Author: Denise Wooley
Planning Unit: Graves County CES
Major Program: Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud
Plan of Work: Promoting Nutritious Eating and Active Living
Outcome: Initial Outcome
Research is clear that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help protect against several chronic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. Nationwide, it is estimated that only 12.2% of adult meet the recommended number of fruits each day and only 9.3% meet recommendations for vegetables (CDC, 2018). Kentucky falls even further below the national averages with only 8.0% of adults meeting daily recommendations for fruits and 6.3% meeting recommendations for vegetables (CDC, 2018). In response to these statistics, the Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent in Graves County implemented the Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud program through a Recipe Club to share resources during COVID-19. The goal was to encourage the consumption of locally produced fruits and vegetables across Kentucky.
Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud is a partnership between the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, and the University of Kentucky Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition. The project provides healthy, great tasting recipes using Kentucky Proud products as well as other resources for programming, recipe demonstrations and tastings, and marketing.
There were 74 people, from 3 counties, that participated in the 6-month recipe club. At the close of the recipe club the participants reported the following.
In addition, 79.3% of participants reported they intended to purchase more fruits and vegetables as a result of participating, even though the recipe club was finished.
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