How can we get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables? According to the CDC, most children in the US do not meet the national recommendations for fruit and vegetable servings. It’s important to teach kids about healthy eating habits because studies show that healthy behaviors learned early in life can last a lifetime.
Committed to this, Herbalife Nutrition is expanding our partnership with the LA Galaxy and the Garden School Foundation to share our nutrition expertise in local communities.
Garden-based Learning: A Hands-On Approach to Nutrition
In 2018, the LA Galaxy Foundation partnered with the Garden School Foundation to implement the Seed to Table garden-based learning program in Leapwood Ave. Elementary in Carson, California.
This year, we teamed up to expand this program to another elementary school in the same community.
We are supporting the program through joint community funds, volunteers, donated supplies, and providing nutrition expertise.
What is the Seed to Table Program?
The Seed to Table program provides in-depth garden-based education to young children, teaching them about food environmental awareness and community health. Through hands-on gardening and cooking classes, students learn where their food comes from, how to grow it and prepare it, and the connection between healthy eating and a healthy environment.
For kids to get the most out of this learning experience, the Seed to Table program is divided into two approaches:
Science-based garden lessons
Students explore the garden with all five senses. Kids learn about plant structures, life cycles, harvesting and composting. Students discover how their food grows and how gardens are complete ecosystems.
Nutritional cooking class lessons
Students collaboratively prepare one of sixty healthy, delicious, and grade-appropriate recipes, each following a nutritional theme. Kids harvest right out of their own school gardens, and then chop, dice, peel, mash, grate, mix, and dress their own foods. They learn the unique properties of featured ingredients, as well as the origins and cultural traditions of a given cuisine.
Why We Invest in Garden-Based Education
In addition to the science-based lessons and the nutritional cooking classes, a trained Garden School Foundation educator works with classroom teachers to complement their instruction and invites the community to get involved.
This rounded-up approach brings along many benefits, such as:
- Nurturing a healthy and mindful generation of children that care for their bodies, their communities, and the earth.
- Strengthening connections between food environmental awareness and community health.
- Bringing together the school community, the boarder neighborhood and volunteers with the common purpose of healthy eating.
- Bringing academic concepts to life through real-world, outdoor experiences.
- Encouraging exploration, critical thinking, and teamwork as children learn how to collaboratively grow, harvest, cook, and eat their own healthy foods.
Our goal is to support 10 schools. We are thrilled about this program because of how well it aligns with our purpose and values and because of how we can enhance the program through our nutrition expertise.