In keeping with its mission to help improve the community’s health, Tanner Health System’s Get Healthy, Live Well is rolling out new mobile teaching kitchens for schools in Carroll, Haralson and Heard counties.
Kids ‘N the Kitchen, an interactive teaching kitchen program for grades K-8, is Get Healthy, Live Well’s latest initiative designed to help teach students healthy cooking skills and improve their nutrition. The rolling steel kitchen’s countertop features an induction cooktop, reversible griddle and food processor for cooking demonstrations. The kitchen also includes a stainless steel pop-up table for additional prep space.
The carts, funded by a Partnerships to Improve Community Health grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), were distributed to area schools the week of March 13. Schools include Buchanan Primary School, Carrollton Elementary School, Central Elementary School, Villa Rica Middle School and Whitesburg Elementary School.
Photo Caption: Whitesburg Elementary School Assistant Principal Joseph Grainger, Whitesburg Elementary School Food Service Manager Patsy Ballenger, Gina Brandenburg, program manager at Tanner Health System’s Get Healthy, Live Well; Whitesburg Elementary School Principal Dr. Marissa Ogando and Carroll County Schools Nutrition Director Bridgett Cross join students in welcoming Tanner’s Kids ‘N the Kitchen program to the school.
Schools participating in the project will be required to teach a minimum of five lessons during the six-week period, which ends in May. The program includes lesson plans with topics ranging from “Fun With Food Groups” to “Veggie Superheroes.” Each school is also required to create and test at least one customized lesson plan that will be considered for inclusion in the manual for future programs.
Kids ‘N the Kitchen is a program that assists schools in hands-on cooking, taste testing and nutrition education for students.
“The goal of the Kids ‘N the Kitchen program is to improve nutrition knowledge and provide skills that will positively impact children’s health throughout their lives,” said Denise Taylor, senior vice president and chief community health and brand officer for Tanner. “Providing these mobile teaching kitchens to schools helps make cooking convenient, fun and interactive.”
The program will help children become more familiar with a variety of fruits and vegetables while teaching them some fundamental cooking skills. Some of the program’s objectives include teaching children how to read food labels, create a healthy meal and identify hidden sugar in drinks.
In October, Get Healthy, Live Well began a pilot of the program in partnership with Carrollton City Schools. With Kids ‘N the Kitchen, the Carrollton City Schools Nutrition Program has been able to tie nutrition education to the school’s curriculum standards with classroom visits at Carrollton Elementary School.
“We’re applying nutrition education in combination with academic lessons,” said Dr. Linette Dodson, Director of School Nutrition for Carrollton City Schools. “For example, we did a math lesson with the third-grade class at the elementary school on fractions where they learned how to double a recipe.”
They also did a lesson on changes in matter and students were able to watch the transformation of a pear as it cooked. And of course, the students get to taste test the recipes prepared in combination with the nutrition education, which have included sweet potato hummus, fruit smoothies, whole-grain pasta and kale salad.
“The teachers who have been a part of it have commented about the enhancement that it’s added,” Dodson said. “It gives those kids that hands on application. We’ve also used it with our after-school program at the elementary school and we do weekly nutrition education lessons with that group.”
While Kids ‘N the Kitchen is a fun solution to getting children to try new foods and learn basic cooking skills, it also helps address a serious health problem. According to the CDC, the percentage of youth suffering from unhealthy weight gain in the U.S. has more than tripled since the 1970s. Today, about one in five youth ages 6-19 have excessive body fat.
Children at an unhealthy weight are at higher risk for having chronic health conditions like asthma, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes and risk factors for heart disease. But changes in the environment where youth spend their time – like homes, schools and community settings – can help them achieve and maintain a healthy weight by making it easier to eat nutritious foods.
Kids ‘N the Kitchen helps heighten student’s awareness of the connection between what they eat and their health.
“This program is part of Get Healthy, Live Well’s commitment to introduce healthy habits to youth early on, while helping get them excited about eating a variety of fresh wholesome foods,” said Taylor.
To learn more about Kids ‘N the Kitchen, visit GetHealthyLiveWell.org.
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