KA 703. Nutrition Education and Behavior

IDEAS FOR COOKING AND NUTRITION (ICAN) PROGRAMMING

ICAN provides hands-on education related to healthy food choices, food preparation, food safety and food resource management. ICAN is an EFNEP and SNAP-Ed funded program. Home Economist supervises 2 educators who teach the ICAN curriculum. Participants attend four classes to graduate from the program. In the 1772 youth participated in a kIdsCAN lesson. 1772 youth graduated from the program. 318 adults participated in an ICAN lesson and 318 adults graduated from the program. Teacher time was CIbola County 74.7. Participants gained skills in making nutritious, tasty foods that are quick and easy to prepare as well as how to make the most of their food dollars and food benefits.
The New Mexico Human Services Department acts as a pass through agency for the SNAP-Ed

The Home Economist organized the Kitchen Creations Diabetic Cooking Schools. 39 diabetics, family members, and other interested individuals gained skills in reading nutrition facts labels, adjusting portion sizes, and planning and preparing meals lower in sodium, fat, and carbohydrates. A Certified Diabetic Educator co-taught each class. The Home Economist and Certified Dietecian taught participants about safe food handling and portion sizes. The Licesed Diabetic Educator taught participants about using the 50/50 plate method and counting carbohydrates.

At the end of the four weeks 90% of the participants said they use the 50/50 method to control the amount of carbohydrates they eat and use the Diabetes Food Guide Pyramid to plan a day’s meal. 100% of participants stated Kitchen Creations has helped them manage their diabetes. Participant’s left each class with completed evaluation sheets stateing how wonderful the class was and how much they had learned plus the need for additional classess,plus a smile, a heart warmed thanks to the licenced dietecian and the home economist. A class reunion asked for by the participants scheduled for November 17,2010 for check in's and progress.

The Torrance County Extension Home Economics Agent worked closely with local church officials and restaurant owners to bring Kitchen Creations to two locations in Torrance County. A series of Kitchen Creations was held in Mountainair at a local restaurant where 14 individuals participated in the weekly courses and a series of classes was held in Estancia at a local church building where 4 individuals participated in a two week series. Evaluations of each class expressed the learning experiences each participant gained from the course Participants learned how to use a variety of sugar substitutes, the 50/50 plate, meal planning and how to cook tasty nutritious meals to meet dietary needs. Many participants expressed how much they enjoyed the hands on preparation of meals. The participants stated they would more than likely use the knowledge gained from the classes as part of everyday food/diet decisions.

The 2009-2010 FY for the Torrance County ICAN program included tremendous involvement by the Extension Home Economics Agent/ ICAN Supervisor. The Agent worked closely with the Nutrition Educator in recruiting adult ICAN participants In order to increase the total number of adult graduates. A goal of 30 adult graduates from the ICAN program had been a previous target in 2008. In the 2009-2010 County Action Plan (CAPS) the number of adult graduates was set to steady 30 adult graduates. The Agent held bi-monthly meetings with the ICAN educator to optimize programming efforts to gain adult participation. The Agent effectively networked with countywide agencies, schools and Income Support Division(ISD) to generate adult interest within the ICAN program. The Agent participated in assisting ICAN staff with classes held at county Senior Centers, Daycare Provider Trainings, WIC and ISD. The knowledge gained by the nutrition education classes was documented through evaluations. The graduates from the ICAN classes suggested they applied money saving grocery shopping tips by providing healthy low cost meals. The participants also implied the usefulness of food safety education as an everyday habit for meal preparation. The correlation between adult ICAN participants and youth KIDSCAN participants showed to be prevalent in Torrance County. The youth in the Mountainair, Estancia and Moriarty/Edgewood School Districts had the opportunity to partake in the KIDSCAN program. Grades K-4th was presented with nutrition education classes. Youth discovered the importance of eating breakfast, how the food guide pyramid should be used in everyday diets and they learned the vital role of food safety. Pre and post test suggest that youth in Torrance County eat breakfast most of the time and practice food safety by washing hands. The correlation between the adult and youth participants is widespread in the county because, the youth take information home from the ICAN program and the adults are able to recognize the information since the adult has also participated in the ICAN classes. The ICAN program has become a recognizable symbol in Torrance County. The ICAN program graduated 30 adults and over 200 youth in 2009-2010. Overall, the ICAN program has created awareness of a healthy lifestyle to adult and youth in Torrance County.

• This summer I taught a series of Youth ICAN classes in Santa Fe at the YMCA day camp, a nutrition workshop at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center with 90 children, and also observed the ICAN educators at several other Parks and Recreation summer camp sites. We worked with 7 out of the 8 Parks and Recreation sites this summer, and it elevated the awareness of the ICAN Youth Program in Santa Fe. The children love the hands-on cooking activity and they also like the germ detective class where they get to gather samples of germs and then look at them under a microscope the following week. The entire ICAN group (two educators and I) graduated over 60 additional Youth this summer (we had over 200 children each week, but many only came for two or three weeks during the summer). The summer Youth ICAN effort numbers are not reflected in the Youth ICAN third quarter report.
• I did do healthy snack tastings at the Santa Fe County Fair with over 300 people attending the Fair this August and also had an ICAN Information booth. I also participated in a Just Be It (JBI) Parent night activity. In late August, I gave a presentation to healthcare workers at the local hospital (Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center) on Child Nutrition and Dealing with the Fast Food Epidemic.
• We had a very successful meeting with the new Santa Fe County ISD Director and the Bureau Chief, NM HSD/ISD/Food and Nutrition Services Bureau. This is the first step in building a relationship, I gave a presentation on the ICAN program in Santa Fe and the Bureau Chief gave us an update on what was happening statewide. One good thing that happened in New Mexico for the SNAP clients is their SNAP benefit will be matched dollar for dollar at Farmer’s Markets and Santa Fe’s Farmers Market can accept SNAP Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. We will also agreed to provide classes in the near future or the Santa Fe County ISD staff to help with program recruitment, and starting in November we will be doing classes in the Santa Fe County ISD lobby on a regular basis as a recruiting effort. Santa Fe County’s minimum graduation goal is 150 adults (series of 4 classes/client to graduate) which can be challenging as the adults are not in a contained classroom setting like the youth and are very transient.

• Supervising the ICAN staff is not without its challenges, and there is a lot of work to be done in the area of team building. One ICAN Nutrition Educator has already exceeded their annual Youth ICAN graduation goal, as of the third quarter with 137 Youth graduates and 33 Adult graduates, and this Nutrition Educator is on track to meet or exceed their annual adult graduation goal of 75 Adults. This individual is outstanding and has begun Adult ICAN recruiting at both the Santa Fe and Pojoaque Farmer’s Markets as more SNAP Ed clients are coming to the markets due to the new dollar for dollar benefit match initiated by Governor Richardson in late August. The Santa Fe County Program Assistant has also done an outstanding job by: volunteering to teach an adult class at a local food bank resulting in 11 additional adult ICAN graduates and plans to teach another class in 2011; writing articles for local newsletters; and attends and represents the Santa Fe County ICAN Program in monthly planning meetings at one of the food banks in Santa Fe.
As with all paraprofessional staff there are performance issues, the other Nutrition Educator will not meet their Youth or Adult graduation goal for last year, and we are working toward meeting our annual graduation goal in this new fiscal year. That being said, it is very challenging to run both Youth and Adult programs and many states have different Nutrition Educators for Youth and Adult SNAP Ed programs.
Our ICAN clients do appreciate our efforts, Please see below for our Adult ICAN clients comments:
 “My child would not eat until I started preparing these fast and easy recipes that I learned in the ICAN classes.”
 “We eat more fruits and try new foods.”
 “Since I started the classes I was encouraged to have more healthy eating habits.”
 “Yes, I have been trying, but it is really easy. I learned a lot.”
Our Educators do make a difference; please below for ICAN Behavior Survey % Improvement:
Most of the time:
• I looked at nutrition labels when deciding what food to buy. (71% improvement)
• I prepared healthy meals at home each day. (50% improvement)
• I did 30 minutes of physical activity each day. (46% improvement)
• I paid attention to portion sizes. (50% improvement)
• I ate at least 3 ounces of WHOLE grains each day. (43% improvement)
• I ate at least 4 cups of fruits and vegetables each day. (42% improvement)