Tag: nutritious

For Families Who Need More Than Medical Care – A Hospital That Prescribes Free Nutritious Food
HEALTH & WELLNESS

For Families Who Need More Than Medical Care – A Hospital That Prescribes Free Nutritious Food

Being food-insecure – unable to get enough nutritious food to meet your needs – can take a toll on your health. So Dayton Children’s Hospital has begun to screen its patients and their families for this problem and refer them to what it’s calling the “Food Pharm.” This program, which launched about two years ago, currently aims to provide about 55 families per month with enough healthy food, such as whole grain pasta, beans and green beans, to feed a family of four for three days while also connecting them with other resources to help them get through the rest of the week. It’s also taking care to ensure that this one-time donation of nutritious food is culturally appropriate, meaning that people know how to prepare and consume the food they receive and it fits with their culture and bel...
America’s poorest children won’t get nutritious meals with school cafeterias closed due to the coronavirus
COVID-19

America’s poorest children won’t get nutritious meals with school cafeterias closed due to the coronavirus

Schools aren’t only places where kids learn. They are also places where kids eat. Thanks to the National School Lunch Program, 30 million U.S. children – some 60% of all school-aged kids – regularly eat some combination of breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks at school. Federal subsidies ensure that school meals are affordable for all children to stave off hunger and malnutrition. But what is happening to meals provided by the nation’s largest child nutrition program as public schools shut their doors to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic? Based on my research on how schools provide meals for poor children, I worry that these closures might leave some of the nation’s poorest children without access to nutritious meals. School meals address hunger Despite persistent concer...