The Youth Gardening and Nutrition Initiative is a community project run through a collaboration between Stanford Pediatrics, the Ecumenical Hunger Program, and Stanford undergraduates that aims to teach elementary and middle school students in East Palo Alto about nutrition, gardening, and healthier diets through a 6-week curriculum covering key concepts, hands-on gardening experiences, and cooking demonstrations of healthy recipes.

1. Youth Gardening and
Nutrition Initiative
Dr. Michael Friedberg & Keshav Rao
Stanford University
2/24/12

2. About Us
• Community project to help
lower and middle students
in EPA learn about
nutrition, gardening, and
healthier diets
• Preventative program to
fight childhood obesity
• Collaboration between
Stanford Pediatrics (StAT
Program), the Ecumenical
Hunger Program, and
Stanford undergraduates
• Website: www.ygni.org

3. Curriculum Overview
• 6 class curriculum covering:
– Key nutritional concepts (40 min/class)
– Gardening experiences (20 min/class)
– Healthy recipes and cooking demonstrations (20
min/class)
• Target Audience: Elementary/Middle School
East Palo Alto students
• Weekly classes will be offered at the
Ecumenical Hunger Program

4. Table of Contents
Nutrition Gardening Recipes
Module 1 Intro to Healthy Eating Planning “Pizza Garden” and Yogurt Parfait
and Gardening Mini-Greenhouse Seed Trays with granola
and fruit
Module 2 Dangers of Added Fats Setting up the “Pizza Chicken Fingers
and Sugars Garden”
Module 3 Fruits & Veggies: Key Placing & Installing the Fruit
Sources of Vitamins Plants Smoothies
Module 4 Grains & Proteins Create Your Own Compost Fritatta
Module 5 Portion Control & Maintaining & Growing the Hummus
Healthy Snacking Garden
Module 6 Eating Healthy When Harvesting & Transplanting Garden Pizza
Eating Out Seedlings to Garden

5. Energy Balance
• Weight Gain:
ENERGY IN (Calories consumed) > ENERGY OUT (Calories burned)
• Same Weight:
ENERGY IN (Calories consumed) = ENERGY OUT (Calories burned)
• Weight Loss:
Energy IN (Calories consumed) < Energy Out (Calories burned)
Total Calories = Breakfast (300 cal) + Lunch (1200 cal) + Dinner (1500 cal) = 3000
Calories Burned = 2000 cal
Does the person gain weight?

8. 200/700 calories from fat is < 30%

9. Type of Milk Calories Total Fat (g) Protein (g) Calcium (% DV)
Fat Free Milk 90 0 9 30%
1% Low-fat Milk 120 2.5 11 35%
2% Reduced Fat 130 5 10 30%
Milk
Whole Milk 160 9 8 25%
Total Fat
<
>
Total Calcium, Protein

10. Which has the most calories from sugar: Lemonade, Coke, or Orange Juice?
Can: 140 Calories
20 oz. bottle: 240 Calories
1 L Bottle: 400 Calories
8 oz. Serving: 140
Calories
16 oz. Bottle: 260 Calories
8 oz. Serving: 96 Calories
16 oz. Bottle: 192 Calories

14. Portion Control
• Q1: How often do you Value-size, Supersize, Mega-size or “whatever-
size” your burgers, sodas or fries?
– Always
– Sometimes
– Never
• Q2: When you eat a packaged snack or dessert (like chips, crackers,
cookies, or ice cream) do you usually:
– Take out what you want and then put the package away
– Take out what you want, but leave the package out, in case you want
more.
– Eat straight out of the package, sometimes until nothing is left.
• Q3: How often do you read the label on food packages to see what
the serving size is?
– Usually
– Sometimes
– Never

15. Serving Size: 4-6 oz
Serving Size: 40% of bag
Serving Size: 2 tbsp

16. Meat Group Milk Group
(for growth) (for bones and teeth)
Hardboiled egg Milk
Leftover meat Cheese Slices
Chicken leg Cheese Sticks
Peanut butter Cottage Cheese
Nuts or seeds Yogurt
Tofu Soy Milk
Beans
Grain Group Fruits and Vegetables
(for energy) (for vitality)
Pretzels Fresh Fruit slices-Apple, Orange, melon
Cheerios Banana, Pear, grapes
Kix cereals Canned fruit., applesauce
Bagels Strawberries
Rice cakes Steamed cold vegetables-broccoli,
Graham Crackers cauliflower
Tortillas Fresh celery sticks
Bread, various kinds Fresh vegies-celery sticks, cucumber,
Popcorn, plain snow peas, carrots
Cherry tomatoes Frozen juice sticks
Juice- fruit and tomato

18. Eat Healthy Away from Home
Do
Order a kids meal
Share a meal with friends/family
Ask for no mayo, dressing on the side
Pack up half of a lunch/dinner in a to-go box
before even starting the meal
Ask if you could get the lunch-sized portion of
dinner dishes
Don’t
Supersize your meals unless you plan to share
Order the largest size of drinks or main courses
Go to all-you-can-eat buffets

19. Healthy Recipe: Yogurt Parfait
• Ingredients
– ½ cup granola, low-fat
– ¾ cup (6-oz container) vanilla or plain
yogurt, low-fat
– ½ cup fresh blueberries, raspberries, or
sliced strawberries or bananas
• Set-up/Prep: Have students construct a
healthy parfait by combining granola,
yogurt, and fresh fruit
• Key Nutritional Information:
– Serving Size: 1 ¾ cups
– 15 g protein, 6 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat,
35% DV calcium, 20% DV Vitamin C
Source: Kidshealth.org

20. Healthy Recipe: Chicken Fingers
• Ingredients:
– 1 4-oz. boneless, skinless chicken
breast, rinsed, patted dry, and sliced into strips
or 4 1-oz boneless, skinless chicken tenders
– 1 egg or ¼ cup egg substitute or ¼ cup skim milk
– 1/3 cup cereal flakes, crushed (preferably cereal
with 3g or more of fiber per serving)
• Set-up/Prep:
– Preheat oven to 350º F (176º C).
– Dip chicken strips into egg, egg substitute, or
skim milk.
– Roll dipped chicken in high-fiber cereal to coat.
– Place coated strips on nonstick baking sheet.
– Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, turning after 9
minutes, until chicken is done (it must be
white, not pink, inside).
• Key Nutritional Info:
– Serving size: 1 tender
– 227 calories, 30 g protein, 3 g fat, 0.8 g sat. fat
Source: kidshealth.org

21. Healthy Recipe: Fruit Smoothie
• Ingredients
– 2 cups 1% milk
– 1 fresh pitted mango
– 1 small banana
– 2 ice cubes
• Set-up/Prep
– Put all ingredients into a blender
and blend until foamy. Kids can
add more fruit and/or vegetables.
• Key Nutritional Information:
– Serving Size: ¾ Cup
– 106 Calories, 2 g total fat, 1 g
saturated fat, 157 mg calcium
Source: Delicious Heart-Healthy Latino Recipes

22. Healthy Recipe: Frittata
Source: Edible Schoolyard Project

23. Healthy Recipe: Hummus
• Ingredients:
– 2 cups canned garbanzo beans, drainer
– 1/3 cup tahini, ¼ cup lemon juice
– 1 tsp salt, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil
– 1 pinch paprika, 1 tsp fresh parsley
• Set-up/Prep:
– Place the garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon
juice, salt and garlic in a blender or food
processor. Blend until smooth.
– Transfer mixture to a serving bowl. Drizzle
olive oil over the garbanzo bean mixture.
Sprinkle with paprika and parsley
• Key Nutrition Info:
– Serving Size: 1/16 of recipe
– 77 calories, 4.3 g fat, 0.6 g sat fat, 5% DV
protein, 12% DV folate
Source:

24. Healthy Recipe: Garden Pizza
• Ingredients
– 1 pint cherry tomatoes, 2 tbsp tomato paste
– 8 fresh basil leaves, 2 tsp fresh oregano
– ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, yellow cornmeal dusting
– 1 pound Easy Whole-Wheat dough
– 4 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese
– 3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
– 4 baby zucchinis, 1 medium yellow bell pepper
• Set-up/Prep
– Place a pizza stone on the lowest rack; preheat oven
to 450°F for at least 20 minutes
– Roll out the dough and place on a cornmeal-dusted
pizza peel or inverted baking sheet, using enough
cornmeal so that the dough slides easily
– .Slide the dough onto the preheated stone and cook
until the bottom begins to crisp, about 3 minutes.
Remove the crust, making sure the underside is
covered with cornmeal
– Quickly add the toppings and slide the pizza back
onto the stone. Continue baking until the toppings
are hot and the bottom of the crust has browned, 12
to 15 minutes.
• Key Nutritional Information:375 calories; 9 g fat
(5 g sat, 1 g mono ); 26 mg cholesterol; 58 g
carbohydrates; 17 g protein; 8 g fiber; 531 mg
sodium;
Source: Eatingwell,com

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