ESNY is dedicated to helping limited-income individuals and families. to learn more about:

• Feeding families healthy meals
• Cooking quick, easy meals
• Smart food shopping to stretch your food dollars
• Food safety
• Understanding food labels
• Getting your kids to eat more fruits and vegetables
• Getting your family to be more physically active and have fun

ESNY is a program, in collaboration with the Department of Social Services, to provide nutrition education to food stamp participants and applicants. This program will enable participants to make healthier food choices within limited budgets.

The ESNY audience is, food stamp and eligible food stamp individuals or groups from collaborating agencies or programs such as: domestic violence centers, GED or English as a Second Language (ESL) programs, senior citizen centers, and other community based programs.

ESNY classes meet in a convenient place for the participants. These include the individual's home, community-based agencies, schools, independent living facilities and senior centers.

ESNY classes usually take place for 1-2 hours, once a week for 6-8 weeks. These sessions can also be adapted to meet the needs of the agency and the individuals.

What takes place during an ESNY class?

Learning through ESNY is hands-on. Program participants can prepare, cook and taste a variety of different foods. They will have an opportunity to share food budgeting tips that work for them and their families. Educators will utilize videos, handouts and other materials to reinforce the active learning process. Every Eat Smart New York program participant receives a free computer food intake analysis which provides data for the nutrition educator to customize the content of each class session. Everyone who participates in at least 6 classes receives a certificate.

ESNY classes are also available in Spanish.

Call (631) 727-7850 ext. 352 to find out more about ESNY!

Research Shows that Kids Like Healthy Options

The U.S. Department of Agriculture works every day to improve childhood nutrition and combat obesity in order to raise a healthier generation of Americans.

In recent days, we have had some positive developments in this work. USDA released a promising new report on the impacts of providing our children with healthy snacks. We also took new steps to provide families with better information to combat obesity.

The new report examined the results of USDA's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which provides fruits and vegetables at no cost to students in more than 7,100 schools in low income areas.

We found that as students are introduced to fresh fruits and vegetables, they try them - and in most cases, they enjoy these snacks. Students participating in the program ate 15 percent more fruits and vegetables than their peers. In fact, when these fruits and vegetables were offered in schools, almost every student tried one.

For those who chose a fruit, more than 85 percent ate most or all of their snack. For students who tried a vegetable, more than 60 percent ate most of it, or finished the whole serving.

Research by USDA's Economic Research Service has also found that these healthy foods are often no more expensive than less-nutritious foods. Still, there are millions of American families who lack access to healthy foods due to economic or geographical barriers.

USDA recently announced a measure that will improve nutrition education for low-income families, ultimately helping them to access more nutritious foods.

The new policy aims to give more flexibility for states to provide targeted education to recipients of the SNAP program, with a special goal of increasing healthy eating habits and reducing obesity. The new measure will help expand farmers markets and community gardens that help expand access to healthy foods. It will provide assistance for parents to access nutrition information. And it will help retailers provide healthier foods to participants in SNAP.

These efforts to increase availability, affordability and information regarding healthy foods are more important than ever today. One-third of kids today are overweight or obese, putting them at risk for preventable illness in the decades to come. Along with malnutrition, this threatens our nation's security and economic well-being in the decades to come.

By improving access to healthy foods for our young people and their families, we can help create generational change to reduce childhood obesity and child malnutrition. Together, we can give today's young people the tools they need to grow up healthy, strong and ready to succeed.