Reda E. Fugate SNAP-ED program Assistant Senior Perry County, KY

Bad to Good 

The Center for Disease Control reported that 75.8 % of Kentuckians ate fruits or drank 100% fruit juice less than 2 times per day.  Vegetable consumption was 89.1 % less than 3 times per day

The Perry County Cooperative Extension office in Collaboration with Save the Children did a series of 7 Nutrition Education classes using Nutrition Education Program curriculum Healthy Choices for Every Body, at a local school. Classes were held after school where youth and parents could learn to cook and eat healthier meals together. The focus on getting youth to consume more vegetables. With this in mind the recipes used all contained vegetables. While doing a recipe” Colorful Quesadillas” one youth and his mother volunteered to do the cooking following the guide line of food safety, knife handling, and cooking skills learned in the class.

During the demonstration youth cut a vegetable and stated” I would never eat this vegetable or I would never eat that vegetable” as he added another orange, yellow or red bell pepper to the skillet. Then came the spinach and onions, the youth really wasn’t ready to eat spinach or onions. Assistant asked have any of you tried a purple onion or a yellow pepper, this is a good opportunity to try something new that you have prepared yourself. After each parent and youth prepared a colorful Quesadilla for themselves, youth liked them so much they ate 2 each.  By the end of the series 90% of participants reported cooking and eating more vegetables at home and making recipes given to them by the Cooperative Extension Office. The parents stated with our new nutrition knowledge and cooking skills we as a family now have more vegetables in our daily diet our kids love to cook. One youth stated “vegetables are no longer bad but good all different vegetables”.