- Author: Kim Girard
It's a drizzly winter morning, and dozens of volunteers at the San Francisco–Marin Food Bank are slowly breaking down a 2,000-pound sack of whole oats into 1-pound bags, their hair tucked back in neat plastic caps. A decade ago, volunteers were more likely to be boxing up canned foods items. Today, 60 percent of everything ferried out of this warehouse is fresh produce. No soda or chips are in sight, and whole grains like these General Mills oats are standard.
For food banks nationwide to move in a similar healthy direction, coordinated efforts must increase at all levels. It will take leadership like that provided by Feeding America, the national food bank network organization; expanded support for nutrition...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A critical moment that just about every child will face in his or her lifetime takes place at the counter of a fast food restaurant. What should I order?
UC Cooperative Extension nutrition educators in Tulare County keyed in on that point in time in a play performed for 1,600 fourth-grade students at AgVentures Farm and Nutrition Day, May 23.
The play is a scripted game show titled “What Does MyPlate Say?” which encourages the children to think about the USDA's MyPlate eating guidelines, introduced to them by UC CalFresh educators in their classrooms throughout the year, when they order a fast food meal.
Five “contestants” were selected from the...
- Author: Julie Cates
When was the last time you were excited about school lunch? For most of us that answer might be “never” or perhaps “pizza day,” but for the students at Tulare County's Farmersville High School, breakfast and lunch have become interesting every day of the week.
This is due to the efforts of James Lohry, director of Farmersville Unified School District Food Service. Lohry completed a program called “Smarter Lunchrooms,” sponsored by the Cornell University Behavior Economics Center, the California Department of Education, the Dairy Council of California, and the UC Cooperative Extension Cal Fresh nutrition education program.
In essence, the
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You skipped breakfast and you're walking into the supermarket without a shopping list. Distracted by several two-legged and four-legged members of your household trying to compete for your attention, you left the list clipped to your refrigerator door.
You're famished. The potato chips look good. The glazed doughnuts look even better. And that chocolate candy bar? To die for.
Bring ‘em on!
No, wait a minute. Let's get real, let's get green and let's get healthy. And let's save some money.
Nutritionist Amy Block Joy, Cooperative Extension specialist emeritus, teaches a University of California, Davis, freshman class on “Eating...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
It would be hard to forget a couple of kidneys singing the blues, or a disembodied heart demanding more exercise. That's what UC Cooperative Extension nutrition educators are banking on. The educators are pilot-testing a curriculum called “The OrganWise Guys” to help children remember healthy eating messages.
“The kids are really retaining the information because it is brought to life,” said Shawna Rogers, UCCE nutrition program coordinator. She and her colleagues take a four-foot doll to schools and peel open the chest to reveal plush toys representing all the organs. “Each time we go into the classroom, we focus on one organ and how they can keep...
