A look at USDA's Nutrition Education and Training Program

Food and Nutrition, Dec, 1992

Intern Heidi Sarmiento worked 152 hours helping teachers prepare and teach lessons. "We had to learn how to keep the children's attention," she says, adding that preparing food is a good way to do this. "If kids are involved in the cooking process, they learn more and are very proud to eat something they've prepared themselves."

Sarmiento, who received a small stipend from Project Salsa and academic credit, also helped prepare newsletters that complemented workshops for parents. The newsletters focused on how to get children to eat fruits and vegetables, the importance of breakfast, and the relationship between nutrition and children's performance in school.

Graduate students in public health at San Diego State University also helped. In addition to assisting teachers with the curriculum and instructing parents, they also helped evaluate the project.

One student's thesis project, a plate waste study in two San Ysidro elementary schools, showed that students ate very little of the fruits and vegetables served to them. This led to a poster contest to encourage students to eat more of these foods.

Parents were also involved

Help came from parents, too. Charlene Cooper, a teacher trained in the "Choose Well, Be Well" curriculum, recruited a parent volunteer to be trained to provide nutrition information to other parents.

This past school year (1991-92), the parent volunteer presented a special course called "Alma, Vida, y Corazon" ("Soul, Life, and Heart"). The course was developed for use with parents by Project Salsa with funds from the American Heart Association, using materials from the "Choose Well, Be Well" curriculum.

"Alma, Vida, y Corazon" includes a series of six lessons, grocery store tours, and a graduation ceremony with a potluck dinner. Topics range from cooking economically to being savvy about nutrition claims in food advertising, and using salt, fat, and sugar in moderation.

According to Candelaria, the grocery store tours have been a big hit with parents. "On one occasion, some of them walked miles in the rain to get there. And they were asking hundreds and hundreds of questions!"

Registered dietitian Carmen Moreno, a Project Salsa staff member, led the grocery tours last spring. She welcomed questions, and she knew the fine points the parents would want to know.

"An orange drink is not orange juice," she would say, explaining that fruit drinks have only a fraction of the nutritional value of 100-percent fruit juice. She also showed them which meats are lean cuts.

Collaboration a key to success

From working with the advisory council to hosting classroom tasting parties for students and grocery store tours for parents, Project Salsa staff have worked to reach the San Ysidro population in a variety of ways with a consistent message.

Helen Magnuson sees the emphasis on collaboration as one of many strengths of Project Salsa. The project staff, she points out, achieved positive results by creating strong links between the county health department and private sector organizations.