Saturday, January 8, 2011

Day 8 - The Society for Nutrition Education


Finally, during this year, I am going to be utilizing my Saturday posts to talk about organizations that focus on the topics I am covering each month, other blogs or informative websites that have devoted their sites to health and fitness, and to websites that help us attain our goals by providing us with ways to journal or log our healthy behaviors daily to track our progress.

Today I want to talk about an organization that I came across on the internet called The Society for Nutrition Education (or SNE). SNE works to educate on nutrition and to provide support to help communities improve their healthy behaviors. They have "a vision of healthy communities through nutrition education and advocacy". In order to accomplish this, SNE provides forums to share innovative strategies for nutrition education, to express different views on important nutrition issues, and to discuss research findings. They focus their nutrition education on "individuals, families, fellow professionals, and students, and influence policy makers about nutrition, food, and health".

SNE has five main goals that they wish to accomplish within the organization in order to help advocate and achieve communities that participate in healthy behaviors. First, they want to "grow and maintain a dynamic Society that promotes nutrition education practice and research, and serves nutrition educators". This they hope to accomplish by promotion of the field of nutrition education, promotion of global involvement through conferences and publications, and by providing networking opportunities and mentor programs. SNE wishes to provide nutrition educators, other professionals, and the public to research-based nutrition education by publishing research articles, maintaining web based educational materials and member services, and by offering exhibits and workshops. SNE further wishes to "advocate for policies that support healthful eating, food security and sustainable food systems". They hope to do this by preparing policy recommendations and communications with congress, collaborating with other organizations to promote nutritious policies, and through providing public policy education. SNE hopes to "promote research related to nutrition education and behavior change at the individual, community and policy levels" through published research articles, annual conference presentations, avocation for research funding, and presentation of awards to journal writers and student research teams. Finally, SNE wishes to "build collaborations with nutrition, education, and health organizations, government, and industry in order to promote healthy communities". They believe this is possible by providing access to expertise and networking among SNE members, developing joint position papers with other organizations, building alliances on nutrition policy, as well as by providing nutrition education expertise to government agencies.

SNE's real purpose and passion is to make the world better and healthier by promoting, advocating, and educating on nutrition and healthy behaviors. Definitely check out their website to learn more about this organization and in what ways you can help!

Today's Workout: RUNNING!!!

Start out with running one 10 minute mile.
Walk 1/2 a mile at a 15 min/mile pace.
Run a second 10 minute mile.
Finish with walking another 1/2 a mile at a 15 min/mile pace.
Decrease speeds every minute for five minutes for a cool down.

Today's Food Tip: Never grocery shop on an empty stomach. We tend to buy more junk food and more food in general when we are hungry while we shop. Instead, try shopping during the afternoon after you eat lunch or in the evening after dinner. You'll find it a lot easier to buy healthier foods this way!

Today's Relaxation Activity: Before you lie down to sleep tonight, find some good classical music and spend ten minutes or so just listening to a song. Let your mind relax while the music fills your ears. Here's an example of a really good artist: cello player Yo-Yo Ma.

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