In the Fall of 2019, a program was held by the Nutrition Education Program Assistant at the Lincoln County Extension Office called Soups and Such. Each week, participants would be taught a lesson from the Healthy Choices for Every Body curriculum and would be served a Nutrition Education Program approved soup.  This program had several goals.  Participants would be given education on how to eat healthy, balanced meals using MyPlate. They would also be given information and resources on how to budget, plan meals, read food labels and make healthier choices in general.  Tips on physical activity were also given throughout these classes. The recipe focus was on soups because autumn is often when many people are thinking about comfort foods such as this, and the goal was to provide participants with healthy, affordable ideas. 

Participants were enthusiastic and had consistent attendance throughout the class.  Several of them reported making the recipes at home that had been demoed and tasted in class.  One participant told me how much fun it was for her to be learning more about eating healthy, but also just how much she enjoyed getting out of the house and socializing.  Another participant said that because of this class, she was excited to attend future programming conducted by the office. 78% of participants improved in one or more diet quality indicator, 78% improved in one or more physical activity behaviors and 78% improved in one or more food safety practice.  These improvements were encouraging to see because so many of the participants were veteran cooks with years of experience in the kitchen.  Even though this group had relatively good starting evaluations, they were still able to find areas to improve in.  One lady who was well into her 70s proclaimed that she finally felt like she understood how to read food labels more efficiently.  Overall, this was a very fulfilling and successful class with wonderful participants.