Posts Tagged: nutrition

Getting fruits and veggies from a can

A lot of ink has been splashed on newspaper pages recently extolling locally grown, fresh fruits and vegetables for improving the diet and supporting a sustainable food system. The Modesto Bee today takes a step back and revisits canned fruits and vegetables, which are produced in abundance in the Northern San Joaquin Valley community that the newspaper serves.

According to the story, the canned food industry maintains that canning seals in flavor and nutrients, are affordable, easy to use and available year round. They pointed reporter John Holland to a 2007 UC Davis study that found high vitamin A in canned apricots and in a lesser amount in canned peaches and tomatoes. The canning process, which includes cooking, makes it easier for the body to absorb the vitamin A and lycopene, a substance in tomatoes that is said to prevent cancer, the article said.

While vitamin C can be lost when harvested crops are exposed to water or heat, many canned products are fortified with vitamin C and containers keep the vitamin level stable from then on. Fiber and potassium, the study found, were about the same for canned, frozen and fresh products.

Holland sought comment on the issue from the Stanislaus County UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor Terri Spezzano.

"Anything to increase fruit and vegetable intake this time of year -- fresh, frozen or canned -- is a positive thing," she was quoted in the article.

The human side of UC Cooperative Extension

Two newspaper accounts this week touched on the human side of UC Cooperative Extension. Food shopping savvy was the focus of an article in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, in which the daughter of a veteran UCCE nutrition educator created a blueprint for people trying make ends meet in the new economy, the story said.

Gerardo and Briana Fernandez shared their personal financial trouble with reporter Jeremy Hay. Gerardo, a general contractor, saw his income slashed in half in the weak economy. The couple realized that, between eating out and grocery shopping, food was gulping $600 from their monthly budget. 

Sound shopping skills learned from Biana's mother, Wanda Tapia, the assistant interim county director for Sonoma County UC Cooperative Extension, helped the couple slice their monthly food costs down to about $300, and at the same time eat a more healthful diet.

For example, Tapia taught her daughter and son-in-law how to create a "reality-based" shopping list.

"You know what's in your cupboard, so you're not going to the store and buying something you already have, that's wasting money," Tapia was quoted. "You want to know what you have in your cupboard now, and your shopping list should only be those items that you need to complete your menu."

Other money-saving suggestions included:

• Watch store sales and clipping coupons
• Select nutritious fruits and vegetables
• Resist the seduction of buying in bulk
• Don't shop hungry

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Two 4-H members were featured prominently in a Santa Paula Times story about their participation in a coastal cleanup program. Selena Hurtado and Rayanna Rodriguez, with leader Carole Butler, picked up three large bags of trash totaling over 30 pounds at Oil Piers beach in Ventura. According to the story, the Mupu 4-H team collected more than 150 cigarette butts, 45 glass beer bottles, clothes, a pillow, towels, toys, food wrappers and aluminum cans.

UC nutrition educators reach 32,000 in one fell swoop

Nutrition information was extended to more than 30,000 Shasta County residents today in a prominent Redding Record Searchlight food story with information sourced entirely from UC Cooperative Extension educators.

Shasta County food stamp nutrition educator Lori Coker and nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor Concepcion Mendoza explained in the 850-word article how to add whole grains to one's diet and why it is important.

"You have to read the labels," Coker told freelance writer Debra Moore. The story included a side bar suggesting readers look for products with the first ingredient listed as "whole grain," "whole wheat," "100% whole grain," "100% whole kernel" or "100% percent whole wheat."

Eating whole grains, the educators said, has health and weight control benefits.

"Eating whole grains reduces the risk of heart and other diseases," Coker was quoted. "It also aids digestion and gives you more sustained energy. It eliminates the crash and burn."

"If you eat the appropriate amount of carbs, you won't gain weight," Mendoza was quoted.

 

Fresh fruits and veggies at school promoted on KXJZ

The Capital Public Radio program "Insight" ran a segment this week on successful efforts in Davis to put fresh, healthful fruits and vegetables in school cafeterias. On the program, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program food systems analyst Gail Feenstra answered the questions of guest host David Watts Barton.

Feenstra said that the ability to offer local produce in Davis schools is linked to last year's passage of Measure Q, a parcel tax which allocates $70,000 per year to improve children's nutrition by providing farm fresh food for school lunches, according to a summary on davisfarmtoschool.org.

The fresh food lunches are part of an effort to help Davis children connect their food with its agricultural origin, rather than perpetuate a misconception that "food comes from the grocery store."

"We feel that by providing the students food from local sources, talking to them, school gardens and farm tours, they will make that connection," Feenstra said on the radio program.

Feenstra also said that, with additional grant funding, the project enlisted a consultant to provide monthly cooking lessons to school food service staff. The consultant is teaching the staff how to combine local, fresh ingredients with the commodity foods provided by the USDA to create meals kids will enjoy.

"They have gotten so excited by the program," Feenstra said. "They're making Mexican and Indian and Asian and Mediterranean items using the resources of their ethnic heritage. It's been a wonderful development."

More information on bringing healthful food to school cafeterias can be found on the UC Farm-to-School Program Web site.

A healthful school lunch.

Taking on the obesity crisis

UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor for Tulare County, Cathi Lamp, suggested strategies for families wishing to skirt the obesity epidemic at a recent presentation that was covered by the press.

Lamp was quoted frequently in a story written by family therapist Bev Thompson for the Visalia Times-Delta.

"Research shows that what works is parents setting healthy limits and providing structure for nutrition and lifestyle changes," Lamp was quoted.

Lamp offered the following suggestions to parents:

• Model healthy behaviors
• Don't use food as a reward
• Serve milk at all meals, use nonfat or 1 percent milk in sauces, and make pudding for dessert
• Increase naturally sweet fresh fruits and vegetables
• Take your children to the farmers' markets around the Central Valley
• Serve water throughout the day when kids are thirsty

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