Class Thursday, May 31, 2012

Hello,

Today is my  dad's birthday, so that's exciting. Second, we had a "locavore" lunch where the different groups brought a variety of locally made dishes. It turned out to be fun and all of the food was delicious. My group make kale chips, pasta salad, and a strawberry salsa with homemade cinnamon chips. Here are the recipes for the dishes:

Kale chips
1 bunch kale
1t sea salt
1t pepper
2T canola oil
2T shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat oven 350 degrees. Tear kale leaves off stem, wash, dry, tear into pieces and place on pan. drizzle with canola oil, stir o cover. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and cheese on kale. Bake for 6 minutes, stir around, bake for 4-5 more minutes. Enjoy!

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

16 oz gluten free rotini pasta

Olive oil

4 oz feta cheese

2 large red bell peppers (diced)

1 medium tomato (diced and seeded)**

1 cup chopped fresh basil**

Directions:

1.       Cook pasta according to package directions.

2.       Strain pasta and add olive oil according to preference.

3.       Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix.

4.       Chill before serving.

Fruit Salsa

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups fresh strawberries (diced) **

1 cup fresh kiwi (diced)

1 cup mango (diced)

2 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp honey

Directions:

1.       Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

2.       Chill before serving

**Local—purchased at farmer’s market

Class Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Hello,

Today we went to the dairy farm. It was actually really cool because I know the least about an operation like that so I felt I discovered a lot that I never knew before. I now know that it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and organization to do the things they do at the farm. I often think about where my food comes from but until now, I realized I forgot about milk and how it gets to the stores so it was an overall new and fun experience.

Alex Z

Class Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Hello,

Today we did not have class but instead we met with our groups to talk about the final project/paper. We divided up the work in a pretty efficient manner and got to work! I have the workbook currently but I'm going to send it off to Mo tomorrow whenever I see her in class. That's about it! I'm happy that the quarter is wrapping up! :)

Alex Z

Class Thursday, May 17, 2012

Hello,

On Thursday we went out to Good Earth farm. It was really cool to see since I've only heard of it before. The man running the farm was very nice and knowledgeable about farming and food pantries. The farm has cows and sheep that are used for educational purposes and the cows produce milk for the house. The farm is run by donations and grants and fellowships and when the time comes, they just donate all of their produce to the local food pantries. The number of produce they are able to give out is increasing over the years. This was my favorite talk to far this quarter because it was "moving" and "inspirational"...  :)

Alex Z

Class Tuesday May 15, 2012

Hello,

Tuesday a dietician from WIC came to talk to us about the nutritional side of WIC. She talked about eligibility requirements for mothers and what steps they must go through to receive benefits from WIC. She said she mostly deal with paperwork and nutrition counseling for mothers who come in to see her.

I liked this topic because it's something that I've looked in to as an occupation when I graduate and become an RD.

Alex Z

Class Thursday, May 10, 2012

On Thursday we went to the Eco House and the Compost Plant located off of Dairy Lane. This was really cool to see because I've heard so much about composting but had not seen how it is done until then. The Eco House  seems like a cool place to live. I don't know if I would like it too much but I find peace of mind knowing that there are measures being taken on campus to raise awareness for safe and more efficient uses of energy. Reaching out to college level kids is a very good way to spread the awareness, in my opinion.

Alex Z

Class Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Hello,

Tuesday we went to the OSU Extension office where we learned about the history of the extension and the 4H division. Growing up, I knew others who participated in 4H but I never did. I just thought that it was for people who had farm animals but I quickly learned that there are several different projects that kids can take on that have nothing to do with farming. We did learn though, that 4H was initially started to keep farms alive by teaching the kids how to farm.

The extension office is includes 4 program areas: Agriculture and Natural Resources, Community Development, Family and Consumer Sciences (this program is dying), and 4H and Youth Development.

Alex Z

Class Thursday, May 3, 2012

Hello,

On Thursday I was at the Research EXPO presenting a poster so I did not go to class. I do know that Heidi from WellWorks spoke to the class about her position over there. I volunteer at WellWorks with Francie so I've seen her around a few times but am still not familiar with all she does so I'm a little bummed that I missed it.

Alex Z

Class Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Hello,

Today in class, Janine Faber from Meijer came and spoke to us about the dietitian's role in a grocery store. There is such thing as the Meijer Healthy Living program to help create and communicate health solutions and product knowledge to customers. She takes part in community events, in-store events like cooking demos, TV and radio broadcasts, and publications like their Healthy Living Naturally Magazine. She ended her talk by telling us about NuVal.

This was the most intriguing speaker we've had so far because it's about a job that I didn't realize I could do as a dietitian. But now it makes sense that there would be a dietitian working with grocery stores. This seems like a fun job and such a critical one too because as a dietitian working at the grocery stores, we can sway shoppers toward more whole and healthy foods.

Alex Z

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Hello,

Today Dr. Holben showed us the Ohio Board of Dietetics website. It was really cool and I learned a lot about law/rules/regulations that I never knew about. This information would be good to get during Fall quarter of my senior year so I have a better idea of what to expect. I haven't taken his senior seminar class (I will be next Fall) so I'll have to remember to ask about it.
The Ohio Board of Dietetics covers business expenses by license fees. Their mission is to protect the public. They set standards of responsibility to maintain professionalism in the practice of dietetics, and investigate complaints. I also learned that the executive director is required to be a Registered Dietitian.

Alex Z.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Hello,

Tuesday was great because Francie Astrom, the dietitian who works in WellWorks came to talk to the class. I personally enjoyed it because I volunteer for Francie, along with some other students in this class. There were so many things she talked about during her time with us. Some of the topics were the following:

Wellworks is funded by the University Wellness program funding in which she is paid through that and also membership fees.
Wellworks is more than just a fitness center because it provides massage therapy, nutrition counseling and personal training.
WellWorks represents maintenance of a healthful life.
Different partners of WellWorks include HeartWorks and Risk Reduction.
People who can go to WellWorks include OU faculty and retirees, as well as WellWorks staff members, grad students, and med students.
It was new information to me that patients at WellWorks to not need physician referrals to receive nutrition counseling or other services.

Alex Z.

Thursday April 19, 2012

Hello,

Today in class, each person talked about their agency that they were assigned. It was interesting to learn about all of the programs out there to help cure hunger and help give communities the resources they need to stay healthy and safe. This makes me proud to have the knowledge base that I do in order to go out into the world and make a change for the better, in people's lives, through nutrition.

Alex Z

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Hello,

On Tuesday, Eric Claussen, from Jobs and Family Services in Athens came to talk to the class about how food security plays a role in his job. He talked about SNAP and gave us handouts and fact sheets about the program. It was interesting to read the information he gave us and see how many people in Ohio are using SNAP. He talked about resources and food banks and different help that people can get if they are in need of food.

Overall it was interesting to hear about because, as a student at OU, I had forgotten about the surrounding people in Athens who are not students who really struggle to find food on a day-to-day basis. (Not that I'm completely unaware of my surroundings-but often times I'm not thinking about it)

Alex Z

April 12, 2012 Thursday's class

Hello,

Today in class we watched a video about a farmer's market. The video showed the people involved and the actual market in action. It was neat to see how it impacted the lives of the people by making fresh produce available in a low income area. It made me want to start one someday.. It also got me thinking about having a garden of my own one day so I can grow a lot of my own crops. Another thing we did was talk with our groups about the garden.. We're turning in our list of things we want to grow either next week or sometime soon. Emily and I dug up the weeds in our garden also..

Alex Z

Emily diggin'! She's handicapped but working hard!

April 10, 2012 Tuesday's class

Hello

In class on Tuesday we talked about food security/insecurity and went through power point slides. It was quite uneventful but mildly interesting. I'm still thinking I'm really interested in community nutrition and I look forward to gardening and listening to speakers and going places.

Alex Z

Thursday April 5,2012

Dear Blog,

In class Thursday we got into groups to talk about which plants we wanted to have in our plot. We decided on a couple possibilities but we wanted to do some more research before we made a concrete decision. We continued the discussion on food insecurity and went through a questionnaire that uses a point system to determine food insecurity status. It was interesting and I didn't know it existed so it was a new thing I learned.

Alex Z.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012: The Garden

Hello Blog,

Today in Community Nutrition we went to a community garden. We talked with Maghan Lunsford from WellWorks who helps out at the garden and she showed us around the plots. After we were introduced to the plots, we divided up into our groups to talk about which population we wanted to focus on for inspiration for the kinds of produce we will plant. I'm in group A and we chose girls, ages 12-18 from Athens, OH to focus on.. but I guess there is another group who might be doing a similar topic so we will need to double-check our idea with Dr. Holben.
Overall, it was really cool and I'm really excited to begin gardening there! And to be honest I wish I knew about it before so I could have been planting there for longer! I guess it's better late than never..  :)

Alex Z.

March 29, 2012 "Community Needs Assessment and Food Insecurity"

Dear Blog,

Today we went through powerpoint slides about how to conduct a community needs assessment and food insecurity.

The community needs assessment reminded me of the steps for any other assessment I've learned about so it was familiar and a little more interesting. The second part of class we talked about food insecurity. Dr. Holben referenced Erin Brockovich and we watched a clip from the movie where it showed her cupboards were bare and how she dealt with feeding her kids while on a very tight budget. Then we watched another video about a food line in Marietta where people were in line waiting to pick up free food for their families. I felt the urge to want to help these people so this makes me think I could end up working in a community nutrition setting someday.

Alex Z.

What I hope to learn and what I think Community Nutrition is all about...

Dear Blog,

Hello my name is Alexis (Alex). This quarter I'm taking a class called Community Nutrition. I do not know much about community nutrition, what it involves, who it affects, or how it works. Here are some of my initial thoughts about what community nutrition is: I think that community nutrition is the combination of a community, or a group of people with similar values, beliefs, interests, and most times, similar income levels and geographic places of residence, and health in a way that serves the people in the community to better their lives, strengthen their values and promote good health through food education and nutrition.

What I hope to learn in this class is how to garden (since we're doing that) and also see how community nutrition impacts my life on a daily basis even when I don't realize it's there. Also, I'm looking forward to exploring this part of my major and maybe consider community nutrition as a career path.

Alex Z.