Food for thought: HHCC nutrition committee talks current, future programs

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

With this week being the first of the New Year, it seemed fitting that the Healthy Henry County Communities (HHCC) nutrition committee meet to re-establish goals for 2016, while also looking at some of their ongoing projects.

Made up of various community members and business leaders, the nutrition committee decided to focus in on three main topics including school-related projects, environmental changes and social changes. During their afternoon meeting, the committee broke off into smaller groups to evaluate ongoing projects within those topics, and discuss issues that could be addressed by HHCC in 2016.

In regard to school-related projects, data shows a fair amount of participation in some of the health eating options at school concession stands and cafeterias throughout Henry County. Overall, discussion seemed to generate agreement that, all-in-all, local schools are taking on healthy eating initiatives well. With particular emphasis on concession stands, however, Travis Johnson, Henry County Health Center?s (HCHC) Community Health Director, stated that the need to continue providing healthy eating options at athletic and other extra-curricular activities is growing.

?For a lot of kids and much of their families, sports (and a select group of other extra curricular school functions) eat up a lot of time. Kids have to use the concession stand as their only option for dinner, and we are seeing families eat their dinner at games from the concession stands as well,? said Johnson. ?So providing healthy options is really important, I think, for that reason.?

And while it was agreed that local school systems seem to be heading in the right direction with regard to healthy eating and nutrition, the question of how to steer adults towards a healthy eating lifestyle proved to be a more challenging topic.

Henry County, with the help of HHCC, has put on a wide variety of food and nutrition-related programs and activities, and has integrated resources throughout the community to help spur this issue in a positive direction. And while committee members agreed that many of these programs are positive for the community, tracking how well they carry over into daily life has proven to be difficult.

?For the ?Your Plate. Your Health? program, we have had restaurants tell us that people enjoy having healthy meal option designated on the menu at restaurants, so that?s good. That?s what we want,? said Kelly Carr, HHCC coordinator. ?But the goal is that we can get people eating healthy all the time ? not just when they are out and are having someone else cook for them.?

According to HCHC?s nutritionist/registered dietician, Elise Klopfenstein, that is an uphill battle for many adults.

?When we do these programs, or when we sponsor something like a healthy eating cooking class for the community, we do get a lot of great responses. The catch is that we want to see people take what we teach and be able to do it on their own, in their kitchen, for their family, and on a budget,? Klopfenstein said. ?That?s where we have to get creative.?

With that idea in mind, HHCC and the Fellowship Cup are sponsoring a monthly community wellness education series at the Fellowship Cup?s community room. This month, Klopfenstein will be teaching a seminar on goal setting and healthy eating lifestyle changes. The seminar is open to the public at no cost, and will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 12, from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m.