Nutrition Policy Continued and Farmers Markets

Today in class we finished up our lecture on nutrition policy, and we watched a video about how a bill becomes a law. The video helped explain the process of passing a law, and how difficult it can be. This led to our discussion of nutrition programs. We talked about some of the programs available through the USDA and Department of Health and Human Services. This will lead into our group discussion of nutrition programs next week.

We then watched a video about a new farmers market in Orangeburg, South Carolina. This town is known as a food desert because many residents are far away from fresh produce. Many of the individuals living here have nutrition related health problems. A farmers market was initiated outside of a health clinic to help promote fresh fruits and vegetables intake. The patients could actually receive coupons from their doctors for the farmers market which was a good incentive. This video described the process of starting, continuing, and changing the farmers market. They also discussed the needs assessment for the market, and this helped give me a better perspective of the process. Watching this movie will help me with writing my own needs assessment in this class for adults with hypertension on the DASH diet.