EFNEP announces nutritional workshops
By Lauren Wester
lauren.wester@fct.wpengine.com
The Alabama Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program is hard at work this year striving to ensure the nutritional education of Alabama citizens, and that includes here in Franklin County.
Lakita Page, EFNEP educator for Franklin County, has organized Nutrition Talk meetings and workshops for Eating Smart Being Healthy and Today’s Mom.
Feel free to bring a lunch to the Nutrition Talk meetings. They are free, open to the public and will start Aug. 30. The topic being discussed that day is “Key Elements to Healthy Eating.” Sept. 5, the topic will be “Tips to Save Money When Meal Planning.” The next meeting will be Sept. 12, and the topic will be “Let’s Move.” The final Nutrition Talk meeting will be held Sept. 19, and it will be an “Open Topic Discussion,” where attendees can choose what they would like to discuss. All meetings will be from 11:30 a.m. to noon and noon to 12:30 p.m. Page will be the speaker.
The Eating Smart Being Active and Today’s Mom workshops will be targeted toward limited-resource adults, family caregivers and moms-to-be, Page said. These workshops are being held to carry out the EFNEP’s goal of helping individuals learn how to feed their families better.
Eating Smart Being Active consists of six workshops where clients will learn about eating healthy, saving money and preparing meals. Each workshop will also have a food preparation demonstration and taste testing. After clients have completed five out of the six workshops, they will receive a certificate showing they graduated from the course and a useful item like a water container or fruit and vegetable brush.
Today’s Mom will also have six workshops that will be focused on helping moms-to-be with personal development, physical development and the nutritional welfare of the baby. Attendees will learn about pre-natal care, low cost meals, breast feeding and physical activity. The lessons lined up are “Hello Baby,” “Building Baby,” “Feeding Baby,” “Fun in the Kitchen with Baby,” “On the Run with Baby” and “Welcome Home Baby.” The clients will receive certificates of graduation after completing five out of the six workshops, and their babies will also receive their own certificate once they are born.
“Our main goal is to educate people,” Page said. “I want to help them not have to suffer from things like high blood pressure and diabetes by getting them to make healthier food and lifestyle choices.”
