Old Ideas, New Ways

We’ve all been told before: eat your greens, eat your greens, eat your greens. When I was little, my mom used to tell me that if I ate my spinach I’d have big muscles like Popeye. My response was to push them as far away from me as possible. My mom also told me that I needed to eat carrots to “make my eyes bright”. My response: an exaggerated eye roll. Fast forward fifteen years and I’m spreading the same message: eat your vegetables (and fruits)! Lauren and I had the opportunity to give a presentation to the geriatric community about fruits and vegetables of various colors with the Food Supplement Nutrition Education (FSNE), a nutrition education program of University of Maryland Extension. Our curriculum was called “Health by Design” which explains the importance of healthy eating and how to incorporate it into your own lifestyle. What’s interesting about this program is that the first rule is “voice by choice”, which means that no participant will be called on and put on the spot. Each member of the audience can participate as much, or as little, as he/she wants. This creates an initial feeling that the room is a non-threatening environment. We talked about the benefits of fruits and vegetables broken down by color. We often hear we need to “eat the rainbow” of colors, and that’s exactly what we all need to promote good health and disease prevention. Food models were provided to show portion control and to show that there are so many different fruits and vegetables to choose from. The best part, however, was that we all got to try new ways to eat your veggies! We had mashed cauliflower and kale chips as a small snack to show that there’s no one way to incorporate vitamin-rich vegetables into your diet. Trying new recipes keeps it interesting and fresh! Who knows, maybe my seven-year-old self would have really liked the idea of kale chips!