Nutrition plays a vital role on our health and how we perform each day.
Unfortunately, an increasing number of youth in Vermilion County are not getting adequate nutrition.
According to the 2008 Vermilion County Report from I Sing the Body Electric, youth in Vermilion County indicated they had not consumed any juice, milk or eaten any fruit, salad or other vegetables (not including salad) in the seven days prior to taking the survey.
More than one-fourth (26.4 percent) of the county's youth reported no intake of 100 percent juice, 19 percent had not eaten any fruit, 41 percent had not eaten any salad and 15.6 percent had not had any milk in the seven days prior to the survey.
Young Women Aware will partner with the U of I Extension office during the second week in February to educate young women and their families on the importance of nutrition, provide take-home information, explain budgeting tips for grocery shopping and share easy recipes.
"We want to open their eyes to the importance of eating their fruits and vegetables, and how easy it really is," said Brennon Hightower with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vermillion County.
The program is open to Young Women Aware participants at Danville High School, North Ridge Middle School and South View Middle School and their parents.
Sessions are scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday at Danville High School; 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at North Ridge Middle School; and 3:30 p.m. Thursday at South View Middle School.
The program is free and requires no registration.
Those attending are encouraged to bring and share nutritional recipes and have their taste buds ready to sample the difference between fruit drink and fruit juice.
Young Women Aware is an outreach project of Provena United Samaritans Medical Center Foundation, Danville District 118 and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vermilion County.
FYI
For more information, call Big Brothers Big Sisters at 446-6601. To see more of the Commercial-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://commercial-news.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Commercial-News, Danville, Ill. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, Commercial-News, Danville, Ill.