“Es una excelente clase, me ha ayudado bastante, he cambiado mi forma de pensar acerca de la alimentacion saludable para mi familia y para mi. Gracias por esteprograma que nos ayuda a mejorar nuestra forma de alimentacion saludable.*” -Participant from Eating Smart, Being Active group at Midway Community Covenant Church
*Rough translation: “It’s a great class, it has helped me a lot, and I changed my way of thinking about healthy eating for my family and me. Thank you, this program helps us improve our way of healthy eating.”
“I enjoyed the class, and now I’m making healthier food choices, starting to exercise a lot more and I have a lot more energy.” -Participant from Eating Smart, Being Active group at NeighborCare Rainier Beach Clinic.
Over the past month, F$ has completed three series of our Eating Smart, Being Active classes for adults hosted by some of our wonderful partner agencies. Each series of Eating Smart, Being Active classes meets once a week for an hour and a half for eight weeks. The classes are built around group discussions of a variety of nutrition and healthy living topics, ranging from making affordable, healthy choices in all food groups to fun and easy ways to be physically active at every stage of life. Discussions always begin with the personal experiences of class participants and add information that may be familiar to some and new for others. Opportunities to apply the new information to everyday life through hands-on skill building activities follow, including a short active game or exercise and a chance to prepare and taste a new recipe.
The surprisingly fun physical activity portion usually starts with a quick warm-up to music, a static stretch focusing on a different muscle group each week, and a fun game or strength-building exercise (sometimes even the Hokey Pokey!). All of the activities we introduce can be done in your own home with little to no equipment, since you don’t need a fancy gym membership or an expensive machine to be active and healthy! This practical approach also applies to the recipes featured in Eating Smart, Being Active classes—they can often be prepared with only a few common ingredients and still taste great and support a healthy life. We always have a great time sharing stories and tips while cooking and eating.
Special thanks to our excellent partners at Midway Covenant Community Church, Midway Elementary, NeighborCare Rainier Beach Clinic, and Easternwood Cooperative Apartments for hosting such lovely groups of participants! Also thanks to our volunteer translator Eduardo at Midway! His wonderful translation skills allowed us to have great conversations in English and Spanish. We have three more series kicking off later this month, so stay tuned for more success stories.
