Nutrition and Healthy Living Programs

Small Steps to Health and Wealth
Small Steps to Health and Wealth is a program designed to motivate participants to improve both their health and their finances by encouraging participants to set a health goal and/or a wealth goal and take action to achieve their goals by identifying small progress steps. This program consists of goal setting, a discussion of similarities between health and personal finance issues, and 25 suggested behavior change strategies that can be applied to either health, finances, or both. The impact of health on finances and finances on health is also explored.

This program may be scheduled by appointment. If you are interested in having this program offered for your organization or group and/or would like more information, please contact Glenn Sturm at (804) 693-2602 or gjsturm@vt.edu.

Cooking for Crowds
Cooking for Crowds was designed to show participants the food safety risks that develop when cooking large volumes of food and how to reduce those risks so that the food the group prepares is both safe and delicious. Although many of the food safety strategies recommended are similar to those recommended to commercial food establishments, the strategies have been translated into practical methods to meet the specific needs of non-commercial audiences, such as non-profit organizations and churches.

This program may be scheduled by appointment and there is no registration fee associated with this class. If you are interested in this program and would like more information, please contact Glenn Sturm at (804) 693-2602 or gjsturm@vt.edu.

Reading the Nutrition Facts Label
Reading the Nutrition Facts Label is a short 30-45 minute workshop, based around an Arizona Cooperative Extension publication developed by Dr. Kay Hongu. The workshop takes a step-by-step approach to discuss serving sizes, counting calories, the health benefits and risks of the three macronutrients and other commonly listed nutrients, and the FDA’s Percent Daily Values.

Couponing 101 and Saving Money on Food
Couponing 101 is a single-day 45-60 minute workshop that discusses important coupon definition, how to be organized when couponing, maximizing coupon value and other ways to lower spending of food. This is designed to be an introductory class that provides new coupon users with the tools to reduce their food and grocery expenses.

Walk-a-Weigh
Walk-a-Weigh is a researched-based, weight control curriculum developed by the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. This user-friendly program consists of education covering three areas: nutrition, physical activity, and healthy food and drink preparation. With more than 30 potential topics, done anywhere from 5 to 12 weeks, this is a very flexible curriculum able to meet the local community needs for nutrition and physical activity education. What makes this program different from other weight control programs, is that part of the class time is devoted to physical activity – which can be anything from walking after a presentation to a full cardio workout. Medical waivers may be required from participants.

Cooking Matters

Created in 1993 by Share Our Strength, Cooking Matters teaches participants, both youth and adults, to shop smarter, use nutrition information to make healthier choices and cook delicious, affordable meals through hand-on food preparation and education.

MyPlate and Food Preparation

This is a multi-session class for youth where we learn about MyPlate and the food groups and prepare healthy snacks and small meals related to the food groups learned.