February Discussion Question Three
As a future professional would this be a program you could get behind and how would you improve it?
posted by Julie @ 12:48 PM
25 comments
ISU Dietetic Internship Journal Club
Objective: To become familiar with current scientific literature on a variety of nutrition topics and to gain experience in gathering, organizing, critically evaluating, presenting and facilitating group discussion of the literature and the implications to practice.
25 Comments:
Personally I have a huge interest in community nutrition, so I would absolutely take part in these programs. Improving the nutrition quality of life for all, but especially our youth, is very important and there is a definite need to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in that population. I agree that hands-on planting, harvesting, and preparation of fruits and vegetables is a key factor to this program. The more that this country's youth is exposed to these hands-on activities, the more likely they are to increase their fruit and vegetable consumption. As for schools, I think teachers should have some sort of training to increase their nutrition knowledge so that they can assist with these programs and be good role models for them as well. I think it would be great if each community had youth programs such as the garden-based nutrition education activities discussed in this research review.
This type of program is extremely appealing to me and so, I definitely could see myself getting involved. In order for the program to be successful, children would have to be involved in the entire gardening process. Various members of the community including horticulturists, dietitians and parents would have to be involved because they all could play critical roles in educating these children about fruits and vegetables, health and nutrition, and environmental issues. Teachers are also significant role models in a child’s life and so they should not only be involved in the school-based educational programs but in the community-based programs as well.
Aspiring to be a Community Dietition, this is exactly the kind of program I would want to work with. I see there being great benefits to this idea for helping children and parents understand the importance of nutrition as well as improving the obesity epidemic. One thing I I would like to see done with this is if the garden was at the school, periodically invite the parents to come for breakfast/lunch/dinner to dine with the kids. The meals would then be made from the food out of the garden so that everyone could taste the beauty of there labor and how wonderful fruits and vegetables truly can be. I see this type of program being a self esteem builder and being a way for some children to have success.
I really enjoy community nutrition and education, therefore I can see myself backing a program such as this. I would like to get involved in programs like this to help promote nutrition and awareness in young people. Childhood obesity, is an epidemic that needs help, with programs like this one, this could drastically improve the health of our youth. I really enjoy speaking and teaching, therefore if more dietitians could help out and teach and do hands on activities in the classroom, I think that would help. I think it would help if the children had nutrition as a subject to learn in school, that would educate both the teacher and the student more on the topic. An elementary school that I worked at had, “Try it Tuesdays.” This meant that the students would try a new fruit or vegetable every Tuesday at the school and they would discuss the food and how it benefited them, nutritionally. I loved this concept and I think more activities and programs, like this one, could be implemented into schools, regarding nutrition. The first step is to get the administration at the school to understand the need for such programs and activities.
Shelby-
I really liked your idea of having the parents come for a meal and eat with their child. I like the idea of cooking with the foods from the garden. This could then allow for the parents to learn along with the children and possibly encourage them to eat healthier at home. I think this could be a self esteem builder as along with them gaining a brouder knowledge of nutrition.
This is absolutely a program I would get behind if I were working as a community dietitian. I would want to know more about the different types of programs (like why the community centers were more effective) and use that improve the programs. Something that I would like to incorporate is parental involvement. Perhaps the children can grow something small at their houses with their parents and not just at the school. This could open the line of communication about healthy eating. Or, another possibility could be giving the children a list of fruits and vegetables at the beginning of the year. Then once a week, they are required with their families to eat something off the list and discuss it the next day. This would not only get their families to sit down and have a meal, but get the children's parents and siblings try a new fruit or vegetables as well and hopefully start a trend.
I think it would be a fun program to get involved in. I would be willing to run a program during the evening for a small group of parents and children to encourage them to use fresh fruits and vegetables. I would then have a few weekend days to have the children in the garden without their parents to learn and play. I think it is important for children learn about nature and the benefits of whole foods.
Sam, I think "Try it Tuesdays" is a great idea. I worked with a dietitian who was telling me that her family had the same tradition when she was a child. It has helped her and her siblings to be more adventurous with food and recipes as well as expanded their overall knowledge of food.
I would definitely be interested in heading up a program like this. The education part sounds fun but even being in charge of helping the kids with the garden. I grew up with a garden and I think that is how I grew to love vegetables so much. I would try to improve this program by getting a grant or having fund raisers to get the appropriate amount of funding for a project such as this. I also would market this program to the community to get their support and also to get people excited about it.
Shelby,
Neat idea about having a special dinner or featured recipe in which the parents and kids can enjoy their hard work. You could also hand out the recipes and this would give parents some new ideas to cook for their family.
Mere, I also grew up throwing the garden in my mouth, so to speak. Our garden was huge, and I bet that is why I love vegetables and fruits so much. Good point. My parents live on an acre, which makes it easy to even have a garden. Those living in the city or in tighter quarters may not be so lucky. It would help F & V consumption by children tremendously if we had community and school garden-based nutrition education programs.
It would depend on how the program was being run as to whether or not I would feel comfortable getting behind a program. I would want to see that the program allowed for student initiative and creativity. Are they going to use what they grow themselves, are they going to donate the food to shelters, have a mini "farmers market", etc.
I wouldn't want to get behind a program that wouldn't be fun for the kids and spark their ingenuity. But on the surface a garden based program sounds like a wonderful idea that is ripe with opportunity for an RD to come alongside and help with.
And setting up a team of especially motivated kids to help lead the program, and get the other kids excited, could only be a good thing.
Anna,
I agree with you that the program would have to be one that allowed the kids input and a feeling of ownership and pride over what they were doing. And I also agree that there are a wide variety of people from different professions that could help make this happen and give the kids different insights about what they're doing (from the physical planting to the nutrition aspect of what they created).
EFNEP uses a program like this one during the summer, and it is great; I was learning right along with the kids! Sometimes it was hard to get kids to go out in the sun and heat to dig around in the dirt; they enjoyed being your "helper" more than anything. The employees with EFNEP however, work day after day in dozens of gardens with hundreds of kids, and have more patience than you would imagine; there are days when an entire vegetable variety is lost due to a stray spade or hoe.
This program is a program that has the potential to be very beneficial to children relative to their future fruit and vegetable consumption and/or willingness to try new foods. If I were to participate in a program such as this one, I think it would beneficial to have vegetables ready to eat at different times of the year. This keeps them intrigued and excited as to what they are going to try next.
To incorporate this into the school year, and just not the summer months, it may be beneficial for classrooms to have some sort of indoor garden. This would work the same way as having a classroom pet: students would take turns tending to whatever was growing. Vegetables that grown in small areas would be idea: strawberries, cherry tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc.
Any program that gets kids up and moving I am a fan of. Plus it has been proven that kids are more willing to try foods if they helped prepare them. So it stands to reason that they would also be willing to try foods that they helped grow. If I were involved I would want to make sure that there was a nutrition lesson attached to the session. For example if the lesson was on nutrients that help the plant grow you could talk about the essential nutrients needed for us to grow and be healthy. You could do CHO, protein, and fat for little kids, vitamins older kids, and minerals for the oldest group. You would also want the kids broken into groups so that your message could be more individualized for that age group.
Tori
Sam, you bring up a good point of getting the administration to back the program. If they don't see the need then the program is in for an up hill battle.
Tori
I could see myself backing this program. The best time to start nutrition education is early in life before bad habits become difficult to change. It is important to teach basic nutrition along with the garden-based approach, so that the children can see how everything fits together. I would incorporate the foods that are growing in the garden into how the nutrients in the food work in the body. This way the children could link the nutrient dense fruits and vegetables growing in the garden with how it affects their health.
Anna,
I think you have a good idea including various members of the community such as horticulturists. Currently I don’t have the knowledge on how to plant fruits and vegetables in a garden. It would be nice to get some outside help from someone that knows what they are doing and to teach me some tricks of the trade. Plus, it is always nice to get different perspectives when teaching the class.
Anna,
I love the idea of incorporating other professionals like horticulturists into the activity and adding in other issues besides nutrition. I think that way the children might not only learn short term the benefits of eating healthy, but how being healthier and doing things like growing a garden can play into the bigger picture overall, and not just for themselves. This would probably leave a bigger impact on them and it wouldn't be something they did one year, but that they carry on throughout their lives.
If I ever decide to work with children in the community setting I definitely think that this program would be one that I would use. It is hard to say what I would change simply because I haven’t had the opportunity to observe any of the programs to see exactly what was done. But I can tell you a couple of things that I know I would do. I would make sure that is several times a week and for at least 12 weeks, and I would do everything I could to get the parents involved, since they have the money and the final say in what the children eat.
No question that I would support this type of program; the more kids understand where their food supply comes from and how it's grown or raised is crucial to what kids understand about food in general. Hands-on involvement is certainly a fantastic way to encourage broader understanding of the food supply and nutrition. As I mentioned in some of my other answers, though, I'd want a program like this to be inclusive. The child who has no access to a place to garden might feel that a gardening "class" at school isn't really speaking to them. Showing them ways to grow f/v in a modest container could be a good thing...Having said all this, what about creating a direct link between school food service and a gardening program. Think how having a school garden that provided certain fresh produce items could lessen the budget of a school lunch program!
As a professional, I would get behind one of these programs in anyway possible. If I had time, I wouldn't care to organize one or lend my time to a pre-existing program. Depending on how the program was set up, I'm sure that as a nutrtion professional I could offer many additional ideas as to how to make the program more nutritionally educational and fun
I would absolutly get behind this program. As I mentioned, these types of programs contribute more than just a greater appreciation for veggies. They also support community and the environment. I would work with my local dietetic association, dietetics students and local businesses to contribute to the garden.
I would definitely support this program as a professional. I think that for the program to be continually successful, there would have to be a constant change in the types of fruits and vegetables being grown. One other improvement might be to ensure that the children are involved throughout the whole process, including picking out the types of plants that they are interested in growing and learning more about.
Nicole, I think it is a great idea to see it before you try it. You can physically see what motivates and inspires the kids, and what they lose interest in quickly. You can also see the different ability levels and attention spans between the ages, and then implement all of these factors into your own program.
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