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LinkedInPosts Tagged: nutrition education
Lean-N-Green Day, Farm & Nutrition Day mark National Nutrition Month
UCCE nutrition educator Lori Coker helped children play the "Sugar Cube Game," in which students raced to amass white sugar blocks to reach the amount in a bottle of soda. An 11-year-old participant told the reporter she would be telling her family about the surprising amount of sugar in their favorite drinks.
Farm & Nutrition Day Planned for March 23 at Fresno Fairgrounds
California Ag Network
Fresno County third-graders will convene at the Fresno Fairgrounds March 23 for an agricultural and food-related field trip organized by the Fresno County Farm Bureau. A focus of the event is learning the importance of making healthy food choices, much of which is provided by Fresno County's bounty of diversified crops and products.
UC Cooperative Extension nutrition educators will present a play that helps the children recognize "MyPlate" as a guide to healthy eating and uses a "Strong-O-Meter" to encourage active play. In addition, the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center staff and UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors will staff booths teaching children about farming and gardening.
UC educator is better known as the 'Carrot Lady'
Sometimes, it's all in the name. A garden variety story about nutrition education seems to have gotten lots of pickup in the media, perhaps because of the catchy moniker attached to the teacher - the Carrot Lady.
Sutter-Yuba UC Cooperative Extension youth nutrition educator Angela O'Rourke visits local schools and teaches children about healthy eating by guiding educational activities and offering samples of carrots and other vegetables, according to a story in the Appeal-Democrat.
"You can call her the 'Carrot Lady,'" wrote reporter Ryan McCarthy in the article's opening paragraph.
O'Rourke said she wears a bright green apron with a big carrot logo to schools and tells the children her memorable nickname to reinforce her reason for visiting.
"It reminds the kids that we're talking about something healthy today, about how to make healthy choices," O'Rourke said.
Schools are working to make sure what they serve in cafeterias is good for kids — and parents can assist by providing their children with healthy foods. The lure of processed foods, carefully marketed to be tasty, is strong.
"If you put chips next to carrots, what do you think they're going to eat?" O'Rourke was quoted in the story. She tells the children her own favorite snack is orange juice and toasted bread.
The story was also picked up in the Orland Press-Register, the Willows Journal and the Colusa County Sun Herald.
Angela O'Rourke is the Carrot Lady.
