The Hancock County Cooperative Extension Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program Assistant (EFNEP) joined True North Rehab Center to teach the Healthy Choices NEP program.   Once the entry paperwork was done, the EFNEP found that less than 9% of the adults were eating the recommended USDA daily intake of fruits. It was then taught why fruits are such an important part of a diet. The vitamins, minerals, and fiber, fruits are a great source to help our bodies. Fruits provide tons of antioxidants, they help fight against heart disease, cancer and other disease.  

At the other meetings we began to discuss the reasons why the adults weren’t eating fruits during the day.  Such reasons as, the fruits went bad fast, they didn’t know smoothies recipes, they got tired of the same fruits.

EFNEP taught the lesson on food safety, how to properly store the fruits to make them last longer. How to buy and eat them in a timely manner.  Several of the NEP smoothie recipes were brought to the group, and one was even sampled.  

By the end of the program there was a 90.9% change when it came to eating fruits more often each day, 55% more were trying to incorporate fruits more often in their diet.