Posts Tagged “nutritional education classes”

Michigan state money is helping put more produce on the plates of the needy.

Known as the Michigan Health and Wellness 4×4 Plan, three local agencies receiving a nearly $50,000 grant is the Munson Medical Center, District Health Department #2 and the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan.   The grant offers nutrition with a prescription.

“The most important thing is we’re going to be getting more fruits and vegetables into the hands of our residents.  We’ve heard it since we were children, eat your fruits and veggies. However, not everyone takes that to heart as adults.  “We’ve had our eye on the fruit and vegetable prescription program for quite some time,” says Munson Medical Center’s community health manager, Christi Nowak. “Fresh fruits and vegetables can be a little intimidating, so we want to help make that not as intimidating with the educational component.”

Munson Medical Center is trying to make produce more accessible and less intimidating.

They’re using a state grant to give prescriptions to those with chronic disease.

“By participating they’ll be given a fruit and vegetable prescription and they’ll be able to partake in some nutritional education classes,” Nowak says. “Once they complete those they’ll be able to go to our farmers market at the Grand Traverse Commons and redeem those prescriptions for fresh fruits and vegetables.”

The program starts this spring and will teach patients how to incorporate fresh foods into their life through classes and rewards.

“One of the main focuses of this project is to help people broaden their horizon in what is available to them in the fresh fruit and vegetable category,” says registered dietitian Laura McCain. “Then what do they do with it. How do they incorporate it into snacks and meals. We want to see it sustainable. We want to see it grow into a community wide effort where there are lots of opportunities if a person doesn’t currently know how to eat healthy to be able to get that help.”