Fuel Back to School

As a new school year approaches, this preparative stretch of time offers the perfect opportunity to upgrade household routines surrounding how food is chosen, prepared, and enjoyed by the whole family. While the little ones get ready to head out the door with backpacks, notebooks, and pencils, ensure they are equally well equipped with nourishing food to take on each day.

Consider the Food Groups
Protein – Animal products like chicken, turkey, fish, and eggs offer lean and complete protein to keep bodies strong and growing. Equally helpful are plant proteins, including beans, nuts, nut butters, lentils, and tofu, which can offer more variety and speedy snack preparation.

Fruits – Handheld fruits like bananas, apples, and oranges can be sent off in a lunchbox just as they are, while berries or cut-up watermelon do well in a baggie or small Tupperware container. To dodge unneeded sugar, look for fruit cups packaged in 100% juice or water and applesauce with no sugar added.

Vegetables – Baby carrots, cut celery, or sliced cucumbers with a favorite dip or dressing make for a sustaining snack at home. A colorful dinner plate can also make a meal more interesting, so trying a variety of veggies can increase engagement at the dinner table. Consider including bell peppers, sweet potatoes, beets, or eggplant among the greens.

Dairy – Milk, yogurt, and cheese offer calcium for strong bones. For lactose intolerance or those who generally dislike dairy, consider non-dairy alternatives that are fortified with calcium and vitamin D. Dairy and dairy alternatives are often wholesome sources of protein as well!

Grains – Look for bread, cereal, and grain products with 100% whole wheat/whole grain on their labeling. It is recommended to make at least ½ of the grains eaten each day whole grains. This increases fiber intake, which in turn, promotes steady fullness for better energy and focus. Oats, brown rice, and quinoa are some grain choices that are 100% whole grains just as they are!

Guide Balanced Eating
Combining foods from different food groups above creates something filling and provides more necessary nutrients with each passing meal and snack!
Some examples:

  • Apple slices with peanut butter
  • Oatmeal or yogurt with berries
  • Toast with a hardboiled egg
  • Grilled cheese with a side of sliced bell peppers
  • Whole grain crackers with salsa, hummus, or guacamole

Get the Facts
The nutrition facts label provides a wealth of information about every product in the grocery store. There is nothing wrong with picking up pre-packaged snack items, though it is worth trying to do so mindfully. When in doubt, check the label! Keeping conscious of added sugar, saturated fat, and high sodium in products will ensure these convenient choices fit comfortably into a balanced intake.

Grow Together
So much planning and preparation can go into getting food from the grocery store to the lunchbox or the dinner table; What steps of the process can include the whole family?
If you are able:

  • Take the kids to the grocery store. Explore the produce section together and pick out something new!
  •  Request some extra hands in the kitchen. Smaller hands may enjoy washing, measuring, mixing, or plating ingredients.
  • Set aside time to prep lunches ahead once per week. Discuss favorite foods and what portions of them are filling.

Remember that meals and snacks don’t have to be perfect! Every day can be a new opportunity to make thoughtful food choices, whether you are catching the bus on the first day of school or writing your 100th lunchbox note.

August is Family Meals Month

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August is Family Meals Month, a time to take a break from busy schedules and come together as a family to share a meal.  Eating together four or more times in a week has proven benefits, including nutritional health.

Family meals are an opportunity for conversation which teaches children how to listen and provides them a chance to express their own opinions, giving them a voice in the family. Positive dinner conversations and active listening expands children’s vocabulary and reading ability and increases their sense of security. Family meals have a positive impact on children’s values, motivation and self-esteem. Eating frequent meals together also encourages positive nutritional health. Planning, preparing and cooking healthy meals together teaches children the skills they need to carry on these healthy eating habits throughout adulthood. Studies have shown that families who eat dinner together tend to eat more fruits and vegetables and healthy protein sources and fewer fried foods and soda.

August is also a very popular month for kids to go to summer camp. Campers are often exposed to new foods that are also wholesome and nourishing. This month, MANNA’s Registered Dietitian, Alura Costa, will be teaching an interactive nutrition workshop at Camp Dreamcatcher. Alura will talk with campers about healthy eating and demonstrate ways for the kids to prepare the foods at home. Look for more information and photos from this day on the MANNA blog and website.  Learn more about this camp for children whose lives have been touched by HIV/AIDS at www.campdreamcatcher.org.

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

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When Valarie Maddox was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, her two young daughters needed MANNA’s support as well.  Valarie avowed, “The meals are great because I am a single mother and I live with my two daughters.  To see the strain on my daughters and their worry because I was always the cook in my house, the MANNA meals helped to take the pressure off of them knowing I was taken care of.”

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide and the incidence continues to rise steadily with over 1 million new cases and almost half a million deaths annually.  Currently the direct cause of breast cancer is not known; education, awareness and early detection remain as the key components to combating this disease.  October marks National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, when people across the world increase awareness of the disease and fundraise to support research in search of a cure.

In 2007 MANNA partnered with the Susan G. Komen Philadelphia organization to provide medically-appropriate meals to hundreds of women and families battling breast cancer.  This partnership ensured access to nutritious meals early in their treatment, increasing their chances of survival.  Since 2007, MANNA has nourished back to health over 500 individuals diagnosed with breast cancer.

“MANNA has helped me so much with their meal program.  When I was too tired to cook I was able to heat up a meal which helped me a lot.  I felt like if I didn’t have MANNA, my nutrition would not have been as good,” MANNA client Chanel Royster noted.

Charlene Callicut, a current MANNA client agreed, “MANNA has provided me a lot of support since day one.  It really helped me with my eating and providing me with nutritious food.  The type of food that they are sending me is good food, and it tastes good too.”

For more information on ways that you can become involved with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, go to  www.komenphiladelphia.org.

Delivering Health & Hope ALL Summer!

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Even in the 100 degree temperatures, Mike Breslin is on the road again! As a faithful volunteer driver, Mike logs miles every week delivering nourishing meals to MANNA clients who are too sick to shop and cook themselves.

“I see how difficult life is for some people. It makes you realize how important your health is,” Mike acknowledged. “And I like that MANNA is not income based – it is just about HEALTH.”

This summer, MANNA drivers will deliver over 200,000 meals. Volunteer drivers like Mike are an essential part of this workforce. Not only do they help provide crucial MANNA services, but they are often a lifeline of support to clients too sick to go out. They deliver hope, encouragement and love.

One of the MANNA clients Mike delivered to has summed it up this way: “When I got sick, I gave up part of my identity. I lost the ability to go out, to connect in the community. MANNA brings that back to me.”

When Mike retired, volunteering was one of the goals he set for himself. MANNA’s many clients are thankful he did! Not everyone has time to deliver meals – there are other ways to help MANNA deliver 200,000+ meals this summer. We got a ton a ideas – click here to find out how you can help!  #FoodisMedicine

Food as Medicine: Prestigious medical publication affirms nourishment has beneficial results for the critically ill

Sue Daugherty

Sue Daugherty is used to grateful thank you notes that trumpet the benefits of nutrition and nourishment.

As Executive Director of MANNA, (Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance), she heads up a local charity that has been providing life-saving nourishment to the critically ill since 1990. MANNA prepares, cooks and delivers over 70,000 meals monthly and just recently celebrated the delivery of its 10 millionth meal. Meal plans have 11 different diet modifications created for such serious illnesses as cancer, renal and cardiac disease, HIV/AIDS and diabetes.

Though evidence suggested that neglecting the importance of adequate nutrition in chronically ill patients had far-reaching implications on their health (as well as health care costs), solid research was lacking. So MANNA conducted a study exploring health care expenditures in MANNA clients over time compared to a control group of patients without MANNA services. Health care costs were examined before and after clients began receiving services. The study found that the mean monthly health care costs decreased for three consecutive months after initiation of MANNA services. Other health care cost–related factors, such as inpatient costs, length of stay, and number of hospital admissions also displayed a downward trend.

When the Journal of Primary Care and Community Health reviewed the research and found it worthy enough for publication, Daugherty had the satisfaction of adding the weight of this prestigious publication to the organization’s long heralded benefits. Research printed in The Journal of Primary Care and Community Health will show, among other things:

  • Average monthly health care costs of MANNA clients fell 62% for three consecutive months after beginning service – a drop of almost $30,000.
  • For HIV/AIDS patients, costs fell over 80% in the first three months.
  • Even when MANNA clients’ needed hospitalization, their improved nutritional status resulted in reducing the average number of monthly visits to half that of the comparison group and their length of stay for inpatient visits was 37% shorter.
  • Monthly inpatient hospital costs of clients were 30% lower over the six months following initiation of services as compared to the six months prior to starting MANNA.
  • The costs of inpatient hospitalizations of MANNA clients were 40% lower. On average, the MCO paid out $12,000 less per month for MANNA clients.
  • MANNA clients were over 20% more likely to be released from the hospital to home rather than to long-term care or health care facility.
  • MANNA clients living with HIV/AIDS cost the MCO (Managed Care Organization) an average of $20,000 less per month.

For MANNA, the publication provided long sought after credentials for their work that could convince providers there was a less expensive and more effective way to reduce healthcare expenditures.

“With national healthcare looming just months away, hospitals and other healthcare organizations can breathe a little easier knowing that MANNA is a reliable partner to help them reduce costs and keep people healthier,” says Daugherty.  The nourishment provided “is life affirming” she continued, “and keeps people in their homes longer, enhancing quality of life as well as extending it.”

Walking through MANNA’s busy kitchen where a full culinary staff and 1500 volunteers monthly chop and dice busily, Daugherty says, “The publication of our study in the Journal of Primary Care just affirms what we always knew – there’s a miracle brewing on 23rd Street in Philadelphia. And that miracle is MANNA.”

Read our study in the Journal of Primary Care  by clicking here.

The Luckiest Cancer Patient

“I am so lucky.”

Not the words you expect to hear from a man simultaneously battling TWO types of cancer.    Yet, those are the words Don proclaims as he and his wife Dee gaze at each other and discuss illness, life and MANNA meals.  Don,78, is fighting colon AND metastatic liver cancer.

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The devotion, thankfulness and love both share is evident as they talk.

Don is not just my husband.  He is my best friend,” Dee exclaimed.  “When he became sick it was hard to watch him struggle to eat.  The food he was eating upset his stomach.  He lost 35 pounds.  MANNA is so wonderful.  Don has gained back 10 pounds!  MANNA meals help us in so many ways.”

MANNA meals have increased Don’s energy level and enabled him to continue his fight. And to enjoy and celebrate life.  Thanks to MANNA meals, Don is looking forward to to celebrating his 79th birthday this summer surrounded by family and friends.

Don wanted to share a message with MANNA and every one of our supporters:   “I really thank you.  You give me not just nourishment but LOVE.” Help nourish a neighbor like Don today – Donate.