Author: Melissa Goodman
Major Program: Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18.5% (or 13.7 million) of children and adolescents are obese. To address this problem, the Hickman County Cooperative Extension Service implemented 4th-grade life skills camp: a cooking, manners, and nutrition program for fourth graders. 54 students took a day-long field trip to a local church gym where they learned about manners, food safety, kitchen safety, knife skills, measurement conversion, reading recipes, and other aspects of
Author: Julia Wilson
According to the Trust for America’s Health Survey , Kentucky’s obesity rate for children ages 10-17 has increased to 33.5%. (Trust for Americas Health, 2016). Consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables is vital to help combat the youth obesity rate.In the fall of 2018 the Edmonson County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent partnered with the Edmonson County 4-H Program Assistant and a 4-H Club leader to offer nutrition education and a healthy snack to members of the Kyrock 4-H Club.
Author: Rachael Price
Grant County KY has an Adult obesity rate of 35.6% and a physical activity rate of 30.2%. The Grant County Family and Consumer Sciences, Nutrition Education Program, Master Food Volunteers, and Williamstown Kiwanis Club collaborated to offer a series of nutrition classes targeting those with mental health issues in Grant County. The Grant County Extension Service worked in partnership with North Key, a community organization that provides mental health, substance use, behavioral and develo
Author: Amanda Hardy
Healthy Cooking participants do hands on cooking, get to meet and talk to others about cooking, learn about new recipes and taste the recipes along with a lesson on the topic. Utilizing new Plate it Up recipes and revisiting recipes from the past opens up discussion about farmer’s market and what is in season. When it comes to winter time we talk about easy slow cooker meals along with hearty recipes that are not only healthy but taste good. Other classes that were taught were on cooking w
Author: Rita Stewart
Easy access to unhealthy foods, increased stress , and limited opportunities for physical activity all create challenges and barriers for Kentucky families in making healthy lifestyle choices. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11% of adults in Kentucky have diabetes and 34% of adults ages 19 years and over were obese in 2016. 29.8% of adults ages 18 years and over also reported no leisure-time exercise in the past month. In order to empower participan
Author: Sarah Congleton
According to US Census estimates for 2016, an estimate of 3,993 residents of Martin County lived in poverty and 1,207 being children. Child poverty typically results in food insecurity. Food insecure children do not have access to nutritious foods, like fruits and vegetables. To help combat this issue, the Martin County Family & Consumer Sciences Program partnered with the Nutrition Education Program to implement Super Star Chef. This was a 3-day program teaching children from ages 9-12
Edmonson County is a rural county in south central Kentucky. Due to the lack of public transportation in a rural county, limited number of program facilities, and residents leaving the county for work, the Healthy Choices for Every Body Live was developed to overcome those barriers in Edmonson County. The Healthy Choices for Everybody curriculum was taught via Facebook live videos in a private Facebook group since October of 2016.The Edmonson County FCS Agent and SNAP-Ed Assistant worked togethe
Author: Brittany Bowling
According to the CDC 60% of children do not eat enough fruits and vegetables, and as they get older children eat even less fruit. With obesity at an all-time high in the state of Kentucky, the Leslie County FCS Agent implement The Literacy, Eating, and Activity for Preschoolers (LEAP) at the Creative Minds Learning Center. Books such as Germs, Germs, Germs, “Clarabella’s Teeth”,” Why should I Eat Well”, “Dinosaur Diner”, and many more were read, phy
Author: Amy Stooksbury
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Kentucky youth rank among the 10 highest for obesity in the U.S.. According to the U.S. Census, approximately 19% of Kentucky’s total population is living in poverty; and, approximately 27% percent of children and youth under the age of 18 live in poverty. KY Dept of Education School Report Card for 2017-18 shows 53.4% of youth receive free lunch and 7.5% receive a reduced lunch rate.Todd County Nutrition Education Pro
Author: Angie York
According to the World Health Organization, senior adults are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition. Many of the diseases suffered by older persons are the result of dietary factors, some of which have been operating since infancy. These factors are then compounded by changes that naturally occur with the ageing process. In an effort to help senior adults learn more about the positive effects of good nutrition on the body, monthly nutrition lessons are conducted at the Lyon County
Author: Annhall Norris
The Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition along with FCS Extension provided high school students with hands on experiences where they learned about food as a medicine at this year’s 4-H Teen Conference. Thirteen students participated in two days of activities learning about food and nutrition topics, their impact on overall health, and how this is connected to what we do in the kitchen. Registered Dietitians taught students different food preparation techniques and how to
Author: Amy Singleton
Regional Extension Agent for the Kentucky Nutrition Education Program and Family ans Consumer Sciences retiree partnered to teach a three-day food preservation workshop in Lee County.Nine participants completed the 2018 Lee County Food Preservation Program including five participants new to Cooperative Extension programming. They learned the pressure canning, water bath canning, freezing and drying methods of food preservation. Almost half (40%) of the participants reported using foo
Author: Vicki Wynn
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), moderate-intensity level activity for 2.5 hours each week can reduce the risk for obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, depression, colon cancer and premature death. The CDC also considers gardening a moderate-intensity level activity that offers other benefits, as well. In addition to these health benefits, gardens have been scientifically proven to be a stress reliever.Backyard gard
Author: Alivia Faris
According to information collected from Kentucky Health fact 42% of adults in Lawrence County are in less than good health, which is almost twice as much as the Kentucky State average of 23%. This information has lead the Lawrence County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Education to develop programming that focuses on healthier choices for better living. One notable program conducted based on the alarming statistic above was the Whole Grain Demonstration and Healthy Da
Author: Danielle Ford
Each year the 5th graders (303 this year to be exact) of the Marion County school district are able to participate in the Extension office’s Farm to Fork field day. This is one of my favorite field days that the office puts on each year. So many children still have no knowledge of where their food comes from or if they do then it might not be the correct information. Being raised a farm kid I always knew that I would someday have a career related to the Ag industry. Although I teach
Author: Tracy Cowles
The 2019 Kentucky Annual Economic Report published by the University of Kentucky states, based on high school student surveys, “Kentucky students get less physical activity.” Compared to the national U.S. average of 46.5%, Kentucky falls below to an average of 40.06% of students getting adequate physical activity. Also, “In addition, compared to the U.S., Kentucky students generally have poorer dietary practices.” Kentucky statistics fall below the U.S. averag
Author: Judith O'Bryan
Families suffering from food insecurity is an increasing need in our community. God’s Pantry Food Bank estimates that 1 in 5 children and 1 in 4 senior citizens are utilizing their services at least once a month. To address this need the Laurel County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent is collaborating with several local organizations to ensure access to sufficient food supplies for individuals and families. This past year the Extension Office has coordinated with the Ke
Author: Stacy Trent
Basic life skills go mostly untaught in classrooms, so high school youth are sometimes on their own to figure out how to live successfully in the world as adults. To address this problem in Wolfe County, the Nutrition Education Assistant at the Wolfe County Cooperative Extension Service partnered with the Community Education Coordinator to deliver a program for youth in high school using the Teen Cuisine curriculum. The curriculum is designed to help youth become self-sufficient in the kitchen w
