Senior Kentuckians have shown some of the lowest vegetable consumption rates across the country for many years over other demographics in several studies. Madison County Senior Citizens are no exception. Most of these Seniors are on a limited budget and cannot eat expensive produce before it spoils. For this reason, these seniors spend their food dollars on food items that will last longer at a lesser cost. These types of foods are typically higher in salt, fat and sugar which lends no aid to potential health risks that are indicative to this age group.

St. Joseph Hospital Berea in Madison County offers a holistic program geared toward Senior Citizens called Senior Renewal. This program offers mental health services, home health services when needed, transportation for increased independence and nutritious meals served at the center just to name a few. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (Snap-Ed) Assistant Senior was asked to offer classes for this group to show these seniors plausible ways of increasing vegetable intake in their daily diets.

A program was planned for seven lessons to be taught the first Monday of each month over seven months. The assistant senior would teach these lessons at the center during the clients’ lunchtime where each client would request their choice of meal for the day. Each visit would consist of a food group lesson, teaching the health benefit of each one. The assistant would also bring food models to demonstrate what proper portions look like as many of these seniors were underweight or undernourished. She was occasionally given permission to bring samples of a healthy recipe as encouragement for them to cook at home. Each time the clients were given nutritious, cost-effective recipes to try, and were expected to report any substitutions or opinions during the next meeting.

The response was amazing! The assistant noticed right away that more of the clients were ordering salads for lunch instead of burgers and chips. Every client was more engaged with each passing lesson. The director reported increased requests for farmers market and grocery store transport. Out of the ten seniors that participated in this class, nine verbally reported learning and implementing prep cooking techniques and proper storage of vegetables so as not to waste food items. Most reported increased use of frozen vegetables also as a way of not wasting but also to raise vegetable intake. One lady who battled many health and dietary issues reported that she was able to eat vegetable soup again after many years. This was one of her favorite recipes to make as she could eat it for several days without getting tired of it. But was currently unable to eat beef and was forced to give it up. The assistant taught her to make the soup she loved with beef stock for the flavor leaving the beef out and adding more hearty type vegetables like carrots and potatoes. The client was elated and has reported since that she has gained some of her weight back because of the skills she learned during this class.