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 2011 fiscal year 1807 youth participated in a kIdsCAN lesson. 392 youth graduated from the program. 302 adults participated in an ICAN lesson and 66 adults graduated from the program. 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. One youth stated, “I have changed what I eat I used to have junk and now I have healthy food.” Indirect contacts reached 11,815 Sandoval County residents. Teacher volunteer time totaled 192.5 hours worth a dollar value of $3,274.

KITCHEN CREATIONS

The Home Economist organized the Kitchen Creations Diabetic Cooking School. 33 diabetics (of which 19 graduated by attending all 4 classes), 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 taught participants about safe food handling and portion sizes. The Diabetic Educator taught participants about using the 50/50 plate method and counting carbohydrates.

At the end of the four weeks 98% 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 comments included: “The hands-on cooking piece has inspired me to cook more often & I enjoyed it since I normally do not like to cook.” “I find that it will be easier for me to fix healthy meals after today.”

The Home Economist held a Kitchen Creations II pilot program seven participants from past Kitchen Creations classes attended 4 classes. Information from Kitchen Creations was reinforced and expanded upon.

Organ Wise Guys 2011

This year Cibola County Extension Service has incrporated the Organ Wise Guys program and curriculum once a month at the Family Center Thursdays at 3:30-4:30, 30/ 5-12 year old students participate and enjoy the program. Cibola County Home Economist has used a toy wheel chair with the organ wise guys,to help with the special needs population. Organ Wise Guys is currently at all the Grants Cibola County Elementary Schools. Organ Wise Specialist in Las Cruces has coordinated and assisted with the implementaion of this process. Thus far students and p.e.teachers are excited and happy to have the program.

Ideas for Cooking and Nutrition (ICAN)

KA 703. Nutrition Education and Behavior (Cibola County)
Impact Reports:2011
Plan Goals:
Improve health of New Mexicans through healthy food choices, food preparation skills and food resource management. Includes state staff Carol Turner, Kari Bachman, Karen Halderson, K’Dawn Jackson, Lourdes Olivas, and Linda Wells.

Funding through a Joint Powers agreement with the Regents of New Mexico State University, Cibola County Cooperative Extension ICAN classes in the community occurs year round. Current numbers show the need in Cibola County Data Provided by: ICAN County Action Plan (CAP) FY 10/1/11 /9/30/11.
County Information 2011
Total Population: 27,481
Race:
White: 55.3
Black: 1.5
American Indian and Alaska Native: 41.8
Asian: .5
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: .1
Person Reporting Two or More Races: 3.2
Total: 102.4
Ethnicity
Hispanic or Latino Origin: 33.4
White Persons not Hispanic: 24.7
Total: 58.1
Persons below Poverty 20.8
SNAP Population
SNAP FS Eligible: 6,035
SNAP FS Recipients: 6,035
SNAP FS Recipiency Rate: 22
Grants Cibola County Population: 8,876
Milan Cibola County Population: 2,481
Population for County 27,261

Non-Hispanic Native American 40.0%
Non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 0.0%
Non-Hispanic White 23.3%
Non-Hispanic Multi-Racial 1.2%


Kitchen Creations
Impact Report 2011

This year 2011 the Home Economist along with the Certified Diabetic Educator co-taught an audience of 35 diabetics and their families. Education consisted of the use of the Diabetes Food Guide pyramid to plan meal, measure food portions, use the 50/50 method to control the amount of carbohydrates I eat at a meal, read food labels, eat at least 2 servings of whole grains per day, eat at least 2 servings of non-starchy vegetables at dinner, and lastly use more herbs and spices to flavor foods instead of salt and fat. At the end of the four weeks 95% of the participants said they use the taught instructions for food preparation and use of spices instead of salt. A class reunion was recommended by the participants which was arranged by the Home Economist with 50% participation by the class with an abundance of knowledge cased sharing and many thanks to the Home Economist and the Licensed Dietician.

Kitchen Creations
The agent successfully planned and implemented one Kitchen Creations class in October 2011. This class was a partnership between NMSU Cooperative Extension Service, San Juan Regional Medical Center Diabetes Education, and New Mexico Public Health. The class consisted of four weekly sessions. Each session was four hours long. In this time, participants were exposed to diabetes education such as factors that increase or decrease insulin levels, the 50/50 plate method of diet management, understanding food labels, the Diabetic Food Guide Pyramid, and more presented by a Certified Diabetes Educator from San Juan Regional Medical Center and to shopping tips, cooking skills and portion control ideas and diabetic recipes provided by the Kitchen Creations Grant and presented by the San Juan County Home Economist. This class resulted in 25 graduates. Reports from class participants indicate that the Kitchen Creations class format is conducive to learning and that the information presented is easy to understand and is being used by the participants at home.

ICAN and KidsCAN
In 2011 the agent facilitated various ICAN and KidsCAN programs in San Juan County. These programs presented nutrition and cooking information to more than 3,400 residents of San Juan County. The KidsCAN program worked with nine public schools and day care facilities in three school districts to provided nutrition and cooking education to youth in San Juan County. The ICAN program worked with ten agencies in San Juan County to provide nutrition, cooking and food budgeting information to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligible adults and seniors in San Juan County. The 2010 ICAN and KidsCAN programs resulted in more than 800 youth and adult graduates for San Juan County. Education was provided through posters, brochures, demonstrations, and weekly classes throughout the county. In addition to partnerships with public and private schools, ICAN and KidsCAN curriculum was presented at the Sycamore Park Community Center, Bloomfield Multicultural Center, Apple Ridge Assisted Living Center, Headstart, Kidz First Child Care Center, Family Crisis Domestic Abuse Center, Income Support Office, the Celebrate the Child Conference, the Strong Parents for the Future Coalition Teen Parenting Conference, the San Juan County Fair, and multiple other agencies and locations in San Juan County. Based on comparisons from pre surveys and post surveys, it has been determined that participants of these programs have increased their knowledge in food and nutrition related topics such as MyPyramid, USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, food preparation skills, portion and serving sizes, understanding of nutrition facts labels, food safety, food dollar budgeting, use of SNAP benefits etc. Participants have returned to classes stating that they are using the knowledge they gain in class at home and are passing the knowledge on to friends and family members.

Organ Wise Guys
In the winter of 2011 Organ Wise Guys nutrition education was added to another public school location in San Juan County. Concerned teachers at Bluffview Elementary reached out to the Extension Service for help with the rising obesity problem within their school. The agent and Nutrition Education team worked to bring not only the kIdsCAN program to the school but also the Organ Wise Guys curriculum. The teachers at the school attended a training and planning session implemented by the agent to decide upon a system for implementing the Organ Wise Guys curriculum into their daily classroom activities. Nutrition and health education focusing on choosing healthy foods and physical activity using the Organ Wise Guys and Kellogg materials was then implemented by both the teachers and library staff and has continued into the current school year.