New Year, Healthier You, One Bite at a Time
While we can’t believe how fast 2022 came and went, here we are with a fresh new year ahead of us. Perhaps one filled with the resolution to eat healthier – if so, how are you doing so far?
Don’t worry, no judgment here. Eating well can be a challenge, but it doesn’t need to be insurmountable. It can be as simple as making a few small changes to the things you eat. Here at Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, we want to share a few simple switches from Nutrition Advisory Council members Beth Blake, MPH, RDN, and Dareen Khatib, MPH, RDN, MCHES that can have a profound impact on your health. The Nutrition Advisory Council is made up of a group of qualified experts in the nutrition field who advise and strategize Second Harvest’s nutritional programming and planning to ensure that we not only help fight food insecurity in Orange County but nutritional insecurity as well.
Next time you are at the market, pick up a bag of pre-washed greens (leafy greens, not lettuce). This can be spinach, kale, collard or a mix of greens. Leafy greens are a good source of fiber, iron, folate and other B vitamins. Try these “hacks” to incorporate healthy habits into your everyday routine:
- Canned soup is easy and comforting on a cold day. Add leafy greens when you are heating up the soup since they cook in just a few minutes.
- Making a quick quesadilla? Tuck in a handful of greens near the end of the cook time.
- Instant ramen noodles are portable and convenient, but mostly starches and sodium. Add leafy greens to your noodles to instantly increase the nutritional value.
- Having frozen pizza for dinner? Top your cooked pizza with a few raw greens. If you like them slightly charred, you can add them on top for the last few minutes of baking.
- Instead of lettuce on a sandwich or burger, use greens instead. Simply substitute them anytime you would use fresh lettuce.
- Get more fiber by choosing more whole grains like whole wheat or whole wheat breads and pastas, brown or wild rice, corn tortillas, and oatmeal in place of refined grains like white bread, white rice, flour tortillas, and desserts grains like donuts, cakes, and pastries.
- Get healthy fats by choosing more plant based oils like olive, avocado, or canola oil in place of solid fats like butter or lard.
- Switch to more plant based proteins like beans, lentils, seeds, and nuts in place of processed red meat to get more fiber, vitamins, and minerals with less saturated fat.
So don’t give up on eating healthy just yet. By making a few simple and delicious swaps, you can eat your way to better health, one bite at a time.
Jill Wilson decided to volunteer with Second Harvest in 2008 when she was in between jobs and looking for a way to apply her talents that could benefit the community. She arrived one day at Second Harvest’s former distribution center in Orange, ready to serve, and felt immediately connected to the mission.
Like Jill and Ian, other friends of the food bank may be looking for ways to connect meaningfully with Second Harvest to help those experiencing hunger in Orange County for years to come. One simple way to make a significant impact, while achieving peace of mind, is by creating a will or revocable living trust with our partner, FreeWill.
March is National Nutrition Month, an annual awareness campaign that encourages us to learn about nutrition, develop healthy eating habits and discover the fun of being physically active. At Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, we strive to provide everyone in Orange County with the nutrition they need to grow and excel in life.
Last spring, here at Second Harvest we completely revamped our focus to proactively purchase fresh nutrition for those in need, ensuring a steady pipeline of protein, dairy, eggs, fruits and vegetables to our approximately 300 partner and program sites. As a next step, we recently unveiled our new, 6,200-square-foot cold storage facility and two additional cold docks that establish a “cold chain” at our distribution center in Irvine. This gives us a total of 14,550 square feet of cold storage, which greatly enhances our ability to source and distribute more nutritious food.
Second Harvest continues to fight increasing food insecurity through our Pop-Up Drive Thru food distributions with the help of many amazing volunteers and it is no surprise that many of them are mothers. Jacqueline is one such volunteer and I wanted to learn more of her story.
here to volunteer representing other mothers…to give back to the community, to be a role model to my children. As a mother, as a woman, as a friend, as a wife…you have so many hats you have to put on and one of them is giving. When I go home my daughter asks me, “Mom what did you do today?” And I say, “I got to give back to people, people that really don’t have as much as we do.” Hopefully she sees me doing this and then as she gets older, she’ll want to give back just the same way.”
Pantry. Their style traditionally has always been very welcoming and focused on building relationships with those they serve. They would put out coffee and pastries and spend time talking with the families who would come early just to socialize.
One of Nancy’s key volunteers, Mary Kaye, also shared insights. Mary Kaye is an emergency room doctor who has been spending much of her spare time serving at the Saint Timothy pantry. She began volunteering pre-COVID by taking blood pressures on pantry days and translating for Spanish-speaking clients.. All the changes have her missing conversations and connecting with the families they serve.
can take your blood pressure soon,” and encouraging them.”
Whatever the situation that keeps students on campus and struggling to feed themselves, the Fresh Basic Needs Hub at UCI remains open to serve them, supported by food from Second Harvest. Student hunger is a serious challenge, made even worse by the pandemic, but Fresh, as it’s called, has the mission to provide for the basic needs of UCI students, allowing them to focus on academics.
Last week did not feel hopeful. Seeing the injustice of the past few days makes me cringe. It causes me to grieve when I see people treated unfairly or worse. But I’m choosing to move forward with hope. How can I have hope this week? Because I know Andrea and I see how she treats people who sometimes feel trapped. The team at Fresh, and all the other college pantries in Orange County serve as a lifeline for their students, providing for basic needs and offering a dignified experience for everyone who comes to them for help. Their service is a beacon of hope in the darkness.
redirected those emotions toward survival and humility. While it was a very difficult decision, Stephen and Kristina decided that in order to make it through this crisis, they would need to receive assistance the first time in their lives. This is what it means to be newly vulnerable.