“A healthy lifestyle involves many choices. Among them, choosing a balanced diet or healthy eating plan. So how do you choose a healthy eating plan? Let’s begin by defining what a healthy eating plan is.

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015–2020, a healthy eating plan:  Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products, includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts, is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium) and added sugars, and stays within your daily calorie needs.” https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/index.html  In Campbell County, the percent of adults who consume five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day is 11%, the state of Kentucky is 9%.  http://www.kentuckyhealthfacts.org/data/location/show.aspx?cat=1%2C2%2C3%2C5%2C8%2C11&loc=19 

In an effort to help individuals and families try new foods and possibly practice and adopt better habits with their meals and eating plans, Ronda Rex, Agent for Family & Consumer Sciences Education from the Campbell County Cooperative Extension Service, conducted five food/nutrition/cooking programs throughout 2018-19.  One hundred and four participants participated in either:  the Mommy & Me…in the Garden and Kitchen Program, the iCare:  Faithful Families Program, the Smoothies Lunch & Learn Class, the Learn, Grow, Eat, Go Program and the Cooking Up Diabetes Self-Management Program.  The focus was on choosing nutrient based foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairies, lean cuts of meat, drinking more water and less sugar based drinks, the quick, easy preparation of foods and home gardening (container, patio, and one pot gardening).  

The University of Kentucky Initiatives and curricula included:   Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices, Nurturing Families, Faithful Families, Family Mealtime, Got Vegetables, Super Star Chef, Super Star Chef Goes to the Farmer’s Market, Accessing Nutritious Foods, Plate It Up, Kentucky Proud and Nutrition Education Program Recipes, Managing Money in Tough Times Bits and Tips and the Texas A&M Program, Learn Grow, Eat, Go curricula.   Each program focused on the My Plate food model, portion sizes, pantry staples, fix it fast/fix it right food preparation, planning ahead with menus, savvy shopping/how to stretch the food dollar, adapting recipes, the importance of eating meals at home as a family and trying new foods.  New foods that were grown, demonstrated, prepared by students and sampled included:  fruits and vegetables for Super Food Smoothies, Pizza Basics and Easy Chicken Pot Pies, Easy Eggs Frittatas, Spring Trifles, Basic Quesadillas, Eggplant Parmesan, Cucumber, Corn and Bean Salsa and Chocolate Snack Cake, and more.  iCare participants also learned and practiced creating recipes like Baked Chicken Nuggets from the Faithful Families curriculum to teach how to bake foods instead of frying them.  

According to the University of Kentucky Article, Try a Small-Scale Garden this Year, by Rick Durham, UK Extension Professor, “with more people living in urban areas, many think they do not have the space to garden.”   However, during the Mommy & Me Program, the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, Terri Turner, Horticulture Assistant, uses such publications as the ID-248:  Gardening in Small Spaces to assist families on how to garden in a limited area such as container or raised beds gardening.  Terri also uses the ID-128:  Home Vegetable Gardening in Kentucky to help families with planting dates and with nurturing the garden until harvest.  Terri teaches the families how to garden at each Mommy & Me class utilizing the Campbell County Cooperative Extension Service’s Educational Gardens. 

End of programs’ evaluations showed that that seven adults and one child completed the iCare Faithful Families Program.  Kacie Leavell, founder and CEO of iCare, transports limited resource individuals from Newport to the Campbell County Extension Office for each class.  After four weeks, eighty-six percent of the participants stated that they eat meals and snacks with one or more family members.  Seventy-one percent said that they cooked dinner or the main meal at home at least three or more times a week.  Fifty-seven percent stated that they think about healthy food choices after practicing these habits during the duration of the program.  Twenty-eight participants form the Lunch and Learn Smoothies Class stated that they now feel more comfortable incorporating smoothies into their daily meal plan and gained a better understanding that certain beverages are healthier than others.  Ninety-six percent listed three ingredients that they would use to make smoothies a healthier option.  Ninety-three percent planned on making smoothies at home and eighty-nine percent planned on making healthier beverage choices as a result of the class.  End of program evaluations for the Learn, Grow, Eat, Go Program revealed that of the eight students completing the program, one hundred percent of the students could recall the 5 My Plate food groups along with examples of GO, SLOW, WHOA foods.  One hundred percent of the students practiced making fruit smoothies such as the Blueberry-Banana Smoothie from the Nutrition Education Program Chop Chop Magazine.

End of eight month long Mommy & Me…in the Garden and Kitchen Program revealed that:

1.  Fourteen families with 15 parents and 16 children now cook together as a family.
2. One hundred percent of the families practice cooking skills learned in the program such as wet/dry ingredient measuring and the big one being knife safety.
3. One hundred percent of the families stated that they and their child are using recipes from Mommy & Me.
4. Ninety-three percent said that as a result of Mommy & Me, their child eats healthier foods.
5. Eighty-seven percent of the parents said that they feel that their child is trying new foods as a result of the program.
6. Seventy-three percent of the families stated that their family eats out less as result of Mommy & Me.
7. Seventy-three percent of the families said that they now have a garden as a result of the program.
8. Parents said that the most important things taught in the program were:  knife skills, picking healthy foods, and trying new foods; trying foods at least 20 times and continuing to try them.
9. Parents named foods that were grown, demonstrated, prepared and eaten in the program that their children now eat are:  avocados, salsa, pesto, hummus, cheesy potatoes, spinach, strawberries, eggs, okra, eggplants, peppers, green beans, basil, pumpkin, kiwis and wheat tortillas.

Mommy & Me families gave testimonials about what they liked about the program:

1.  “When kids cook their own food or help, they are more willing to try it and like it.”
2. “Cooking together as a family.” 
3. “The families cooking the Mommy & Me recipes on their own.”
4. “Teaching children how to follow recipes.”
5. “Learning how to take care of gardens.”
6. “Teaching kitchen hygiene.”
7. “Learning to cook eggs.”
8. “Teaching hand washing.”
9. “Child showing more interest in cooking.”