Nutrition

The Florida Department of Health has nutritionists and nutrition educators who work in Community Health and are always involved in working to improve health outcomes throughout Volusia County.

We work with other community and state partners to encourage daycares in Volusia County to promote health eating, especially fruits and vegetables; to encourage healthy celebrations and activity. We frequently teach the OrganWise Guys nutrition program to daycares. OrganWise Guys is an “evidence-based program shown to improve children’s health and academic performance” and “empowers kids to be healthy and smart from the inside out.”

We work with food pantries to make sure they have access to healthy food supplies and can offer fruits and vegetables and high quality, lean protein. In collaboration with our Environmental Public Health staff, we utilize the PACE-EH (Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health) community involvement tool to conduct community-based environmental health assessments.

We also encourage movement and exercise and offer fitness classes and Bingocize® to area senior groups. Bingocize® combines a bingo-like game with exercise and fall prevention education. The program has been shown to increase older adults’ functional fitness, health knowledge, and social engagement. The program helps older adults to:

• Improve and/or maintain mobility and independence,
• Learn and use health information focused on falls reduction and other health-related behaviors, and
• Socially engage with other older adults.

For more information, please call (386) 624-0490. Request a program at your organization or community center online.

For more information on nutrition and healthy eating visit these links:
My Plate
American Heart Association
Food Hero