The North Carolina Cooperative Extension, FirstHealth of the Carolinas and the Richmond County Health Department are partnering to proved Richmond County residents free classes for March.
March is National Nutrition Month and this year’s theme, “Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day,” is geared towards encouraging personalized healthy eating styles and recognizing that food preferences, lifestyle, cultural and ethnic traditions and health concerns all impact individual food choices.
The annual campaign was created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. National Nutrition Month focuses on the importance of making informed food choices and developing good eating and physical activity habits. This year is the 40th anniversary of National Nutrition Month.
The classes will be held on every Tuesday in March from 6 to 7 p.m. and will include Eating Healthy on a Budget, Portion Control, Sweet and Salty and Pediatric Nutrition.
Eating Healthy on a Budget will be held on March 5, Sweet and Salty will be held on March 12, Portion Control will be held on March 19 and Pediatric Nutrition will be held on March 26.
The instructors for the classes are Sarah Mammarella, registered dietitian and the family and consumer sciences agent at the Richmond County Cooperative Extension, Brittany Snyder, nutritionist for WIC and Alexis Skelley, health education specialist for FirstHealth of the Carolinas.
Mammarella will teach the sweet and salty class, which will discuss sweet and salty foods, Snyder will teach the pediatric nutrition class, which will teach healthy food and drink choices for children and Skelley will teach both the eating healthy on a budget and the portion control class.
Mammarella said the organizations are “trying to all work together on this — a sign to the county that we are committed to making Richmond County a healthier place to live.”
Snyder said that she is really excited about helping out. Snyder said that as a nutritionist for WIC, she sees kids that drink a lot of soda, sweet tea, Kool-Aid and juice.
According to Mammarella, Richmond County has a high obesity and child obesity rate and she wants to help residents learn about nutrition.
Both the sweet and salty class and the pediatric nutrition class will be held at the North Carolina Cooperative Extension. The Eating Healthy on a Budget and Portion Control classes will be held at FirstHealth Richmond Memorial Hospital.
— Staff Writer Laura Edington can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 18, or by email at ledington@civitasmedia.com.
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