On Saturday, April 29th, UC CalFresh attended Coalinga's Week of the Young Child Event at the West Hills College Child Development Center to honor the center's students and their families. With various vendors in attendance, families had the opportunity to enjoy many activities, including a petting zoo, a silent auction, a book fair, a gardening opportunity, and so much more!

Nutrition Educator, Elizabeth, leads a group of students in physical activity. 

 

The highlight of the event was bringing the garden beds at the Child Development Center back to life. Students planted tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, cilantro, peppers, bush beans and strawberries. 

 

Two little guys take part in gardening with their dad. 

 

Children of all ages enjoyed filling two garden boxes with plants!

 

Garden Box #1

Nutrition Program Coordinator, Kristi, helps a student plant a tomato plant. 

Garden Box #2

 

Each child played a part in the gardening, and they immediately took full ownership of their work. When the planting was complete, several children revisited the garden to assist with watering. 

 

One of our little friends makes sure to water his plants before he heads home. 

Nutrition Program Coordinator, Nancy, helps students with watering. 

 

The Week of the Young Child Event in Coalinga turned out to be a huge success! Our team can't wait to see how the garden grows over the summer. 

Ayer Elementary's staff lounge got a new Nutrition Corner just in time for spring. As warmer weather sets in and kids start to have time off from school, there's so many more opportunities to be active and eat fresh, sweet fruits and vegetables.

Here's some tips to "bee healthy" this spring:

• Stay hydrated! It's important that both kids and adults drink enough water as the weather warms up. If you're not a fan of plain water, try adding whole fruit for a sweet twist without all the sugar.
• Get enough sleep! After our wet winter, it's nice to get outside and be more active, but to stay healthy, we need to be sure to get enough sleep.
• Be active! Swimming and biking and hiking, oh my! With spring and summer breaks and long sunny days, there's so many ways to stay in shape in the warm months. Adults should encourage their kids to get moving for at least 60 minutes every day.
• Eat your MyPlate foods! Eating healthy foods is vital to having the energy and strength to do everything we love and keep our body working properly. It's tempting for kids to give in to less healthy foods as they start to have more leisure time, but it's important for all of us to be sure we're eating a quality diet.

We'd love to hear how you stay active and healthy as the new season rolls around. Share with us in the comments below!

Many people find it difficult or intimidating to incorporate strength exercises into their routine because they don't know what exercises they should do or what muscle groups each exercise targets. Strength exercises increase the strength of bones, muscles and connective tissues, lowering the risk of injury and increasing muscle mass, which makes it easier for the body to burn calories. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that individuals engage in strength or resistance exercises at least 2 times a week.

Source: http://bit.ly/2ouZPxb

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When creating your own resistance training program, it's important to include all the major muscle groups of the body and exercise them all equally. Focusing on one muscle group and neglecting others will lead to a disproportional body, and possibly injury. Multi-joint exercises are the best for you and are the most time efficient because they include multiple muscle groups and joints. Examples of multi-joint exercises are the squat, bench press, row, pull-up, overhead press, and lunges. 

Don't know where to start with resistance or strength exercises? 

Well good news! You don't need a gym membership or expensive equipment to do muscle strengthening activities. Below is a sample routine and guide to help you strengthen all the major muscle groups. Complete each round 3 times with 8-10 repetitions of each exercise. 

Round 1:

1. Push-up
   • Make sure your body is straight.
   • Modification: Place your knees on the ground or do a push up against a wall.
     
     
     
     

2. Row
   • Use cans, small hand weights, heavy objects, or bags full of groceries to do this exercise. 
   • Slightly bend the knees and bend forward at the hip.
   • Maintain a straight and stable back. 
     
     
     
3. Squats
   • Maintain a straight and stable back.
   • Modification: Sit and stand up in a chair.
     
     
      
     

4. Crunches
   
   
   

Round 2:

1. I's, Y's, T's- Shoulder Exercise
   • Raise straight arms in front of your body to make an “I.”
   • Return hands to side and raise arms in a “Y” shape.
   • Return hands to your side and raise your arms in a “T” shape.
   • Repeat.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

2. Reverse snow angels
   • Lie on your stomach with arms straight in front of you.
   • Keep arms straight and move them towards the back of your body in a slow and controlled manner.
   • Don't bend your arms.
   • Focus on working your back muscles.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
3. Lunges
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Supermans
   • Lie on your stomach with your arms and legs straight.
   • Raise your arms and legs and hold for a few seconds.
     
     
     
     

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Did you try this workout routine?

Let us know in the comments below. 

In January, Ayer students started their Food Friday Campaign with the goal of eating more fruits and veggies. A total of 559 servings of fruits and veggies were eaten during the four Food Fridays - way to go, Ayer Bears! Congratulations to Mrs. Lee's first grade class for having the largest increase of fruits and veggie consumption over the four weeks! Her class ate almost twice as many fruits and vegetables on the last Food Friday in comparison to the first. 

To celebrate Ayer students' hard work with Food Friday, UC CalFresh hosted a MyPlate obstacle course! Check out all of the fun below!

UC CalFresh team members Chris, Hannah, Austin, and Maira, Fresno State Dietetic Intern Alicia and NFCS Advisor Mandeep, couldn't be more excited!

Austin shows kiddos the Fruit Hoops.

Chris the Carrot leads the way across the field.

Students stretch their arms with Hannah.

Maira provides some push-up motivation for these strong students!

Thank you to everyone at Ayer Elementary for helping us put on this wonderful event! Students had a great time and were reminded to get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day.