your guests
will never know they are eating allergen-free food.
• A useful introduction and guide to food allergies and intolerances
• A quick guide to natural food chemicals, food additives, food families, and
rotation diets.
• Substitutions and alternatives to common foods that you need to avoid.
• Recipes that are low in sugar and cholesterol and are great for those following
diabetic, candida, allergy-free, or heart-smart diets.

“This cookbook is so well thought out that it likely will inspire the reader to make
these tempting recipes. Shirley has found many creative ways of bringing all kinds
of healthy food into the daily diet, with lots of good ideas on how to combine
them.”
—Dr. Jennifer Armstrong, MD, associate of American Academy of Environmental
Medicine

“Shirley’s gluten-free, blueberry muffins are my favourite, they’re the best.”
—Sophia age 7

About the Author

Shirley Plant has studied in the field of nutrition for many years. Diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and multiple food and environmental allergies, Shirley understands firsthand the difficulties of trying to plan creative, nutritious, and affordable menus while having to avoid such common foods as wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, gluten, and sugar, just to name a few. But through understanding, education, and a keen interest to help people find
food alternatives to fit into their life schedules, Shirley has developed an expertise and reputation in dietary design, customized recipes, and menu-planning.
For more information, please visit www.deliciousalternatives.com.

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 2nd Best City for Men

San Jose has been ranked the 2nd best city for men by Men's Health Magazine. Over 38 different criteria were used such as air quality, unemployment, cost of living, death rates, commute hours, property crime, and even the ratio of single men to women (which we did not do well in). After all was said and done, we got the silver medal with SF a step below at 3rd place. One other notable comment, out of all 100 cities evaluated San Jose had the lowest percentage of smokers.

Top 10 List

1 Boise, ID 
2 San Jose, CA 
3 San Francisco, CA 
4 Plano, TX 
5 Seattle, WA 
6 Burlington, VT 
7 Austin, TX 
8 Salt Lake City, UT 
9 Madison, WI 
10 Portland, OR

Read more at Men's Health: http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/best-cities-men/page/3#ixzz2Fp7z0mtI

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the Healthiest City for Women

San Jose made it into another top 10 list, and this one has nothing to do with salaries. 84% of women in San Jose exercise, only 8% smoke, 99.8% wear a seat belt, and in general women here eat far more fruits and vegetables than the average American. All these stats led San Jose to be proclaimed the top healthiest city for women in the country. The net result of the data above is a life span that is 3 years longer than average in the country.

That life span should get even longer in the future given the many billions of dollars of new investment into medical care happening throughout Silicon Valley hospitals. Another positive future factor is leading the country in hybrid and electric vehicle adoption, which will reduce pollution despite population increases.

Top 10 List
1.) San Jose, CA
2.) Bethesda, MD
3.) San Francisco, CA
4.) Santa Barbara, CA
5.) Honolulu, HI
6.) Santa Ana, CA
7.) Minneapolis, MN
8.) Fargo, ND
9.) Portland, ME
10.) Burlington, VT



Source: Self

The Health Trust Hike & Bike

To commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1, 2012, The Health Trust is doing a Hike & Bike event featuring a 2 mile hike, 11 mile bike ride, and a 32 mile bike ride. Proceeds are put towards AIDS Services in San Jose and other Santa Clara County locations. For more information and to register, just click this link.



THE HIKE & BIKE COURSE

2 Mile Hike

The entire Hike route is contained within the Santa Clara University Campus. Students and community groups have collaborated to make this an enjoyable and inspiring stroll through the beautiful Santa Clara University Campus. Special commemorative prizes for those that raise at least $100, $250, $500, or $1,000.00

The walk and 11 Mile Bike Ride will begin at 10:00 AM with check in beginning at 9:00 AM.

11 Mile Bike Ride

For those of you who prefer a shorter version of the ride, we have included a 11 mile route also. Just register for the ride and turnaround at the (xxx) mile rest stop.

The walk and 11 Mile Bike Ride will begin at 10:00 AM with check in beginning at 9:00 AM.

32 Mile Bike Ride

We chose 32 miles to recognize 32 years of fighting the spread of HIV and AIDS and 32 years of helping people live longer better lives with HIV and AIDS. This specially designed route will take you through some important community sites such as the San Jose AIDS Memorial Grove and the Health Trust Food Basket program. We hope this mostly flat course on a beautiful December Saturday morning will inspire you to join your community in the continuing fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS and we hope you will become inspired or re-inspired to help your community members living with HIV/AIDS to live active and healthy lives. Special commemorative prizes for those that raise at least $100, $250, $500, or $1,000.00

The 32 Mile Bike Ride will begin at 9:00 AM with check/registration in at 8:00 AM

Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 2012

Before stuffing your face this Thanksgiving, why not participate in one of San Jose's most popular runs and offset some of those calories. The Turkey Trot kicks off early Thanksgiving morning in Downtown San Jose and is over by noon, giving you plenty of time to get to your feast. You can check out a video below of last year's run, which had more than 25,000 participants! For more info, just click here.




Timeline

• 6:30 a.m.  Race Day Packet Pick Up Opens (There will not be day of, on-site registration. Registration is only available online til 6am Thanksgiving morning, but capacity is 25,000, so registration may close early like it did last year.)
• 7:00 a.m.  “Costume Contest” sponsored by Virgin America & Mercury News
• 7:45 a.m.  “10K  Wheelchair” sponsored by Palo Alto Medical Foundation
• 7:50 a.m.  “10K Run” sponsored by Sharks Foundation
• 8:30 a.m.   “5K Run/Walk” sponsored by KLA Tencor
• 9:00 a.m.  Kids activities begin in Family Fun Zone
• 10:00 a.m.  “Elite Women” sponsored by SVB Financial & “PA/USATF Women” sponsored by El Camino Hospital
• 10:30 a.m.  “Elite Men” & “PA/USATF Men” sponsored by PG&E
• 10:30 a.m.  “Kid’s Fun Run” sponsored by Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (open to ages 2-9)
• 11:30 a.m.  Elite Awards Ceremony (all “open” winners will receive their medals and gift cards by mail three weeks after the race)
• Noon  Conclusion

Color Me Rad - Sep 1st @ Santa Clara County Fairgrounds

Now this isn't your everyday 5k run! This Saturday at the Fairgrounds, runners are going to be "color bombed" every 5 minutes, similar to what happens in the Indian festival of Holi (wiki it). For those of you wondering what being color bombed means, the video below will explain everything. If you're interested, click here for more info.

FYMO’s 3rd Annual “Giving to Live” 5k Cancer Run/Walk

Benefiting Greater Bay Area Cancer Patients and Survivors

San Jose, CA.  – Fashion Your Mind Organization is seeking to honor the STRENGTH, COURAGE, and POWER of cancer survivors and patients at its 3^rd annual “Giving to Live” 5k non-competitive run/walk fundraiser in South San Jose, CA at the Almaden Lake Park on July 14, 2012.

“Every year we look forward to giving more and gaining more supporters. I am so happy to see that we are making a difference and moving closer to our goals”, says Tiffany Mays, founder of FYMO. “For the first time I can agree with those that tell me that my mother would be proud of me. With great joy I honor my mother and others who have been affected by cancer.”

In September of 2009 Ms. Mays’ mother loss her battle to a rare cancer type and since then Ms. Mays’ has been dedicated to supporting cancer patients on their journey to wellness along with raising awareness to the importance of cancer screening and early detection.

“I will continue to support FYMO’s cause and next year my goal is to raise $2500,” remarks cancer survivor, Janis Crumb. Raising $643 in 2011, Crumb first became involved with FYMO after a cancer screening and early detection saved her life, “I love what FYMO is doing and that they are here providing the support that they provide.”

The 5k-run/walk-course route follows the Los Alamitos Creek trail connected to the 32 acres of lake, hike, and bike in the Almaden Lake Park. The paved trail will take you by scenic agricultural lands and riparian communities.

Registration is now open. Early registration is $25 for each participant and $10 for children age 10 and under. All donations and proceeds will be going towards cancer patients’ health related costs, such as: medication, living expenses, transportation, supportive services, and home care.

Walk or run, but come…to the 3^rd Annual “Giving to Live” 5k-cancer run/walk fundraiser for cancer patients and survivors.

Visit http://www.fymo.org or http://on.fb.me/f-y-m-o for more information or to register for the race. Follow Fashion Your Mind Organization on Twitter at FashionYourMind.

Fashion Your Mind Organization (FYMO) is a Non Profit 501 (c) (3) Corporation. Our mission is to support cancer patients on their journey to wellness. Each year, our vision grows as does the need to provide a better quality of life to cancer patients. By promoting healthy living and the importance of early cancer detection we hope to decrease the lives loss to cancer in our community.

Touchstone Climbing & Fitness is Open in SoFA

This post is long overdue, but better late than never. Touchstone Climbing & Fitness is back in San Jose and this time they actually have some height (their previous spot near Camera 12 only had a 13 or 14 foot wall). Their new space in SoFA was originally a theater, then it became a 3-story nightclub, and now it's been gutted and turned into a cavernous rock climbing gym. This is a perfect example of how eclectic Downtown is becoming. On the same street you have art galleries, the California Theater, The Stage, First St. Billiards, night clubs, multiple restaurants, Singlebarrel, offices, apartments, and now this. I can't wait to see how things continue to develop.

San Jose's Touchstone is at 396 South 1st Street and it's open Mon-Fri 6am-10pm and Sat-Sun 9am-6pm. For more info check out their website over here.

Turkey Trot 2011

Looking for a healthy way to start your Thanksgiving before pummeling through thousands of calories? Look no further than the annual Turkey Trot in Downtown San Jose. It looks like they have something for everyone: 5K Run/Walk, 10K Run, Celebrity 10K, Wheelchair 10K, and more. The best part is that proceeds go to charity.

For more info and registration, just click here.

Race Info
When: November 24, 2011 Thanksgiving Morning

• 6:30am:       Bib Pick Up (Registration will close at 21,000.  There will not be onsite registration, but you canstill register at home or on your smart phone)
• 7:00am:       Costume Contest
• 7:45am:       Turkey Trot 10K Wheelchair
• 7:50am:       Turkey Trot 10K Run
• 8:15am:       Turkey Trot 5K Run/Walk
• 10am:          Elite Women’s & PA/USATF
• 10:30am:    Elite Men’s & PA/USATF Men
• 10:50am:    Kid’s Fun Run
• 11:30am:    Awards Ceremony

Where: Downtown San Jose, Guadalupe Park

Race Start

On W. Santa Clara Street, near the Hwy 87 overpass.  Please start by lining up at the correct starting time for your distance.  Then line up according to your mile pace with faster runners closer to the start line and those with strollers at the end.

Why:  In the past 6 years we have donated over $1.5 million to three local charities.  This year, our goal is to donate $500,000 to the 3 awesome charities!  Plus its a great way to start the day and get ready for a lot of eating at Thanksgiving dinner.

How: Participate by registering, volunteering or donating to the event.  If you are registering, remember there are many categories you may qualify for and would be fun for you to possible win a certain category.  Check out our timed and non-timed categories for more information.

Who:  You! Your family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors.  The more the merrier.