Printer Friendly
The Free Library
14,695,195 articles and books
Member login
User name  
Password 
 
Join us Forgot password?

PARENTS GET NUTRITION LESSON.


Byline: DENISSE SALAZAR Valley News Staff Writer

While students at Ranchito Street Elementary School elementary school: see school.  attended science, history and math lessons, their mothers met in the multipurpose mul·ti·pur·pose  
adj.
Designed or used for several purposes: a multipurpose room; multipurpose software.


multipurpose
Adjective
 room for a few courses on healthy eating.

Last Thursday, the parents participated in the first of six classes designed to educate them about nutrition, meal preparation and physical fitness.

``My daughter is telling me `Mom, I don't want to be fat, I want to be healthy,''' said Martha Kilbourn, mother of 7-year-old Ana. ``I like her point of view because if we eat healthy we'll have more energy, a positive attitude, and you feel good and transmit that to the family.''

Kilbourn is one of 19 mothers in the program aimed at teaching the importance of healthy eating for themselves and -- more importantly -- for their children.

Bonnie bon·ny also bon·nie  
adj. bon·ni·er, bon·ni·est Scots
1. Physically attractive or appealing; pretty.

2. Excellent.
 Bailer, director for the Center for Healthier Communities at Northridge Hospital Medical Center Northridge Hospital Medical Center is a hospital in the Northridge town of Los Angeles, California, USA. It is currently operated by Catholic Healthcare West. History
The hospital was founded in 1955 by Dr.
 says teaching parents about healthy eating is important because ``parents are the ones who buy the food, prepare the snacks and control their children's eating habits.''

The goal of the ``Good Cooking/Buena Cocina'' class taught by a team from Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , a nonprofit based in Hollywood, is to help families eat healthy and exercise.

The first part of the two-hour class was dedicated to teach parents how to read nutrition labels.

``Most of us don't know Don't know (DK, DKed)

"Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party.
 how to read (nutrition labels),'' said Maria Lucia Olguin, who has four children. ``Now I will look for vitamins... what is on the bottom is more important.''

The second part was devoted to preparing a healthy meal using fresh ingredients. The dish was rice pilaf with corn and roasted chiles, which everyone sampled at the end of the class.

But the class got started with an unexpected twist when participants were asked to step on a scale. Northridge Hospital staff recorded the weight and height of each participant, which revealed ``the vast majority were overweight,'' Bailer said. The women will be weighed each week and the Northridge Hospital Cardiology Department will provide blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol screenings.

The class is part of the School-Based Obesity and Diabetes Initiative, a pilot project spearheaded by Northridge Hospital's Center for Healthier Communities, which was embraced by several organizations including the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. , Nutrition Network and California State University Enrollment
 Northridge, among others.

The reason for the pilot project, Bailer says, is to help combat childhood obesity childhood obesity Public health Overweight in a child, an average BMI of ≥ 85% for age and sex; ≥ 95% for age and sex is very obese. See Body-mass index, Obesity. Cf Adult obesity. . The project is in five schools - James Monroe High School James Monroe High School may refer to:
  • James Monroe High School (California)
  • James Monroe High School (New York)
  • James Monroe High School (Virginia)
  • James Monroe High School (West Virginia)
, Sepulveda Middle School, Liggett Elementary, Ranchito Street Elementary and Plummer Street Elementary - all in the high-need communities of North Hills and Panorama City.

Currently, a third of American children and youth are either obese or at risk of becoming obese, according to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.
 a report issued by the Institute of Medicine.

In Los Angeles, 25 percent of boys and 18 percent of girls attending public schools in grades 5, 7, and 9 are overweight, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) in Los Angeles County's department providing public and personal health services to the over 10 million residents in the County. .

Bailer says childhood obesity has become a major health threat and parent education is only one component the initiative is using to fight childhood obesity. Other components include in-school and after-school intervention, teacher training and support groups.

The multifaceted initiative launched last March with parent cooking classes at Sepulveda Middle School and James Monroe High School. Bailer says the classes were successful at both campuses, with one group of 12-15 participants losing 85 pounds in six weeks.

``The parents are understanding the impact nutrition can have on disease,'' Bailer said. ``As a result of that they are losing weight, have a positive influence on children and diet and are improving the overall health of their families.''

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

A participant of the Good Cooking class follows cooking instructions from Cynthia Agustin of Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles. The dish they prepared was rice pilaf with corn and roasted chiles.

Denisse Salazar/Valley News
COPYRIGHT 2006 Daily News
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

 Reader Opinion

Title:

Comment:



 

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Title Annotation:Valley News
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Sep 27, 2006
Words:653
Previous Article:SELFLESS RESIDENTS FIGHT HOMELESSNESS ON ALL FRONTS VOLUNTEERS AND COUNSELORS WORK AGAINST VALLEY HOMELESSNESS IN WAYS AS INDIVIDUAL AS THEY ARE...
Next Article:COMPASSION AND A WARM SMILE LYDIA NASSOURA VOLUNTEERS TO HELP THE HOMELESS.(Valley News)
Topics:



Related Articles
HARD WORK MAKES DIFFERENCE FOR TOP SIMI VALLEY CAMPUS.(News)
SANTA CLARITA VALLEY LUNCH PROGRAM COOKS UP A SUCCESS STORY.(News)
TEACHER TAILORED BASIC ENGLISH TEXT TO FIT INTERESTS OF ADULT\STUDENTS.(NEWS)
HIGH SCHOOL LEADER RECALLS HOMELESSNESS : HOMELESS TEENS LACK SERVICES.(NEWS)
MOM HEADED FOR PAGEANT ACTIVIST PICKED TO REPRESENT REGION AT MRS. AMERICA GIG.(News)
YMCA HAS THE RIGHT RX PHARMACIST HELPS VISITORS SORT THROUGH MEDICATION.(News)
Parenting Children with ADHD.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
KIDS LEARN ABOUT BALANCED DIETS, SERVING, BEING HOSTS CASTAIC STUDENTS ENJOY BOOSTING FAMILY MEALTIME.(News)
Firefighter George and the Florida State University Flying High Circus Teach Nutrition.(Video recording review)

Terms of use | Copyright © 2009 Farlex, Inc. | Feedback | For webmasters | Submit articles