From Seattle Channel:
This week on CityStream, Kim Holcomb reports on how Public Health — Seattle & King County is putting a new spin on Smokey Robinson’s advice to shop around.
“Shop Arounds” are tours of grocery stores led by peer educators trained in basic nutrition and label reading. These free interactive tours teach people how to make healthier choices in the supermarket aisles.
CityStream went on a “Shop Around” in a Rainier Valley Safeway with Public Health’s Diana Vergis Vinh, a registered nurse, and several seniors. Vinh says, “It’s not a full nutrition course. It’s really just a sort of down-and-dirty to get people in the habit of looking at the serving sizes and looking at the label and trying to make some more informed choices.”
At any given time, there are around 80,000 items on this Safeway’s shelves–that’s a lot of choices. Vinh gives shopping tips as the tour proceeds:
- Eat different colored fruits and vegetables at each meal. This helps insure that you’ll get lots of vitamins.
- Your portion of meat should be about the size of a deck of cards; that will help keep your intake of saturated fats to a reasonable level.
- Most flavored yogurt contains so much sugar that it should be treated as a dessert.
- Sugary cereals are placed at eye level so they can be reached by children; the healthier ones are up high or down low.
Get Cooking at Your Local Community Kitchen:
What to do with all those healthy groceries? Try attending one of your local community kitchen:
A community kitchen is a group of people who regularly meet to cook tasty and healthy meals. Everyone participates in the preparation and all that’s needed is an interest in food. Some kitchens cook and share meal at the site; others cook meals to freeze for later. Community kitchens are a great way to connect with your neighbors and have a supply of home cooked meals ready for your family in minutes.
There are three community kitchens currently located in the Rainier Valley: Neighborhood House in Rainier Vista, Rainier Community Center in Columbia City and Southeast Seattle Senior Center in Brighton.
“Rainier is a great kitchen and it’s lots of fun,” said Nurse Diana.
Learn more at this new community kitchen web site that will let you know how to start up a new kitchen, where existing kitchens are and what recipes work well at these events.
Photo Courtesy of Community Kitchens
Related:
Who to know, where to eat & what to do in one of America’s most diverse zip codes!
{ 3 comments }
Come and cook with us second Thursdays of the month from 6:30 to 8:30! Diana
When are we going to have dancing too?
You organize the dancing and I’ll bring the food!
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