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Julie Siple
ST. PAUL, Minn.

TV show promotes health for low-income residents

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A television program designed to help low-income Minnesotans eat well and be physically active kicks off Sunday night.

The 30-minute program will run on Twin Cities public television in four languages -- Spanish, Somali, Hmong and English.

Ryan Johnson, who works with the University of Minnesota Extension, is one of the producers of the program. He said it is aimed at helping people find ways to make healthy living affordable.

"In general, low-income audiences have less access to healthy and nutritious food," said Johnson, who is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) liaison at the extension's health and nutrition programs.

"There also may be less access to safe places to get physical activity. We also know that sometimes the healthy food choices in low-income communities can be more expensive. So we want to understand that those are issues that affect low-income audiences and try to provide resources and information about how they might overcome some of those issues."

The program was produced by the University of Minnesota Extension and Emergency & Community Health Outreach (ECHO). It was funded in part by the USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides nutrition assistance to people with low incomes.

Johnson said the show will feature nutrition experts from diverse communities.

"I think that's really powerful for audiences to be able get this information in their own language from folks in their own community," he said. "So we're hoping that that will help reach these audiences and help people understand why it's so important for folks in their community to make changes around their diet and around physical activity."

The program will also include information about resources -- like food shelves and food stamps -- that can help low-income Minnesotans make ends meet.

• Follow Julie Siple on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/juliesiple_mpr