It is difficult for children today to make the right choices when it comes to healthy eating, especially in an urban setting. Just down the street from our elementary school are two pizza shops, a McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Simply walking home from school in need of a snack will undoubtedly tempt them to eat something with high fat content and little nutritional value. Many parents are uneducated about proper nutrition and pass along poor eating habits to their children. When picking a child up from school, it is all too easy to cruise through the drive-in window. This trend continues nationally into the home, where quick, cheap food items are often found on the dinner table. Even aside from take out, processed foods are widely available at low cost and therefore have a large appeal to families on limited budgets. With inflation at record highs, it is unlikely that many will be looking to spend more on higher quality foods at the grocery store. Childhood obesity is also another major problem in our country. Poor choices by both parents and children caused by lack of education and the widespread availability of detrimental foods are both to blame. By educating these urban elementary school students about healthy foods that they can make on their own with limited supplies, I hope to be a driving force in shaping their eating habits. By sending the children home with ideas, and including the recipes in newsletters, I hope to pass along some of that education to their parents as well.

We address the problem by providing the Creative Kitchen courses, sending home recipes, encouraging the children to try new foods, and having guest speakers such as nutritionists.

I am the Director of an After School program at a public elementary school. Starting in September 2008, I implemented the Creative Kitchen course. Under previous leaders, the kids had participated in what they called "Baking". This activity consisted of using a boxed prepared item such as brownies or a cake and adding in the oil and eggs. The new Creative Kitchen activity emphasized healthy choices and easy foods the kids could make and enjoy. Each week, we would learn about and make a new, fun, and healthy food or recipe. Past projects include fresh fruit skewers, baked apples, quesadillas, english muffin pizzas, grapes with sour cream sauce, flavored popcorn, and trail mix. All recipies used were sent home to parents in a bi-monthly newsletter. We also had a nutritionist come into the program and speak with the kids about overall nutrition and making healthy choices. Many of the students thoroughly enjoyed the recipes, and even though they had never had the foods before, would ask for the ingredients and make them on their own at home. One parent commented to me after the nutritionist visit that her daughter asked if they could eat vegetables with dinner every night. Creative Kitchen will continue to be part of the After School activities in the 2008/2009 school year. I hope to further educate the children on proper nutrition and share more delicious and healthy foods.

Share a recipe, encourage someone to try a new food, share what you know about nutrition!