Making the Healthy Choice Easy

Published: 2019
By Nina Polk

The MSU Extension Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) supports low-income Montanans in making the healthy choice the easy choice. To contend with challenges of healthy eating, SNAP-Ed teaches low-income youth and adults how to eat, live, learn, work, play, and shop within their communities to make healthier choices. Nina Polk has worked as the Cascade County SNAP-Ed Instructor since 2018. In 2019, Nina taught 33 classes of Youth Understanding My Plate (YUM), 7 Essentials in Creating Family Meals (CREATES), and 39 Eating Smart, Being Active classes. SNAP-Ed offers free nutrition classes to elementary students in the first, third and fifth grades. A school’s eligibility is based on participation in the Free and Reduced Lunch Program. In Cascade County, qualifying schools that took advantage of the Youth Understanding MyPlate (YUM) nutrition classes included Lewis & Clark Elementary, Vaughn Elementary and the Boys & Girls Club of Cascade County. The classes focus on making healthier food choices and increasing exercise, with 69% of students reporting the classes “improved their diet quality” and ability to choose foods according to Federal Dietary Recommendations. For SNAP-eligible adults in Cascade County, the SNAP-Ed offers the free nine-week cooking and nutrition class series 'Eating Smart, Being Active' to help adults create healthy, nutritious meals while staying within a tight food budget. In the adult series, all participants showed improvement in one or more diet quality indicators, such as eating fruits and vegetables, or drinking less regular soda, and cooking dinner at home.