May 31, 2012

Today we went to the Ridges and had a lunch that was targeted towards are groups for community. We also talked about the projects we have had to do throughout the quarter. The food was really delicious!

May 29, 2012

Today we went to the Dairy farm in Pomeroy, Ohio. It is a family owned business and has been passed down through there family. They have about 350 cows and over a 100 acres of land. They do a lot of things to make sure they are keeping the facilities clean. It really surprised me how much they do that I did not think a dairy farmer would have to do like uploading all the information on the cows on to the computer. I can't imagine doing what they do without computers and technology. They really work very hard everyday and do not get many days off. I was very impressed with the farm and the people. Seeing the farm makes me more confident in the dairy farmers supplying me with milk.

May 24, 2012

Karen Bakies is a R.D. for the American Dairy Association Mideast  and is the Nutrition Affairs Director. The National Dairy council was founded around 1915 to help people learn about proper nutrition and the importance of consuming dairy to prevent disease popular in those days like Rickets. Her territory is Ohio and West Virginia. They are funded by dairy farmers so for every 100$ of dairy they sell they must give .15 cents to the Dairy Council. There are about 3,000 dairy farmers in Ohio with an average of 83 cows per farm. She talked about how there are lots of false sources of information on nutrition and dairy on the internet and it is important for people like us to help people learn what is fact or myth.
She was a really great speaker and seemed to really enjoy what she was doing. I did not think about jobs like that before she came to talk with us. It seems like it would be a pretty interesting job.

May 22, 2012

Today we did not have class so my group met and started our final report. Olivia and I are working our DASH handout for our assessment project.

May 17th, 2012

    Today we went to Good Earth Farm. It is a non-profit farm that gives most of the food the grow to a food bank in the Athens area. They also use produce to feed themselves and the volunteers that work there. They also have chickens, cows, and sheep. They use the cows for milk, but they do not sell any meat. The guy who started it works there full-time and his wife is a professor at Hocking College. I really enjoyed visiting the farm and think it is really inspiring that someone would do that full-time with no tangible benefits. 

May 15, 2012

       Today we had Melissa an RD for WIC for Athens and Perry come and talk to us about the program and what she does. Women, Infants, and Children supplemental nutrition program is 100% government funded. She works with women while they are pregnant from the very beginning until their children are about one. To qualify for WIC the family or woman must be 185% of the poverty line. They greatly endorse breast feeding which makes sense. Breast feeding is great for everyone and I think that everyone should do it. People with lower incomes are the ones that use WIC and to me breast feeding makes sense even more if you do not have a lot of money. It is so beneficial to breast feed and formula is very expensive.
          The second part of class we listened to a webinar. The research the R.D. talked about was really interesting, but it surprised me a little bit because they kept saying that there was no significance of eating healthy and its benefits to cancer/cancer prevention. She said she was surprised too, but it was a little discouraging. It makes me think that is very important for all R.D.s to be up to date on research. Obviously, I still know that eating healthy is beneficial in many ways, but I just thought the results of the research she talked about was slightly unexpected.

May 10, 2012

Today we went to see the composting facility here at Ohio University and the eco-house. It was very interesting to see how much waste is produced my Shively and Central Foods. It is really neat that they are tripling the size of the facility to be able to compost for all facilities here. I wonder if they will have too much compost material for just the uses here at the university. I think they should sell it to local farmers. I really liked how they used the rain water for their washing purposes.
The eco-house was really cool too. I think it is neat that it gives the opportunity for students to learn about sustainability and gardening. I don't think I'd like to live so far away from campus though. I definitely want to do that when I have my own house. I thought our trip today was really cool.

May 8th, 2012

We went to the Athens County Agriculture Department. They talked a lot about all of the programs they offer there. Things like 4H for kids and the projects they do seem very enriching. It really is neat that it offers kids the chance to work with livestock animals. I had no idea an opportunity like that was available. They also talked about the other programs that they offer to adults. I think it is really great they offer money management programs, because many adults do not know how to manage their money and do not realize that 1 coffee a day adds up to a lot of money throughout the whole year. When it comes to job opportunities I do not think I would like working their, but it is a really good option for gaining experience.

May 3, 2012

Today we went to the research expo and saw everyone's projects. Then Heidi from WellWorks came and talked to us about her job there. She does a lot of event planning for Well Works. She said she liked it, but it could be stressful at times. A lot of the events she plans revolve around food and that's how she uses her Dietetics portion of her degree, but she doesn't do any counseling or anything like that. She also talked about CHIP and CSA which seem like very good programs. I have never heard of the CSA so I thought that was such a cool idea. I would definitely pay to get fresh veggies from local farmers. CHIP has helped a lot of people and I think it is great for people who want to eat a plant based diet, but personally I think it might be a tiny bit biased. I know plant based diets really do help a big number of people, but I don't like the idea that if you eat dairy or meat you are unhealthy.

May 1, 2012

Today was so interesting! Janine , an RD for Meijer, came and talked to us today. She mainly talked about what she does and what Meijer does to make it easier for customers to make healthy decisions when it comes to their food. She seemed like she loved her job and was really passionate about it. It is very interesting how they are all in the media doing tv spots. I really think what they do is so exciting and maybe I will even want to do it one day. She also gave us a lot of neat handouts.
    On Monday, our group went to the garden and planted all of our vegetables. I am very excited to see the progress and get some good vegetables from it. Now that we have stuff planted I am more motivated to really get out to the gardens often and hep with the vegetables. 

April 26, 2012

Dr. Holben talked about The Ohio Board of Dietetics. The dietitian Karen Dion did not make it to talk to us so that was a little bit of a bummer. It was interesting learning about the job opportunities that they offer in the field of dietetics. I do not really think I would ever want to be an investigator, but it does seem like a very interesting job.

April 24, 2012

Today Francie from Well Works came and talked to us. Mainly about what she does at Well Works and the programs that they offer. It seems like she does a lot there and comes in contact with  a lot of people that are very excited about nutrition or at least interested in learning. I know it makes a huge difference when the clients want to be there and are not forced to be there. I really liked that she seemed to have fun and really enjoys her job.

April 19, 2012

       Today, we talked about our Food Agency programs. It was very interesting to hear about all the different programs in our country. I had no idea there were that many. I really liked the one I got which was Feeding America. It is the nation's largest food bank organization. They do so many great things. It was interesting to hear what programs work very well and ones that are slowing in their popularity. Some of the new programs are causing the older ones to be insignificant. Like the children's school milk program. There are lunch and snack programs that take care of the same things it did.
       Hopefully soon we will be able to plant more vegetables in our garden, but I'm not sure. I am not sure about how long everything takes to grow, but I feel like I might not get to see the finished product which is a little sad. That's okay though I learned a lot so far and will learn more. I will just have to have my own garden!

April 17th, 2012

Nick Clausen came in and talked to us about Food Assistance Programs in Athens County. It was very interesting to learn about the system and how it works. I appreciated his view and input whether I agree with 100% of it or not. It sounds like the government programs help a lot of people get enough food for the whole month. I cannot imagine having to live like that, and it makes me appreciate how lucky I really am.
Olivia and I went and looked at our garden plot. All we had to do was water the spinach, because it was already weeded and we don't have anything else planted. It stinks that the weather keeps fluctuating so much. I did not check our plants today and it is 47 degrees right now so I hope they are okay.

April 12, 2012

      In class today Dr. Holben talked about law making. We actually watched a School House Rock video about how a bill becomes a law. It was very cute. We got together in our groups to plan and talk about the plants were are for sure going to pick. We have to look up oxalate content and see if they will interfere with anything with our population.  Other than that we are just going to fill out our work book and de-weed so the garden will be ready for our plants.

April 10, 2012

    Today, Dr. Holben passed around a bunch of articles having to do with food security, nutrition, and health. It's funny the most interesting one was the one on how our tax money is spent.  It was very cool to see. The other thing he mentioned that stuck to me was about Jewish hospitals and how they have two different dish rooms and so forth. The book he passed around explaining was helpful.  It makes sense that so many hospitals probably use disposable products around the times of Jewish holidays.

4/3/2012

    Today, we all went to community garden. Megan the GA from WellWorks showed us around. We saw where all the equipment is like the shovels, water, compost, and etc. We all picked our area and are trying to decide what group we should do. We would like to do girls our age or teenagers with amenorrhea. Another group thought about that one I think, so we will see if that's what we end up doing or not. I am really excited to garden there. I have planted and taken care of flowers, but never any vegetables. I definitely want to have some sort of garden when I have a house so this will be good practice. I think I will go out there soon to weed again, and maybe plant some starters. Hopefully, I don't kill the vegetables! haha

3/29/2012

I am really excited to do the garden. Gardening is a great skill to have to help in eating healthy and being sustainable. I really hope to have a garden myself one day so I am excited to learn a lot about it this quarter. I was trying to think of different groups we could do that would be slightly original. I was thinking kids, but maybe even more specific teenagers. I guess I like the idea of working with kids or teenagers because gardening teaches them how to be responsible and learn how to eat healthy. I guess I'm just not sure what type of kids. Type I Diabetes in children in not very original, but I like that one. I can't think of many diseases we could pick from other than allergies. Another random idea I had was for adults with depression. I don't really know. I will have to talk to my group, but I am excited!

First Day of Class

       I would really like to learn about all of the different aspects of community nutrition. I have heard some people say they would love to work in community nutrition and some that would really dislike it. I am not really if it is something I'd like to do so I would love to learn! From what I can tell, community nutrition is about educating and helping a large group of people with nutrition. It can relate to any subject of nutrition. Some examples of it could be Meals on Wheels or helping a town being more self sustainable with their food. I definitely have a lot to learn.