Through a partnership with the Calvin A. Perry Community Center and the Campbell County Cooperative Extension Service Supplemental Nutrition Education Program, seven Campbell County residents attended a 7-session weekly series of the Healthy Choices for Every Body program. Most of the participants signed up for the program with the goals of learning new, healthy recipes that they can make easily and affordably at home, with the goals of increasing their intake of certain fresh fruits and vegetables. According to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Data, only 11% of adults in Campbell County had consumed the “recommended fruit and vegetable intake” in 2017. A number of the participants already included vegetables like corn, potatoes and peas but had particular concerns with the amount of red, orange and dark leafy greens they were consuming.

Lessons taught from the Healthy Choices curriculum paid special attention to the importance of increasing fruit and vegetables in the diet, particularly vegetables in the red, orange and dark green subgroup. The Nutrition Program Assistant also included lessons on how to plan and prepare meals at home with an emphasis on affordability.

By the end of the program, 57% of the participants increased their consumption of red, orange, and dark green vegetables each week. 57% of the participants also cooked dinner at home more times a week than before attending the program. One participant expressed “changing your diet doesn’t happen overnight, but I’ve been able to make small changes every day that make a difference”. The center’s Recreation Director has been supportive of Extension, and the Nutrition Education Program, from the beginning of the partnership. She recently stated, “The participants in the Nutrition Program, couldn’t say enough about how much they enjoyed meeting each week with the program assistant. They liked learning about eating healthier meals and loved the tasty dishes they all helped prepare.”