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The following are translations of parts of the original series of stories.

• Diet, What Diet?
• Domestic Struggle
• We Laugh and Learn

Click here to see the original stories in Spanish at Enlace.

Families launch a realistic plan with lasting results

Norma de la Vega, Enlace

With the celebration of Thanksgiving begins the season of tasty dishes and temptation. However, new ways to enjoy food without overeating also emerged.

It is different because these are not proposals from experts but instead from peasant farmers with weight problems who have been skeptical about diets.

They participated in the program Take Care of Your Family; Protect Their Health.

It was as an objective that they learn healthy habits and create a weight control program that would suit their needs while getting other farmers involved.

It is important, because Latinos have the highest overweight and diabetes rates in the country.

12 farmers and their 20 children participated in the program, which was conducted by the San Marcos County Office of Education.

They came together 14 times from April 30 until September.

In that time, they participated in nutrition classes, medical reviews, physical activity sessions, and counseling sessions.

María Chávez, the director of an educational program for farmers and their children, was the author of the research investigation.

She is preparing the final report for the program but last week agreed to talk about its conclusions.

She said that one of the first discoveries was the refusal that the participants expressed at the idea of subjecting themselves to a diet.

Chávez told them that it was not about a diet nor was it something transitory.

"You must accustom yourselves to the idea that these are going to be changes to your nutritional habits for the rest of your lives," she said.

"It is a difficult process and you will need help, but the reward is health."

Chávez said that the problem with many of the weight control programs is that they go to the technical part, but they never get to the root of the problem.

Based on a three month long process with these families, here are the key steps that helped these people adopt a healthier life style:

Begin to analyze what food means to you.

Food is profoundly linked with emotions and because of that it is important to analyze what you eat, when you eat, how you eat, where you eat, and why you eat.

In the long run, various participants realized that they ate due to unhappiness, nostalgia, or anguish.

"Many times I eat just to placate something that I am feeling, but it is not hunger," said Lilia Ramírez, one of the participants of 44 years and a native of the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

Chávez said that the peasant farmers have wants of every type: economic, emotional, and of self esteem among others, "and food is the only way in which they are able to comfort themselves".

The problem is that they fall into excess and "women eat too much and the men eat a little worse and drink too much".

Make a program centered on the family.

The majority of the weight control programs are prefabricated and are limited to giving a pamphlet with instructions but that does not work for everybody.

The group found that in order for a weight control program to be successful, one must analyze who has to lose weight and what type of life they have. Some immigrant families live with various groups of people to be able to pay rent and they face more challenges.

For example, a mother could do so little for her children if the tenant who sublets her room sabotages her efforts by bringing soda and junk food into the home.

Accept to change your life style.

She said that diets do not work when people starve themselves and impose a sort of punishment.

Chávez said that the idea is not to lose in months the pounds that were accumulated in years.

"They have to have patience", she told them.

Chávez understands this need, for she also was once obese and it took her almost two years to lose nearly 30 pounds.

She said that ideally a person should begin by losing 10 percent of your weight.

She said that one must adapt to new nutritional habits that consist of eating more fruits and vegetables. But neither does it deal with repressing oneself forever.

"Eat the snacks that you love. But only once in a while, when there is a special occasion."

Make your compromise public.

Eliminating a bad habit is an uphill task and you are going to need help.

The program ended in September, but the participants continue to get together once a month because they fear taking steps backwards and sending their good habits flying.

They concluded that a group is necessary for mutual support but also to demand results, something similar to Alcoholics Anonymous.

Define what health is for you.

Health is what you most desire for you and your family but you are not going to conserve it if you do not begin to take action now.

The participants learned that fast food offers comfort but at the cost of health.

"The routine, exhaustion, and the habit of being poor drove me to adopt a form of life that was not healthy", said Hortensia Martínez, of 43 years and a native of the Mexican state of Querétaro.

"I have learned that with my bad habits I am a part of the obesity epidemic and that I have to change my way of live."

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Families confront their weight gain to save their lives

Norma de la Vega, Enlace

SAN MARCOS — For María Chávez her heaviness bothered her for years.

But it was until the excess weight brought her life pain and loss that she dedicated herself to combating it.

Chávez, of 48 years, is the regional director of Migrant Education, an educational support program for peasant worker's children and their parents.

Chávez weighed 184 pounds about a year and a half ago when she began a new form of life. She has already lost 26 pounds and would like to eliminate two more to be able to get to the recommended weight.

But that is not all.

The educational leader last month initiated the pilot program Take Care of Your Family and Protect Their Health which teaches peasant farming families to combat obesity.

It is an important effort, for it looks for alternatives to be able to solve the high level of obesity that is among immigrant children.

Chávez said that obesity is affecting immigrant children more than any other young Latinos.

She indicated that 13 thousand children from San Diego and Orange Counties participate in the Migrant Education Program and one in three is overweight.

And what these children have in common is that at least one of their parents is also obese.

From there the program will work with the adults to teach these lessons to their children.

"If we continue with this weight gain, we will not make it to old age", said Chávez to the group during the first meeting of the pilot program.

She said that severe illnesses like diabetes, heart problems, and asthma are associated with being overweight; in addition, the latter brings with it self esteem and learning problems.

Why is a teacher getting involved in matters of health?

"We are spending a lot of money on combating excess weight, but the existing programs are not working among the peasant farmers."

After listening to that, a group of peasant parents agreed to be a part of the program.

There are 12 peasant parents and their 20 children who live in different cities in the north of the county. They are all overweight.

They will get together for 14 weeks, on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9:00 at night, at the Education Office of San Marcos County.

They began in April and they will finish in September.

The peasants participate in nutrition classes, medical reviews, physical activity sessions and psychological therapies.

The people in that program are poor families, without access to health care. They are not accustomed to exercise and view it as a punishment to their heaviness.

No one had ever spoken to them about nutrition and they cannot afford the gym nor sign their children up on sports teams.

For all those challenges, the educational leader is trying to create a health program to adjust to the needs of these families.

The strategy that she is following is to teach the peasant farmers the programs of weight control designed by doctors and universities. They analyze them and say what ideas will work.

For example, one of those programs says: "It is best if you can exercise in a gymnasium."

The idea was censured in the first meeting.

"You need special clothing, pay dues, and more," some said.

Chávez said that there are many ways to stay active and the most fun and inexpensive is to play with the kids.

The program does not have an affixed objective as to how many pounds each person has to lose so that they do not get frustrated and abandon the effort. The idea is that they at least manage to lose 10 percent of what they are overweight.

Chávez said to the participants that by being there, they commit themselves to living healthily and to eliminate negative habits for the rest of their lives.

"For the waist or the garbage can, it is better for the garbage," Chávez said to them, explaining the idea that gorging rather than throwing away food is common among poor families.

In fact, she said that obesity is a big problem and all of society, schools, churches, and communities, must begin to work to resolve it.

She began to work against obesity 18 months ago, inspired by the pain when her younger brother, of 38 years, died a victim of diabetes.

In the same year, one of her students of almost five years of age broke a hip bone. The doctor indicated that the little girls' body could not bear so much weight.

It was then when Chávez began to read articles and programs entirely about nutrition. She visited doctors in San Diego, Florida and México to try to find ideas to combat fat.

She said that the most difficult thing was to encourage herself to talk about obesity with peasant farmer parents.

"We are still in the belief that chubby means healthy." She began by asking them if being overweight was a problem, and when they said "yes," she included segments about nutrition in the educational meetings.

Last summer she wrote a book with the parent's ideas: Pedrito and Professor Grape to the Rescue, a Spanish text illustrated by Ofelia Alvarado, a Mexican artist.

The piece of work was paid for by federal funds and 12 thousand copies have already been distributed to peasant farmer parents from San Diego and other counties.

This summer another book by her will be out, about physical activity. And based on those texts, an educational video will be filmed.

"Many people do not read, and we want the message to get across," she said.

The video will be 15 minutes long and the parents will act with a fun tone.

"It is going to be of the type as el Chavo del 8" [a Mexican children's comic show with adults playing the roles of school children]; Chávez said referring to the hit television program in México.

Some of the characters are: the Bewitched Soda, the Criminal Cookie, Prickly Potato Chips and the Cavity Candy. Chávez is deeply moved.

"It is the most wonderful program and the most difficult of my career," she said in her first nutritional meeting with the group, after indicating that she has been an educator for over 20 years.

She sees the struggle against weight as a crusade in favor of life and she has taken out all her weapons to be able to win.

It has inverted her free time, her experience, her passion, and even her emotions.

In each class she repeats, "We are here to save life, for fat is a health problem. It does not bring pain, but it does bring illnesses that kill".

She said that to lose weight costs time and money. And the people in her program do not have either or and that is why together they must find what works for them based on the programs that they are studying. Some of them are:

• The Seven Pillars by Doctor Nick Yphantides, a doctor from Escondido who lost 270 pounds in 2001 and has succeeded in maintaining his weight since then. He is the author of the book My Big Fat Greek Diet.

•How to Avoid Childhood Obesity, by Doctor John E. Monaco, a pediatrician from the Regional Brandon Hospital, in Tampa, Florida.

• The Nutritional Program from the University of California.

• Healthy Habits from the Vista Clinic.

• My Pyramid, Steps Towards a Better Health from the United States Department of Agriculture. Chávez said that at the end of the program those families will have learned to identify at least three risk factors of obesity and positive changes will have been implemented.

Some of the peasant farmers have already begun to watch less television, walk more, and eat more fruits and vegetables.

Chávez said that if that program worked for those parents, it could work with all types of people, for peasant farmers have the largest challenges in the community.

She knows her people well. She is one of them. Her father too was a Mexican peasant farmer.

"We come from a culture of poverty and so we learn to lick our plates clean," she said to them in a class. But then she changed her attitude.

She recounted that her mom was chubby and suffered from diabetes, and when they would tell her to stop eating, she would respond with, "Let me be, for I want to live happily (while eating)."

"But mom did not die happy, said," Chávez.

Her mom was left blind, lost a leg, and refused to move anymore.

'She did not think of me, she just ate and ate'

"Grief with bread is good" says the Mexican refrain, and Angelina Ledesma found comfort in snacks following her husbands' abandonment. But now she is learning something different.

Ledesma, of 49 years of age, attends the pilot program Take Care of Your Family, Protect Their Health.

There she heard that one must eat well to live healthily, and that means to limit portions and choose good foods.

Ledesma is in accordance.

But she knows well that in order to achieve it, she must combat bad habits that she has well established.

"It is not easy," said Ledesma, native of the Mexican state of Querétaro. She must lose 52 pounds.

She began gaining weight 13 years ago, when she learned to drive and the marital problems poisoned her.

At that time, she purchased a car and she forgot her routine of walking.

The mother of three, who lives in Escondido, said that food has helped her to overcome her grief.

The abandonment of her husband provoked anguish: "nothing mattered to me, I did not even think of me, I just ate and ate."

She said that it would be most difficult to learn to put the brakes on at parties where she gorges.

"There is barbequed meat, tamales, small tacos, and that's it. It's time to eat!"

Ledesma and her daughter Christian are participating jointly in the program.

"I have not had help to lose weight," said the mother on a recent Wednesday just as class was ending where all the attendees weighed themselves.

Ledesma weighed 187 pounds, and upon coming off the scale, she laughed.

"The doctor told me that I must weigh at most 135 pounds."

Ledesma does not have health insurance. She does not frequently visit the doctor.

She said that it had been a couple of years, "I could no longer take the varicose veins and the back pain".

The doctor recommended she lose weight but he did not tell her what to do.

"It is not easy to burn off all that fat," she said rubbing her belly.

She said that she tried exercise but it did not work for her, "with aerobics my knees hurt. It is not me, I prefer simply to walk!"

Her daughter, Christian Artega, of 18 years of age, said that she began to gain weight when she graduated from high school and left basketball and soccer. Now she works and studies at the community college. She does not have free time for exercise.

Both women learned that when the mother suffers from excess weight, the children will also gain weight.

"Being fat is not hereditary," María Chávez, the director of the program told them, "but unhealthy eating habits are."

'What are you doing with yourself?'

"I was always a little chubby, since childhood, and I learned to accept myself that way," said Lupita España, of 34 years of age, and mother of two children.

She weighs 197 pounds and measures slightly over 5 feet. Her six year old girl, Goretty, weighs 84 pounds. Her weight should be between 44 and 53 pounds.

Both are in the program Take Care of Your Family; Protect Their Health in which there was mention of how to avoid childhood obesity based on a book written by Doctor John E. Monaco, of Florida.

The book warns that obesity is an epidemic that is costing us as victims those whom we most love: our children.

For España, native of the Mexican State of Morelos, the health of her daughter's and hers worry her.

The mother suffers from hypertension associated with the problem of obesity.

"My ears are ringing, I get tachycardia, and I go so fast all over," said the mother, resident of Encinitas.

Her daughter weighed 10 pounds at birth, a weight that put her at risk for diabetes.

España has no health insurance, and does not frequent a doctor.

She said that no one had spoken to her before of the importance of having healthy food and watching your weight.

But she knows the dangers of obesity well.

"I am angry at myself because I am a doctor."

She said that when she finished her professional career she married a countryman who brought her to live in the United States and she never worked in her profession and that has frustrated her.

"Inside of me there is a voice that is telling me, 'What are you doing with yourself?"'

España said that she has begun to make changes, and she now begins her day with a piece of fruit.

She said that this program happened upon her as though from the sky, "well it is never too late to begin to take care of oneself."

"No one had ever said that to me!"

Clara Lorenzo and her daughters no longer eat breakfasts that kill hunger, that are cheap, but not nutritious and high in fat.

Lorenzo, of 42 years of age, and her two daughters, Yessica of 10 years, and Cristina, of 14 years, are in the third week of the program Take Care of Your Family, Protect Their Health. And they had already adopted various changes to be healthier. They eat less junk food, less sweets, and no soft drinks. They drive less and walk more.

They said that before the program, the three would routinely run to the store in the mornings to buy a biscuit with eggs and melted cheese.

But they learned that the melted cheese had a lot of fat. They were also told that it was best to start the day eating a piece of fruit.

Lorenzo, native of the Mexican state of Guanajuato, spoke about her achievements during a class in the program.

She said that she now eats more fruit, and that that day she had enjoyed some strawberries. "They are delicious," she said.

In class it was suggested that they go to a gym but they said that they could not afford it. Nevertheless, in recent days, the three bought themselves swimsuits.

"We are in love with swimming," said the mom. And it is because the program includes the studio, Swimming for Health.

She said that she has never had a class with that sport for free.

The family lives in Carlsbad. The mother is a housekeeper, her salary is small and when she is done, she is very tired. She does not speak English and her challenges to satisfy the basic needs are big.

These are people who in their small towns learned to "eat what there was" to quiet the hunger and the concept of "healthy food" is new.

María Chávez, the director of the program, told them that they must listen to their stomach that tells them when it's satisfied.

She advised them that "We must eat more often to lose weight," well consuming a piece of fruit, a handful of peanuts, every three hours, avoid feeling a ferocious hunger and finish by over eating.

"No one had ever told me that!" Lorenzo said, surprised. She weighed 148 pounds and must lose 20 pounds to be within her weight. Her daughter Yessica weighed 106 pounds and should lose 25, and Cristina is in her adequate weight.

Lorenzo had never been on a diet. She said that she loses faith when she sees her friends "lose and gain right away."

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Parents discover the perfect exercise

Norma de la Vega, Enlace, October 3, 2008

VISTA — A group of peasant farmer parents has found the drive necessary to return to exercise in a swimming class.

Various people said that taking the plunge helped them savor the enchantments of childhood, when they knew how to have fun without rushing around, worrying, or inhibitions.

"We went back to being kids again, we screamed, laughed, and learned," said Estela Chamú, of 47 years and a mother of five.

The native of México City takes part in the health program Take Care of Your Family; Protect Their Health that has been meeting once a month in the Education Office of San Marcos County since last April.

It serves 12 peasant farmer parents and their 20 children, who are all overweight.

The program has the intention of showing them new habits to lose weight and live healthily. It is important because for years those parents have suffered overweight problems that have affected their physical health and their self esteem.

The final objective is to create a practical and realistic program that takes into account the habits and culture of Latino families with little resources.

María Chávez, the coordinator of this program, said that being overweight is most prevalent among peasant farmers than any other immigrant group and for that reason she began this program. It includes nutrition classes, medical revisions, psychological therapy, and exercise.

But the idea of doing exercise was not well received at the beginning of the program.

"You need special clothes and have to pay to go to the gymnasium," the parents said.

Chávez proposed only one swimming class and said that children were not invited there.

"I know my people," said Chávez.

She said that if they brought the kids, the parents would dedicate themselves to tending to them and would not participate in the class.

The parents obeyed and they had a grand time.

"Look! Nothing more than that it appears as though I brought a kindergartner," said the coordinator upon watching them swim and splash in the pool of a Vista home.

In the swimming class there was everything, some knew how to swim well, others were afraid of the water.

"I have always been terrified of drowning, but I thought, why not try it?" said Chamú, a resident of Escondido.

The Mexican immigrant said that she had never had a swimming class and she did not want to lose that opportunity.

She followed the instructions.

"Extend your legs, and kick," said Alejandra Maciel, the swimming instructor.

Chamú did not learn to swim in the class. Two hours were not enough. But she lost her fear of water.

Some days after, in another session with the group, the mother commented that she had a very good time.

"We returned to being kids, we screamed, laughed, and learned," she said.

She added that during summer vacation, she and her daughters would go every day to the pool where she would practice what she learned during the gatherings.

"The swim teacher told me that even though I was not swimming, I could walk or bicycle in the water."

She said that her exercise in the water has helped her to control her diabetes. She has already lost 12 pounds.

But not everyone needed help in the pool.

In fact, some of them knew how to swim well. The problem is that they had not done it in years.

"Will I still be able to swim because as a little girl, I would swim across a river?" Lilia Ramírez of 44 years asked herself.

The native of the Mexican state of Chihuahua said that she had not been to a pool in more than 20 years.

She was one of the first to take a plunge.

She did not hesitate and swam all the way to the opposite end of the 15 yard long pool.

Then she smiled happily.

Ramírez was amazed at herself, for her body in the water was as agile as when she was a little girl and without her heaviness.

"I am determined to lose weight," said Ramírez to her group in another session.

Last April Ramírez weighed 318 pounds, but by the end of August she had lost 32 pounds.

The mother of seven said that she was happy to be in the program.

She refused to follow diets, "because they help lose weight but not to remain thin."

But she accepted to enter the program because she is learning a new form of life.

"It was what I needed!"Ramírez said emotionally as she added: "I always asked God to help me lose weight."

Ramírez kept swimming. Without a car and with very little income it is not easy, but each day she walks or dances in her house.

She said that the program has not only shown her healthy habits, in addition, it returned the happiness she had lost.

"Swimming served me well, for it motivated me to be that little happy girl I was."

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Click here to read Norma de la Vega's original stories on the Enlace website.