- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
You can lead a child to fresh fruits and vegetables, but how do you entice them to eat healthful foods when you aren't watching?
“Simply offering healthy options is not enough to motivate children to make healthy choices,” said Sheri Zidenberg-Cherr, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Nutrition at UC Davis.
“Moreover, imposing restrictions rather than providing children with options to make healthy choices can have long-term negative effects,” said Rachel Scherr, assistant project scientist, also in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition.
In 2012, more than one-third of children in the U.S. were overweight or obese,...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
People love pizza, so they are sure to enjoy the new garden growing at the UC Desert Research and Extension Center in Holtville. A circle planted with wheat, tomatoes, bell peppers, herbs and spices, the garden looks like and produces the ingredients for pizza.
“Pizza can be a healthy meal, if you build it right,” said Stephanie Collins, outreach assistant at the Desert REC. “We can teach kids to add vegetables and educate them about whole grains and non-fat cheese.”
Collins initially envisioned the pizza garden teaching tool when she joined UC Cooperative Extension four years ago as a nutrition educator. The...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The brightly colored divided plate that lays out the USDA's model for healthy eating needs one little tweak, says the director of the UC Nutrition Policy Institute Lorrene Ritchie. Don't take anything away, but add H20.
Ritchie has joined with dozens of nutrition and health professionals around the country to ask that the USDA put water onto MyPlate.
“We don't have all the answers to overcoming obesity, but the research on sugar-sweetened beverages is very clear,” Ritchie said. “When you drink beverages like soda, sports drinks or punch, the sugar gets absorbed very rapidly and the body doesn't recognize the calories. The result is excess calories and...
- Author: Melissa Tamargo
It's that time of year when many people choose a resolution that helps them kick a bad habit, but sometimes making a sudden change is hard to stick to. This year, make a resolution you can actually keep by filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables. Need some ideas to get started?
Breakfast: Drink 4 oz. of 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. Top cereal or yogurt with 1/2 cup of berries or sliced banana.
Lunch: Try a salad as your main dish with the dressing on the side.
Snacks: Trail mix with dried fruit or a piece of fruit such as an apple or an orange is an energizing snack...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
People who grow their own vegetables in a garden typically consume enough fresh produce to meet the USDA Dietary Guidelines for a healthy diet, according to a recent UC Cooperative Extension survey of San Jose residents.
A diet containing lots of vegetables is lower in calories and higher in fiber and good for our health. Yet, not everyone has easy access to fresh vegetables in the United States.
“Growing vegetables and having a garden is an effective intervention to promote increased vegetable consumption among all Americans,” said Susan Algert, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Santa Clara County, who conducted the survey....