Dec. 2--Antoinette Dickson dropped four cans of corn into her cart, right next to a big bottle of tomato juice.
She looked up just in time to stop her youngest son's curious little hands from reaching out of his cart seat and pulling down a spice rack display.
"What are doing in there?" she teased 18-month-old Will.
She returned her attention to a brochure listing the items available to her through the Women, Infants and Children food program.
"I still need to look at this to make sure I get what I'm supposed to," she said.
Next stop: two boxes of whole grain cereal. Later, she added a loaf of whole wheat bread to the cart.
Prior to October, WIC wouldn't have paid for these items. But an overhaul of the federal program, the first in 30 years, has provided recipients with more nutritional options.
"I'm already a health-conscious grocery shopper," said Dickson, 27, of York . "I've always been that way. (The new WIC) just makes it easier to be healthy."
For decades, WIC focused on basic staples: white bread, whole milk, cheese, fruit juice and peanut butter.
With all the advances in nutrition science, WIC needed an update, said Cindy Ketterman, the chef clinical dietitian for WellSpan Health.
"We didn't push whole grains 30 years ago," she said. "We were conscious of fat only if you had heart disease, not in the general population. And we knew nothing about antioxidants."
The Department of Health, which administers the program in Pennsylvania,
has touted the changes as a nutritional upgrade. A brochure explaining the changes shows a toddler pawing through a pile of fresh tomatoes, peppers and sliced kiwi. Another page shows a preschool-aged boy biting into a sandwich, the bread several shades darker than a loaf of Wonder Classic White.
A lot of kids don't get enough vitamins and minerals, Ketterman said. So WIC added allowances for fresh produce, canned fruits and vegetables and whole grains.
Most children consume plenty of fat and carbs, Ketterman said. So WIC reduced the fruit juice and cheese allowance and only provides low-fat milk to children older than 2.
Some changes also reflect the tastes of the times, with new items such as tofu, soy milk and brown rice.
Perhaps the most radical change -- and most popular change if you ask Catherine Delgado --has been the addition of fresh produce. The 37-year-old mother of three from Glen Rock has used her $8 vouchers to buy onions, green peppers, fresh broccoli, apples (red and green), oranges, lettuce and tomatoes.
Her oldest packs fresh fruit for her lunch each day. Her middle child likes to dip apples in yogurt and peanut butter for breakfast. And all three girls enjoy taco night, so the addition of fresh tomatoes and lettuce was helpful.
"It was really nice that I could use it to purchase things that I need," Delgado said.
The more rigid approach of the old program forced white bread on health-conscious whole-grain eaters like Dickson. Now, whole grain and whole wheat are the only options.
"It makes you buy the healthier food," Dickson said. "No one I know turns down anything free. If they get whole wheat for free, they're going to eat it."
wmalcolm@ydr.com; 771-2101
Additions to WIC
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