Learning Healthy Habits at HEALFest

One of Foothill's seniors, Ryan Sareen, played a significant role in HEALFest, an event where many different brands, speakers, and people, came together, united by the goal of making sure people live healthy lives. Ariana, a Foothill alumna, spoke at her Vitality booth about how we can maximize physical health. "We specialize in all healthy foods. We have a lot of superfoods, like acai, graviola, papaya, that help boost your antioxidant intake," she said. These ingredients make sure our cells can repair themselves and function smoothly. Additionally, mental health can have a significant impact on how you react to life events. Making sure people have the support system to be able to live their life to the fullest starts at home. The people you grow around with, the people that nurture you and care for you have a significant impact on the type of person you become. However, growing up in a calm and safe environment can become difficult when parents with special needs aren't given the help they need. Bina Bendale, an IEP advocate, is a strong believer in mental health help for the entire family. "If I am able to help self-regulate the parents, and really help their inner stress go down, then it's going to transfer that to their children and being able to help communicate better," she said when asked about her cause. After many booths were interviewed, there was one outlying message that they could all agree on: the importance of beginning your health path early. Wellthy, a student-led initiative with a booth at HEALFest, made it their mission to help teens begin that path. Their booth had a visual representation of how your health choices could affect the life you lead. Ira Gupta [11], one of the members of Wellthy says, "Intervening when your health is already deteriorating…is not going to help." Overall, HEALFest unionized various different brands, emphasizing how a community effort is key to bringing awareness about physical and mental health.