March is National Nutrition Month at UNH and to mark this, Health Services, Dining, the Office of Sustainability, and Campus Recreation have partnered up to raise awareness for Healthy UNH’s theme this year: Nutrition from the Ground Up.
Healthy UNH’s Nutrition Month is coordinated by Kimberly Persson, a research associate from the Department of Health Policy and Practice. The goal of Healthy UNH is to make UNH the healthiest campus community in the country by 2020.
“Our work is focused on improving the overall health of faculty, staff, and students, while addressing the acceleration of health care costs,” said Persson.
While there is no current ranking system, Persson said they are competing against themselves.
Healthy UNH is focusing on promoting healthier eating and lifestyles. In light of this, there will be a campus-wide survey administered before and after to help the university program measure the current state of campus health. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey reported that in 2008, 63.2 percent of the nation’s adults, and 63 percent of NH adults were overweight or obese. Healthy UNH sees these results as an issue and is taking action to make improvements.
This year’s theme emphasizes sustainability, looking at the big picture and local, organic, slow foods.
“I’m really excited about the theme this year because it’s a great opportunity to help people make connections with locally grown foods.” said Kate Donald from the Office of Sustainability. Students Promoting Information about Nutrition, or SPIN, will also play their part in National Nutrition Month. It is designed to increase knowledge and understanding. They will be setting up nutrition information tables throughout the month of March with the incentive to teach students creative, do-it-yourself, simple recipes using a mix of local foods. They will also have creative eating cards available at all dining halls during March to inspire healthy and creative meal ideas.
UNH Dining will be focusing on buying food from local farmers and it is Healthy UNH’s mission to help people find out where they can too. Winter Farmer’s Markets are on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Wentworth Greenhouses on February 27 and March 27, and at Exeter High School on March 3 and April 10. Local foods such as eggs, maple syrup, seafood, winter squash and other winter vegetables like sweet potatoes will be sold.
As part of UNH’s incentive to go local, UNH dining will be incorporating locally grown sweet potatoes from Kingman and Woodman farms. Many locally grown, fresh, whole foods will be incorporated in cooking demonstrations at UNH Dining Halls throughout March to educate people about eating fresh, local foods during the winter.
Rochelle L’ltalien is a registered dietitian who works for UNH Dining. Her job ranges from working with students one on one to help them reach their nutritional needs and goals to analyzing the recipes used in dining for their nutritional value. L’ltalien’s goals include seeing students eating more fruits and vegetables, and changing the epidemic of obesity and inactivity.
“Slow down, enjoy the simple things, just enjoy the basics, take little steps,” said L’Italien. “Use reusable grocery bags. Just be more mindful.”
L’ltalien has collaborated with Healthy UNH to put on events for UNH Dining and each week throughout the entire month of March.
Throughout March Campus Recreation will be hosting events such as snow shoeing, in an effort to get people outdoors in the winter and inspire people to stay active in the cold.
With the help of Healthy UNH and the university community, this campus will hopefully be a little healthier in the near future, even during the winter.
Healthy UNH kicks off National Nutrition Month
Published: Friday, February 26, 2010
Updated: Friday, February 26, 2010
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