CHANA Project

Teaching Kids to EAT Better

chanap — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:27:17 +0000

CHANA Project is expanding its services to offer food and nutrition workshops to schools across Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. Our exciting food and nutrition workshops for kids provide children with an opportunity for children to explore nutritious foods in a fun and engaging way.
As a result of this positive nutrition experience, we find that children are eating foods that they might otherwise not try, and many of them even ask for more.
CHANA Project uses the Festival of Food™ and the EAT™ model, which encourages children to learn about food by using all of their senses.
Instead of telling kids what they should eat or just giving them a lot of facts, we make eating healthy fun and enjoyable.
(If a child is allergic to a particular food, that child is not served the offending food.)
We provide children with real food in every session and give them the chance to learn everything about it using their five senses – eyes, hands, nose, ears and mouth. This process allows them to learn:
1. How it looks
2. How it feels
3. How it smells
4. How it sounds
…and
5. How it tastes
By the end of each session, kids are eating nutritious foods they thought they didn’t like and asking for more.
Would you like us to bring this program to your school, after school program or camp? It’s easy. Contact us today.

Target: America’s Children

chanap — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:17:04 +0000

The food and beverage industry spends billions of dollars advertising high-calorie, low-nutrient food to young children in the United States. As a result of these powerful marketing schemes, millions of America’s children, our most vulnerable, are facing a lifetime of obesity and potentially fatal chronic diseases, including diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

America’s children deserve better. Every child deserves the chance to grow up to become healthy, happy and productive adults. But unfortunately, too many are being robbed of this chance. In fact, the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the U. S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), predicts that one in three children born in 2000 will develop diabetes at some point during their lifetime. This is an unacceptable fate to lay before our children.

So, what can you as a parent do to prevent this tragic future?

You can start by limiting the amount of soft drinks, hamburgers, nuggets and other high-calorie foods your child consumes. That means keeping them out of the home and shopping for more nutritious alternatives. Keep lots of water, fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds around to satisfy your child’s hunger. Milk, cheese and yogurt are also healthy options.

Keep in mind that your child is looking to you for guidance. Take charge and refuse to let your child to be victimized by the profit-driven food industry. Your child will be better for it.

The information provided herein is for education and information services only and is not intended as a substitute for proper, personalized medical attention.

Preventing Childhood Obesity Through Better Nutrition

chanap — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:06:32 +0000

Parents are faced with the difficult challenge of keeping children healthy in an obesigenic society. All around, children are enticed to eat foods that are loaded with sugar, unhealthy fats and excessive amounts of salt. And with one in three children in the United States being overweight or obese, there is hardly a family that is not affected by this issue.

If you are the parent of a young child, chances are your child may be nagging and begging for the fast food, sodas and other low-nutrient, high calorie foods seen on TV. Indeed, marketing of unhealthy foods to children is big business… as in billion dollar business. And the temptation is to give in.

Don’t do it. Instead, offer your child a healthy alternative. Here are a few suggestions:

Keep a bowl of fresh fruits on hand and offer those as a healthy alternative to the junk foods he may be asking for.
Encourage your child to drink a refreshing glass of water instead of soda.
Season and toss some fresh chicken wingettes in the oven and serve with your own household dip instead of wings or nuggets from fast food places.
Prepare your own homemade oven fries instead of fast food fries soaked in saturated and/or trans fat.
Talk with your child about making healthy choices whenever the occasion to do so arises.
Involve your child in planning, shopping for and preparing meals and snacks when he is old enough.

No matter how much the food and beverage industry spends on advertising, in the final analysis, you can refuse to allow your child to be a victim by just saying no to fast food and junk food.

Copyright 2010 Dorene E. Carter, PhD, RD. All rights reserved. Copying or reprinting the information on this page without written permission of the author is strictly prohibited.

The information provided herein is for education and information services only and is not intended as a substitute for proper, personalized medical attention.

Certificate in Childhood and Adolescent Weight Management

chanap — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:54:16 +0000

I recently completed the Certificate of Training in Childhood and Adolescent Weight Management in Boston (April 2010). This training was provided by the American Dietetic Association, Commission on Dietetic Association. It was an intense two-and-a-half days that focused on identifying the causes of childhood obesity and strategies to reverse the problem. Thanks to a Capacity Building Scholarship from Allegany Foundation Ministries, I was able to attend.

One thing that reverberated throughout the training was the critical role of registered dietitians in helping to prevent childhood obesity and identifying effective strategies for managing those who are already overweight or obese.

It is clear that if we, as a nation are to stop childhood obesity, we must commit the resources needed to do the job. The recent health-care bill signed by President Obama is a step in the right direction.

Additionally, initiatives like the Let’s Move campaign by First Lady Michelle Obama and former President Clinton’s Alliance for a Healthier Generation (Clinton Foundation) can also help to garner interest and public support. But these efforts must be translated into real action at the grassroots level, where the need is greatest.

Hopefully, the intense focus that this issue is now receiving will have an impact and we will begin to see a decrease in the rate of childhood obesity in this country.

“An investment in America’s children is an investment in America.”

To be continued…

CHANA Project Gets Kids Excited About Eating Healthy

chanap — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:47:53 +0000

CHANA Project, the Child Health and Nutrition Access Project, has been quietly making waves in the fight against childhood obesity for over five years. Since its first nutrition workshop at Hands in Action in 2004, this nonprofit organization has reached thousands of children and families across Miam-Dade County. “But today, with budgetary cuts affecting many of the programs we work with, much of this vital work has had to be scaled back,” explains Dr. Dorene E. Carter, President and CEO of the Miami based organization. “We hope that a good samaritan will step in and pick up the slack so that we can continue to offer programs that help build healthy bodies and alert minds.”

Previously, much of the funding for CHANA Project programs has come from The Children’s Trust or from strategic partnerships with organizations funded by The Children’s Trust.

With childhood obesity at an all time high and millions of children at risk for obesity-related health problems, programs, such as the Festival of Foods/EAT model are more critical than ever,” says Dr. Carter. “Our new and improved website will serve as an important adjunct to our existing programs.”

“We are extremely excited about this new, exceptionally functional site and will do our utmost to make every visit to this site a positive experience. Hats off to CrucianPoint.com for this upgrade,” Dr. Carter concludes.

New site launched!

chanap — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:23:33 +0000

Welcome to the new CHANA project! We’ve been working behind the scenes and we’re excited to finally share this work with you.