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New Advances in GBFB Nutrition Education

Published on May 15, 2014

The Greater Boston Food Bank’s (GBFB) nutrition team has launched a nutrition education and sampling program at our direct distribution sites. Our goal is to promote healthy lives and communities by educating clients about healthy food choices they can make on their own.

We take an interactive approach by setting up our nutrition cart onsite at GBFB food distributions. The cart features general nutrition information and members of Team GBFB pass out samples of items being distributed that day. If sweet potatoes are being distributed, samples of mashed sweet potatoes are handed out along with recipes for preparation methods.

This could be the first time some eat a sweet potato…or many might leave with a new recipe to change up a common ingredient! We spend this time with clients to answer their questions and to reinforce the importance of making healthy food choices.  After this experience, many are more inclined to take home and enjoy an unfamiliar (and nutritious) item.

Not only do we promote healthy lives and communities among clients, we provide an enriching opportunity to our dietetic interns who have worked on this program! So far, our interns have developed four topics:

Making a Healthy Plate with MyPlate: Orchard Gardens School Based Pantry, November 13
Children and parents placed pictures of food into the appropriate category of MyPlate. Samples of pumpkin pasta were shared since canned pumpkin was distributed that day.

Go, Slow, and Whoa Foods: Hennigan School Based Pantry, December 18
We helped children understand why certain foods should be enjoyed occasionally while other foods should be eaten frequently.  Children placed pictures of food into the “go”, “slow”, or “whoa” categories based on fat, added sugar, and/or calories.  Participants enjoyed samples of shredded apple, turnip, and carrot salad.

Dirty Dozen vs. Clean Fifteen: Bunker Hill Community College Mobile Market, April 23
This lesson provided education on organic and conventional fruits and vegetables and how to make informed choices when shopping for produce.  Students and Veterans guessed which fruits and vegetables are best bought organic and which ones are okay to buy conventional while sampling fresh apple salsa.

Building a Healthy Breakfast: Tynan School Based Pantry, May 7
Children and their parents practiced building a healthy breakfast by placing pictures of foods from three different food groups onto MyPlate.  Samples of mini yogurt parfaits were distributed while we discussed the importance of starting your day with a healthy and energizing breakfast.  The nutrition team is excited to continue to visit GBFB’s direct distribution sites to provide more nutrition education to help end hunger here.

By: Lauren Casale, RD, LDN, The Greater Boston Food Bank

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