Elementary School Nutrition Presentations

cooking
Written By Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII

Jill Eisenberg, MS, RD, CDN, provides the nutrition education for National Nutrition Month at her children’s K-5 elementary school.

The theme “Eat a Rainbow” focuses on eating more fruits and vegetables. Jill decorated the halls with colorful fruit and vegetable balloons and posters. She provided the teachers with various Web sites and lesson plans. Educational handouts were sent home in the backpacks, and there were fun activities that the kids were involved with during art, music, library, and physical education periods. Art projects included colorful drawings of fruits and vegetables displayed on a wall outside of the cafeteria in the form of a rainbow, still-life sketches of fruit and/or vegetable baskets, and paper-mache fruits and vegetables.

The school librarian displayed books about nutrition and handed out bookmarks. The school held the American Heart Association Jump-rope-a-thon in gym class with a fresh fruit snack. Jill also had the cafeteria set up a make-your-own-salad day, and they had food sampling in the cafeteria such as vegetable lasagna, veggies with dip and yogurt parfaits. During lunchtime, Jill used the cafeteria as a classroom with a very short lesson followed by giving out stickers and a “high five” to reinforce the need for 5-a-day.

One fun classroom competition is called the “Sticker Challenge,” when each classroom competes to fill up a chart with as many of the stickers that come off of fresh fruit and vegetables. The class with the most stickers wins Jill’s version of a “goody” bag (magnets, pencils, stickers and a healthful snack).

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Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII

Judy’s passion for cooking began with helping her grandmother make raisin oatmeal for breakfast. From there, she earned her first food service job at 15, was accepted to the world-famous Culinary Institute of America at 18 (where she graduated second in her class), and went on to the Fachschule Richemont in Switzerland, where she focused on pastry arts and baking. After a decade in food service for Hyatt Hotels, Judy launched Food and Health Communications to focus on flavor and health. She graduated with Summa Cum Laude distinction from Johnson and Wales University with a BS in Culinary Arts, holds a master’s degree in Food Business from the Culinary Institute of America, two art certificates from UC Berkeley Extension, and runs a food photography & motion studio where her love is creating fun recipes and content.

Judy received The Culinary Institute of America’s Pro Chef II certification, the American Culinary Federation Bronze Medal, Gold Medal, and ACF Chef of the Year. Her enthusiasm for eating nutritiously and deliciously leads her to constantly innovate and use the latest nutritional science and Dietary Guidelines to guide her creativity, from putting new twists on fajitas to adapting Italian brownies to include ingredients like toasted nuts and cooked honey. Judy’s publishing company, Food and Health Communications, is dedicated to her vision that everyone can make food that tastes as good as it is for you.

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