Nutrition Education in the Middle Schools

DINE for LIFE provides interactive cooking-based nutrition education currently in 4 middle schools throughout Durham county through the following programs:

1. Life Skills Curriculum: Students are encouraged to adopt healthier eating behaviors through tailored interactive nutrition education lessons and accompanying culinary labs. Nutrition lessons target core SNAP-Ed messages and Eat Smart, Move More North Carolina (ESMM) Target Behaviors, which are evidence-based health behavior strategies to reduce childhood obesity.

  • Nutrition education: Topics include healthy meal planning using MyPyramid, energy balance, fats and heart health, and rethink your drink.
  • Culinary labs: Culinary labs are not only used to reinforce core messages, but also teach students basic culinary skills such as chopping, cutting, measuring, reading/following a recipe, and proper food handling. Recipes prepared include chicken stir fry, breakfast burritos, and vegetable pizzas. Because the students almost always want to taste what they've cooked, these classes provide an opportunity to show students that healthier foods can taste good.
  • Educational reinforcements: At the end of the semester, students receive a cookbook of healthy recipes to use in cooking with their families.
2. Junior Iron Chef Durham: These after-school and in-school culinary workshops provide intensive culinary-based nutrition education. During the series, students receive a bag of food that contains all the ingredients needed to make the week's recipe at home with their parents. Students also receive other educational reinforcements to assist in preparing meals at home such as spatulas, potholders, chopping mats, and a cookbook of health recipes.