Nutrition program sizzling

PROVO — About two months ago, Megan Abbott was looking for ways to work more healthy foods into the diets of her three young children.

That's when she found the Food Sense Nutrition Program, a Utah State University Extension service offering in-home instruction to low-income families on planning and preparing healthy meals.

"As a parent, I always feel guilty when (my children) don't eat right," Abbott said.

Today, that's not a problem. Nutrition assistant Amy Ellis has been working with Abbott in her Provo home and instructing her in ways to make healthy, low-cost meals and snacks.

"She gave me lots of ideas," Abbott said of Ellis, who is her sister.

Ellis is one of two nutrition assistants charged with reviving the federally funded Food Sense Nutrition Program in Utah County.

The program had fizzled out in the county in recent years but resurfaced in April. It can now be found in all of the state's 29 counties.

Kim Stookey, a nutrition assistant in Tooele County, has been helping re-implement the Food Sense Nutrition Program in Utah County.

Qualified nutrition assistants go into people's homes and teach them to make healthy meals using their own cooking supplies and food they have on hand, Stookey said.

Most of those using the program receive food stamps or, as in Abbott's case, take part in the supplemental nutrition program Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

"The recipes we have are geared toward things they already have," Ellis said.

And if families don't have all of the necessary ingredients or equipment, nutrition assistants improvise.

"Some clients don't have measuring cups, so we show them how to calibrate regular household containers to be measuring cups," Stookey said.

Nutrition assistants also use a dry mix called SOS made from dry milk, corn starch and bouillon that acts as an inexpensive substitute for sauces and cream soups, she said.

"We want to show them how to make it work with what they have," Stookey said. "Not everybody has all the cooking utensils, ingredients or skills of Martha Stewart."

Those who enroll in the program can select from a list of 17 lessons on topics such as eating for good health, planning quick meals and understanding food labels.

Healthy eating is only part of the program's benefit, Stookey said. Clients often end up saving a lot of money by learning how to make menus, prepare shopping lists and cook with low-cost foods.

"A lot of our clients are on WIC, and WIC gives them a lot of beans," she said. "We find that a lot of clients don't know how what to do with real dried beans, so we show them how to do that."

Stookey said she's worked with low-income families who previously had eaten out as much as twice a day.

"Even if it's just two people, that's probably $20 a day," she said. "If you take that out, you're saving about $600 a month."

The program also encourages the structure that comes with regular family meals, Stookey said.

"It's good for families," she said. "If we don't make time to plan family dinners, then they just don't happen. We help with that and show people how to get that back into their routines."

For more information about the Food Sense Nutrition Program, call the USU Extension office at 851-8460.

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