Houston, Texas – Nutrition organizations and the United States Department of Agriculture suggest planning for healthy family meals as mandatory diet education, as a part of the recognition of August as nutrition month with the theme entitled “Family Meals Month”.
The University of Houston (UH) honors students and professor Daphne Hernandez of the UH Health and Human Performance released the results of their data analysis and nutrition experiment. The study was conducted as part of the professor’s nutrition policy course.
The UH students went through a nutrition experiment, allocating $25 food budget for each person. They took notes and recorded data as they participated in the experiment called “The Food Stamp Challenge”. The $25 allocation was considered since it was the average weekly amount that is available for an adult eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The SNAP program has served 47 million low-income individuals, who needed urgent care in 2013. The participants were granted $25 grocery store gift cards by the university, which they should allot for a week.
Hernandez’ research focused on wide ranges of issues such as food assistance program participation, food insecurity, including public assistance programs and family factors that influence both child and adult health. The research emphasized on the importance and the benefits of healthy family meals.
During the experiment, Hernandez and the students said they failed to meet the nutrition guidelines recommended by the government, although they were well-versed about nutrition, considering their limited food budget. Deficiency in nutrients will require a visit to an urgent care clinic, more especially those less-informed about nutrition and the underprivileged families.
The data analysis indicated that food stamp recipients might suffer from iron and potassium deficiencies, anemia, abnormal heart rhythms, bone issues, weak muscles, and other health problems that may require urgent care clinics for immediate treatment. Through the analysis, researchers also found that participants failed to meet the average target values involving grains, vegetable, fruits, and dairy food groups.
Hernandez emphasized on the importance of the exercise, addressing food insecurity issues while promoting healthy family meals. She said health professionals must be aware that SNAP participants, mostly families do not get sufficient nutrition, restricting them from living healthy.
Families that are SNAP participants will need an urgent care near me sort of attention. With this, researchers called for a mandatory nutritional education to be integrated in the SNAP program. To achieve healthy family meals, participants must educated in good eating habits, grocery shopping and regular cooking workshops, as well as nurturing community gardens.
