The Johnson County Senior SNAP-Ed Assistant started two new groups at the Carl D Perkins Rehabilitation Center. These adult students will be independent and living on their own after graduation. It’s important for these students to acquire basic life skills that will help them when they are living independently. Teaching proper nutrition to young adults is sometimes challenging due to already established bad eating habits.

We talked about chronic dieses and how reading and understanding nutrition labels was a huge part of eating healthy. We discussed the nutrition facts, serving size, handling instructions and most importantly the ingredients. Understanding what’s on the label would help them make a more informed choice when purchasing foods. We used actual food labels and talked about diet and health issues that relate to reading labels. All the students asked important questions about sugars, carbohydrates and fats.

 Three of the students had health issues that require them to know about sugars, protein and carbohydrates. They talked about how hard it was for them to understand what they shouldn’t eat. By covering the lesson “Reading Labels for Every Body” and “Knowing Your Limits,” the students with the health concerns said they now have a better understanding of the nutrition facts on food packages. They also said knowing what to look for on the labels gave them the confidence to shop for food on their own.