Nourish With Intent

Good morning, Cadre. Happy Saturday. Welcome to Nourish with Intent. Cheers to anyone else drinking their coffee right now. See if anyone pops in today. I really want to just take a second to talk about. Not a second, a couple minutes. We're going to talk about how to help feed your community. And this is something that's really important to me as a dietitian. You've heard me talk a lot about, you know, benefits of fiber, benefits of protein, all the things. Good morning, Colleen. Good to see you here.

Hi, Jules. But the big thing that I want to talk about is nutrition only matters if it's consumed. And right now, the amount of people who don't have access to food is really, from what I'm seeing, the communities that I'm interacting with, the patients I'm interacting with, is a driving factor, if not the biggest factor in diet right now. And so if you follow me on Instagram, I did post a little earlier this week how to help feed your community, but I also just wanted to take some space here and expand on that a little bit more because I think it's really, really important.

As a dietitian, I am involved in some organizations that I get updates on on different policy at local level, federal level, state level, and there's a lot up in the air. So I just wanted to take a second and talk about how we can help to improve food access in our own local communities. Some of these are going to sound maybe a little out there. Sorry, everything in my kitchen is making noises right now. My fridge, my furnace. I apologize if you can hear all that. So the first thing I want to talk about is if you are able to either volunteer time or donate food or monetary donations to your local food bank.

There have been some programs in the last week that have been cut at the federal level that we're really connecting food banks and schools to local farms. And about a billion dollars of that funding has been cut. And so food banks right now are struggling. Food is more expensive. There's more people who are needing those options and needing those resources, and they are now losing funding and just not really able to supply the community with what everyone is needing. So if you have time to either donate food, if it's, you know, you go to Costco and buy a pack of 40 something, right?

Like, even if you're donating, one thing that can make a really big difference, or if there's. There's a church in my neighborhood that has like a. I think it's called like a blessings box or something, I don't know, we'll go just put random stuff in there. Shelf stable things. It's like by the main road. Nutrient dense, non perishable. That would benefit community at food banks. Yes. So any sort of like plant based protein is gonna be great. And those are also incredibly, incredibly affordable.

So if you go to whatever Target King supers which is Kroger, if you're in the Midwest like Hy Vee, things like lentils, beans, canned or just dried as well dried is going to last the longest. Canned also great. You just get a lot more for your money. So those are great. Any sort of canned or tinned protein. So think tuna, chicken, sardines even are incredibly nutrient dense. Great source of omega 3s, JC beans. Good morning everyone. Oh, everyone else jumped in. I'm so happy you're here. Morning Speak wonder.

Good morning Luke. I think I saw Kelly's in here too. Shelly from Canada. Oh my gosh, Shelly, we're have to talk. I want to learn more about Canada. Yeah, I would say those are great. Great, great, great. The other thing that can be really helpful especially I'm kind of thinking more of like this blessings box that's in my neighborhood, something like a drinkable nutrition, like a meal replacement, not so much a protein shake but like a meal replacement. Something that's got calories in it. Something like, you know, ensures expensive.

So I don't want to say that but if you have an Aldi near you, Colorado does not have them and it is really frustrating because I love Aldi but they're equivalent. So that could help someone get a well balanced meal or meal equivalent as opposed to just like having protein. So something that's got some carbs, got some fats in it. Other shelf stable things. Something that I when I've worked in, when I volunteered in food banks, people don't often think about things like spices or condiments. Right.

Salt, pepper, ketchup. Sometimes people literally don't even have that. And that can make a big difference. It's not nutritious necessarily. It's not giving any sort of calories but it can be make a really big difference in making food palatable for someone, especially if they have kids. So things like that are also going to be really, really helpful. You have Aldi in Pennsylvania. I, we had Aldi in Minnesota too. And I am very, I don't know what it is about Colorado, but we don't have an equivalent either.

There's no like knockoff Aldi that I found anyway. I would say those are kind of the Biggest things. A lot of food banks, if you're working with an actual like established food bank, they do have refrigerators and freezers. So sometimes it can be really helpful to just call them and see what they need more of because a lot of times people are gravitating towards those items. And so there might be 800 boxes of cereal on the shelf, but one gallon of milk. So I think calling and just asking what do they need?

JC hopefully more shelf stable items and easy open containers. Yes. So if you're getting canned options, getting the cans with the pull tabs, it's going to be a really great option. I also think you, you can donate can openers as well. Even the little like really simple basic ones that are a couple bucks. My granddaughter thinks branch dressing as a food group. I love that. That's such like a. Is she in the Midwest? That feels like a Midwest thing. Mac and cheese was abundant which because you need other items make it.

Yes. So that's always something that I like. Even like the a box Mac and cheese where you have to make it on the stove, you need butter, you need milk, you really don't need it. You probably could just do it with water. But versus like the, the versions that come with like a cheese sauce instead of a cheese powder. Right. Like they're just less resources needed. Water is another thing that food banks also tell typically need. So that was a really long answer to your question, but I think it is a really great question.

So if you are able to donate time, money, food, even if it's one little thing, that is a really big way to help support your communities. Obviously I don't know everyone's situation. So like don't put yourself in a spot where it's going to add so much stress onto you that it's negatively impacting your health. But doing what you can when you can, even if it feels insignificant, I promise you it's not. Yes. Colleen, Ranch dressing is a beverage. I actually. Because we're having a debate about ranch.

I am. It's not even a debate. Everyone's in agreement. I'm really curious. Best ranch, what's your top ranch? Hidden Valley. I hear a lot. Not my favorite. But I want to know what your favorite ranch is down there. My favorite is the Trader Joe's one that comes in the refrigerated section. That's my favorite ranch. It's like very dill forward and I love it. Okay. That was the first thing. I didn't even make it to anything else. Yet another thing that could Be really helpful is I was talking about this with one of my clients who lives in a neighborhood of mixed age.

Her and some of her neighbors are like very avid gardeners and she's wanting to get into canning and they've chatted with each other and kind of like split up. Like one person is growing a ton of tomatoes and another person is growing like not asparagus, what was it? Zucchini. Right. Like getting kind of just planning together she's gonna have so many tomatoes. And she did this because she has some older neighbors who you know, they're a tight knit community, they talk to each other, they're struggling a little bit.

And so these neighbors are kind of coming together and they're going to grow enough food to help their community. And she's wanting to can some food to be able to give it to her neighbors. So that's another thing that could be. It's like a little community CSA on a very small level and I just thought that was really cool and that is something that I just built a little bit bigger garden, hoping I get some sort of crop. But I think that's a really great option as well is if you are someone that does that.

Sharing with your like very local community can be a huge help. Kind of in that same realm is a big piece of supporting your local community and getting people nutritious foods also involves supporting your local farmers and local farms. So buying a CSA from them if that's something that you're interested in. I was also personally just looking at jobs yesterday to be in volunteer positions to be like a farm hand just because I think that would be really fun. But we're coming up on spring, summer, they're really needing people and hands and so if we can get the crops from the farm to the people, that's huge and a lot of times local.

Like the biggest one here is the Food bank of the Rockies and they'll have programs that partner with local farms. But again we can only, it's only helpful for able to get that food from the farm to the people who need to eat it. And so that is a piece that might be a challenge right now. Community CSA regularly, they yes, they are expensive and that's why like I would love to do it and I honestly, I personally have never done it because it just hasn't made sense financially for us. But yeah, also like getting a CSA and splitting it with someone.

I've had some clients that do that because depending on the CSA you sometimes get a ton of food as well. So Looking into that, supporting your local farm, going to like we have a, we have a community garden in our town that will do events as well. And that this is really random. That's just another in terms of growing your own food. A lot of apartments now have little plots. You can for free just say, hey, I want to start growing food. And they have this little like garden spot within their apartment complex.

Our city has a community garden where you, I think you do typically rent the spot, but you get free water and it's all just like runoff water, which is really cool. So there's all these little programs depending on where you live. Obviously I know it's a little early for growing season for some of you, but so that's the third thing, supporting your local farms, seeing if there's any programs, anything that you can volunteer to help transport the food to the people that need the food. Fourth thing is just familiarizing yourself with programs like WIC and snap.

Unfortunately they are still very stigmatized. So a lot of times people will either not apply because of that or sometimes people just don't understand just what is needed to apply. So SNAP and WIC are federal programs, but they are facilitated on the more local level. So you think about WIC and snap, it's going to be more at your county and state level, WIC especially, and there's WIC offices in every single county. WIC is Women Infinite Children, if you're not familiar. And it supports through pregnancy beyond birth and then supports kids from birth to their fifth birthday.

So it is a really wonderful resource. And within WIC there's also typically like lactation consultants, there's dietitians on staff who are helping teach people how to utilize the resources they're getting. And then with snap, with wic, if you are, if you are already on snap, you're automatically qualified for wic. SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Both of these programs have income requirements, so you have to fall under a certain amount of income. And it's roughly 175 to 200% of the federal poverty, federal poverty level.

And I just looked up at the numbers. I think it's about for a single person income, if you make less than 2,500ish a month, you qualify for SNAP. You can apply online, there's a whole portal for it. So I think just working to help destigmatize some of these programs can be really helpful because they are a really great resource. So being knowledgeable about those, talking to other people about them, normalizing them, they are there to help And I know there's some debate among what should be allowed and what shouldn't be allowed within these programs.

If they don't have any access to food, they're not gonna eat at all. So, again, access. Food is only nutritious if it's eaten. We gotta give people the access. I think that was number four. Right. Number five is just like making people a meal. I live in Denver, and Denver is pretty known, I would say, to have a lot of people who are unhoused, and regardless, they are still a human being and deserve to be treated like a human. And so sometimes just making sandwiches and giving them to people can make a huge difference in someone's day.

I remember doing that. There was some program in Minneapolis. I don't know if it still exists, but there was, like, one guy who. I remember going to my church and we just made a ton of sandwiches. And this guy just, like, would spend his days handing out sandwiches to people. I went to a wedding once where the wedding favor was we made bags to hand out to people that had, like, first aid supplies and Gatorades and snacks and protein bars and stuff like that so that we could hand those out to people.

Sometimes just get something as small as that does matter and does make a difference. So that is my little spiel for you today on how to help support and feed our communities. Get food to the people who need it. Speak. Wonder areas in Pennsylvania have wonderful farm to Table programs. Yeah, Farm to Table is great. A lot of times Farm to Table will partner with local restaurants. Sometimes I find they partner with, like, food banks or homeless shelters. There's a really great Farm to Table organization if you're in Minnesota.

I can't remember the name of it. It's by. It's kind of by the fairgrounds, the state fairgrounds. I'll have to look up. I don't remember what it's called, but they have really great programs if you're in that area. And they're always looking for volunteers. So I'll try to track down what that's called. If you're interested in volunteering at a food bank. com will is a nationwide organization, and they. You can search your zip code and find food banks near you. Thanks, JC Appreciate it. Hopefully this was helpful.

Meals served in barns to promote awareness. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Yay. This was a really great conversation. I appreciate everyone being here, especially because I didn't actually put anything in my title about what I was gonna talk about today. So maybe you got stuck with me. Shocked. Oh, okay. If you like musicals, check out Shucked says jc Okay. I am gonna put a couple of the resources I mentioned in the community tab, and I just kind of want to start a chain or conversation if there's other things that you guys have done or are aware of in your area.

I know a lot of people here are in the Midwest, but I know we've got Speak one area out east. We got Canada. Love that. If you're in Canada, I know nothing about it, but Speak Wonder. I appreciate it. Okay, I'll let you all go. Have a wonderful weekend. Stay safe, stay warm, enjoy your coffee, and we'll see you back here again next week. Like I said, I'll share in the community tab. Please add to it or if there's anything I didn't mention, share it. All right, thanks, guys. See you next time. Oh, and there's one more live later today, so stick around for that.