Merced students get lessons in healthy snacks

Natalie Cobert and Emily Martinez, both 11, smiled Thursday morning as they sipped tropical smoothies they made in a summer cooking class.

The Cooking Matters class is part of the city’s HEAL program – Healthy Eating Active Living – and a collaboration with the Merced County Public Health Department. It is funded by the county’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education program. Middle-schoolers attended four classes at the Merced Senior Community Center over two weeks, learning how to make simple, healthy snacks.

“We want to try to teach them simple things to make when they’re home alone and baby-sitting their brothers and sisters,” said Lindsey Johnson, a supervisor with the city’s recreation department.

Or, as Natalie put it, students learned “how to incorporate veggies and fruit into things we usually eat to make them more healthy.”

The theme for Thursday’s class was “Rethink your drink” and provided a healthy alternative to sugary drinks, such as soda and Gatorade. “We’re teaching them about sugar content and how it affects the body,” said Maria Leyva, one of the instructors for the class.

Instructors Leyva and Rosemary Williams helped the 11 students with the smoothie recipe and gave them background and tips on the ingredients. For example, Leyva suggested rinsing syrupy canned fruits with cold water to eliminate sugar and showed students how to look at food labels to identify unnatural ingredients. “Stay away from heavy syrup,” she said, “and try to keep the ingredients as natural as possible.”

Thursday’s smoothie included pineapple, mango, banana, yogurt and ice.

Thursday was the last of the four classes in the two-week session. Tuesday and Thursday of each week, students learned how to handle knives and made mango salsa, parfaits and veggie quesadillas. “They do everything,” Leyva said about the students. “It’s very hands-on.”

Learning about knife safety was the most important lesson Emily learned. “We learned to hold the knife down when walking and to hold it away from you when you wash it,” she said.

“And we learned which knife to use when cutting big fruits and to wash it every time you use it,” Natalie added.

So far, Cooking Matters has been a hit, Johnson said. The class – which has capacity for 12 students – had a long waiting list, she said. Leyva said all 11 students in the first session had perfect attendance.

Another session will be held in July. There are 12 spots available for students in seventh through ninth grades, and they will be filled on a first-come, first served basis.

This story was originally published June 25, 2015 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Merced students get lessons in healthy snacks."