Tag Archives: fruits and vegetables

Nicole Miller – Practicum Blog

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Hi Everyone,

My practicum has been in progress for a while, but this is my first blog entry to share the activities I have been involved with.  For my practicum, I wanted to gain more experience with nutrition related research.  I started working with two professors at a large local university (University of South Florida).  Both are involved in very different and interesting research projects.

 

My work with Dr. Lauri Wright initially involved work with a Feeding America/Kid’s Café project.  The purpose of the project was to develop a nutrition education program to promote fruit and vegetable intake in children from food insecure households.  Prior to my starting work with this project, Dr. Wright had already designed the intervention and received a generous grant from Feeding America to cover the expenses.  The project was conducted through a Boys and Girls Club in the Sulphur Springs community (a lower-income area) of Tampa, Florida during summer of 2012.

 

Upon my getting involved with this project, I designed educational materials on the importance of eating more fruits and vegetables which where used in the education of both children and parents involved in this program.  On multiple occasions during the project, I assisted in the creation and distribution of fresh produce gift bags (donated by Feeding America) to the children and families participating in the intervention.  I also had the opportunity to help with classroom based educational program (primarily focused on increasing intake of fruits and vegetables).  We taught the children about the importance of eating a “rainbow” of different fruits and vegetables, and provided them with a healthy snack (ladybugs on a log: celery with peanut butter and dried cranberries).

 

As part of the research experience I gained from this community intervention, I helped gather data on anthropometric measures and estimates of reported fruit and vegetable intake via survey of the participating children.  I then entered the data for approximately 50 pre and post surveys collected during the program into an excel spreadsheet.  In meetings with Dr. Wright, we have already noticed trends in the data collected (for example, %ile of BMI was overwhelmingly high, suggesting a high prevalence of overweight and obesity in the subject group).  The official statistical analysis of the data is currently being conducted by the department statistician.  I look forward to sharing the results during my practicum presentation.  Overall, it has been great to be involved in all aspects of this project, and to gain some experience with real hands-on public health nutrition related research.

 

Nutrition Class for Kid’s Café (all participants had given permission for photos to be taken)

 

Healthy snack provided to children during intervention

 

Bags of produce handed out during the Feeding American Project

 

My other area of work has been with Dr. Uusitalo and the TEDDY study (The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young Study).  This is a large epidemiological study that is focusing on exposures early in life (particularly infant feeding practices) and later onset of Type 1 Diabetes.  I am extremely impressed with the depth of this epidemiological data.  The data collection has been ongoing for approximately 4 years, and will continue for an additional 11 years.  The subjects are in 4 different countries, with a total of 8 sites of data collection total (4 in the U.S., 3 in Europe).  The database is extensive and includes a wealth of information on the socio-demographic and nutritional habits of a cohort of mothers and newborns.  Dr. Uusitalo is the main project coordinator; together we brainstormed ideas for small data analysis that she would like us to look at together.  In order to better understand the data, I have also done a review of current literature on health outcomes related to infant feeding practices (especially duration of breastfeeding).  Additionally, I have helped Dr. Uusitalo with coding some of the “missing” items in food database that the project utilizes.

 

My work with this project has allowed me to better understand the world of epidemiological research, and has given me more practice working with statistical analysis.  I am hoping that my work with this research during my practicum will provide the foundation to possibly complete an independent study that would involve coming up with a research hypothesis and using the TEDDY database to test the hypothesis.

 

Mashpee Village Nutrition Program: Cooking workshop

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Hello all,

On Thursday, Aug 16, 2012 we conducted the cooking workshop under the expert guidance of Joanne Irwin, who is the Cape &Islands instructor for Cancer Project, a non-profi t organization advocating for cancer survivors by education them about plant-based diets. The workshop consisted of brief presentation by Joanne Irwin that included introduction to the four food groups, high nutrient foods,  and list of the most pesticide-laden and the least pesticide-laden foods. The presentation was followed by cooking demonstration in which the youth in the group were encouraged to participate so that they can get hands-on experience in cooking healthy foods. Emphasis was placed on cooking with vegetables and legumes since these two were areas identified in the needs assessement.

 

Four food groups that were discussed were vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains. For each food group, examples of different foods were given along their nutritional/health benefits; recommendations were given for daily servings for each food group.

List of nutrient dense foods among the following food groups were provided: fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts & seeds, whole grains and dark leafy greens.

During the cooking demonstration the following recipes were prepared in which the entire group was engaged and the youth assisted in the preparation of the foods:

  • Berry smoothie
  • Roasted red pepper humus
  • Black bean, mango and quinoa salad
  • Penne pasta with kale, tomatoes and olives
  • Enchilada Pie
  • Chocolate Mousse

 

The participants were served the prepared food for dinner. Many in the group were exposed to the experience of trying new foods. Handout information was provided that contained the recipes for the day’s menu, cost breakdown for each serving in each recipe, list of additional recipes that would cost under 5 dollars to make.

The entire group was very engaged throughout the workshop.

This cooking workshop was the last part of the intervention of the nutrition program. Next week, a post-intervention survey will be conducted which will culminate the summer nutrition program.

Thank you,

Best wishes,

Kumara

 

What targets for carotenoid intakes?

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My dataset contains carotenoid intakes for the six carotenoids measured in NHANES:

  • Alpha carotene
  • Beta carotene
  • Beta cryptoxanthin
  • Lycopene
  • Lutein
  • Zeaxanthin

The issue is that I have been able to compare vitamin intakes with recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, however there are no recognized recommendations for the carotenoids. Carotenoid intakes and levels in the body can been seen as a marker for fruit and vegetable consumption. Therefore, I thought that the best approach would be to look at carotenoid intakes in people meeting recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption. There has been a recent publication in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association that actually looked at this in the NHANES data from 2003-2006. My data goes up until 2008 however I don’t expect to see any major changes if an extra survey cycle is included. The authors compare carotenoid intakes between people meeting fruit and vegetable recommended intakes. This can make a suitable basis to work out the percentage of the US population not consuming enough carotenoids.

Here is the reference and link: Murphy MM, Barraj LM, Herman D, Bi X, Cheatham R, Randolph RK. Phytonutrient intake by adults in the United States in relation to fruit and vegetable consumption. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2012 Feb;112(2):222-9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22741166

I now have my calculator online but there are a few adjustments that still need to be made. I hope that I will be able to start user testing within a week!

Healthy Options mid-season notes

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The project I’m working with changed its name to Healthy Options just prior to its launch in early June.  We have issued 2 months of farmers’ market vouchers to our participating families.  One challenge is getting folks to come to market to pick them up, but with reminder texts, phone calls and eventually mailing vouchers, we had participation from 41 of 44 enrolled families in June.

The optional activities that are also part of the program have been quite successful.  They represent a lot of collaboration from college student interns and other community folks.   I enjoy my role as overall coordinator and participation in the different activities!

  • Farm tours–Four participating families toured a fruit and vegetable farm that sells at market.  It was very neat to hear the interactions between participants and the farmer–lots of questions, and folks even taught the farmer the value of his purslane “weed.”  We head to a beef farm next Sunday.
  • Gardening classes–Two sessions provided ideas and supplies for families who either have access to a garden or a place to put containers.
  • Photography project–Fourteen participants have attended meetings to learn about taking photos illustrating their families’ food-related experiences and bringing their photos together to share.
  • Cooking classes–Gettysburg College Campus Kitchen interns will lead a cooking class with seasonal produce this weekend for the first of these classes.
  • Kids’ Days at market–Despite heat, lots of families showed up at market for kids’ activities and a great scavenger hunt that had kids interacting with farmers about their work.
  • Health Fair at market–coming up this Friday.  I convinced a friend to make a smoothie bike, which we are thrilled to have make its public debut for the event! 🙂
  • “Chat with the RD” at market–It’s been a challenge to find ways to engage casual shoppers at more than a very surface level, but with free samples and recipes, there have been some great opportunities to share ideas with folks.

It’s hard to believe we’re nearing the end of July!   While the activities will be wrapping up in the next several weeks, folks will continue to receive vouchers through September.

Linking School Nutrition and Community II

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Hi all!

I’m writing this as a follow-up to my first blog about my experience with the Hartford School Food Services Department. It barely touches everything that I’d like to share with you, but I suppose you’ll just have to tune into my Practicum Presentation on Wednesday, December 14th.

Picking up from where I left off….

One of my first steps was to gather information that outlined the issues of poor nutrition and obesity of Hartford’s children. The Director and I decided there to be a statement of rationale that explained why we were doing the project and what exactly we were doing. We gathered as many statistics that we could to outline the issue. These included the following;

– Connecticut childhood obesity rates and higher among Hispanics (36.3%; 18.4% overweight, 17.9% obese) and non-Hispanic black teens (32.0%; 16.6% overweight, 15.4% obese), compared to Non-Hispanic white teens (22.9%); 13.7% overweight. 9.2% obese).

– Approximately 50% of Hartford’s 11 year old children are “at risk”, “obese”, or

“extremely obese” and 30% of Hartford’s 2 year old children are in the same categories

Community Food Show?

The Director and I were able to arrange for a meeting with a representative from the food vendor, Culinary Standards. He shared with us information on how one of his clients, Brownsville Independent School District organizes and promotes their annual “Kool Foods for Kool Schools: Food Show. It was after reviewing their Vendor Registration Form, Floor plan, agenda, and promotional materials, and hearing the vendor’s suggestions we decided we had to do our “homework” so the district could be ready for such an event.

Controlled Tasting

After meetings with other staff in the central office, kitchen managers who see what the children take, and evaluating production records, we decided if we should focus our energy on the food least taken or consumed in the district. We identified vegetables (particularly orange and dark green), fruit, and high protein vegetarian items for controlled taste tests. By starting with these priority types of food we’re able to start incorporating new menu items before the community food show in the spring.

In mid-October I attended the School Nutrition Association of Connecticut Fall Food Show to see, taste, and ask questions from food manufactures about new school foods on the market. It was interesting to see the vendor try to vie for the largest district in Connecticut’s time and ear. It was pretty well known that if the district decided to take on one of their product, there were would a lot of business and therefore, revenue for the company. It was at the moment that I really began to see the how running a food service department, with the ultimate goal of feeding kids, still needs to meet their bottom-line. And with the amount of money the federal government reimburses these programs, it takes a skilled and creative director to provide a diverse menu of fresh and healthy foods that (and this is key) the students will actually eat.

Here is an example of one menu item we’ll be tasting with hope of it becoming a regular and popular menu item.
Basic American Foods’s New Sweet Potato Mashed, Side with Popularity

Not only is it an orange vegetable, a focus of the new Dietary Guidelines, but it’s easily prepared and suitable for the fast paced school food kitchen and it a good source of fiber with 100% of the daily value of vitamin A.

First thing was first in our challenge to do just this; we have to get students and kitchen staff acclimated to the practice of trying and tasting new foods. We thought it was best to keep them as controlled as possible so we can collect information on how best the tasting work i.e. how many staff does it take? Which tasting forms work best for what ages of students? Does nutritional messaging while tasting increase the likelihood to try something new? Or how does adult modeling influence tasting outcome?

These taste testings occurred in November during after school programming when students are participating in Hartford’s new Supper program. More on that on December 14th!