Healthful meals — Nutrition comes home

Making dinner for her family isn't as much of a chore for Holly Patterson as it used to be.

That's because the Capitol Hills resident is participating in a national program USU Extension Services offers to teach families better nutrition.

Virginia Finklea, a nutrition assistant for the Salt Lake County program, came to Patterson's home once a week for several months to teach a principle about living a healthier lifestyle and to prepare a low-cost, nutritious meal.

"The recipes are fairly basic and geared to low-income families, but we can teach anyone," Finklea said. "One of the fun things (about the recipes) is that you can adjust them as needed."

Patterson is part of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program offered through Utah State University Extension Services. The main focus of the free program is to teach families, youth and seniors, especially those of limited means, better nutrition and provide recipes for low-cost, healthful meals.

"If we can teach a young mother how to better feed her children, her child learns to live a healthier lifestyle with nutrition and physical activity, and we've educated two people," said Kay Evans, EFNEP supervisor for Davis and Weber counties.

The way the program works is that families who qualify, based on guidelines similar to those for other federal assistance programs, sign up for the program or are referred to participate in it. A nutrition assistant trained in program curriculum comes to the family's home anywhere from twice a month to weekly and presents a lesson, and the family then prepares a meal. By the end of the hourlong lesson, participants have a meal ready for their family's lunch or dinner and have learned a principle for a healthier lifestyle, Evans said.

Lesson topics include specific classes on each group in the food guide pyramid, food safety, shopping for food, resource management, feeding children, home management, quick meals, heart-healthy eating and fitness fundamentals.

Because the program is federally funded, lessons follow USDA guidelines and MyPyramid, the more personalized version of the Food Guide Pyramid.

Paula Scott, EFNEP coordinator for Salt Lake County, likes that the program involves one-on-one interactions.

"Not many other programs go into a person's home, in their comfort zone," she said, noting that the program is also a good way to link limited-income families with other resources.