National Nutrition Month is March, but IFFS’s Nutrition Education division plays a vital role in building a HungerFreeNC year-round.

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One may think that the way to solve hunger is to feed it, but the answer goes much deeper than that. If you feed hunger with fast food cheeseburgers and processed donuts, are you really filling a need or are you just creating an even bigger problem down the road?

Studies show that many hungry Americans are also obese. “How can that be?” you might think. One huge problem is that hunger in America comes from a lack of nutritious foods, not just a lack of food in general. If you think about it, empty calories (calories coming from solid fats and added sugars) are the type of foods many ‘food desert’ residents have the most access to: places such as fast food chains and convenience marts where affordable foods are processed foods full of fat and sugar. These calories fulfill an energy requirement to keep you alive, but they do not supply the nutrients the body needs to function properly. Nmonth

Enter Nutrition

One huge reason nutrition is overlooked as a viable option for solving hunger is due to lack of access. Americans facing hunger often lack access to healthy foods (such as living in a food desert) and lack income to purchase food (such as being underemployed). The IFFS Nutrition Education division bridges this gap in access through programs that teach participants how to access healthy foods on a limited budget.

At Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, we believe that the solutions to hunger involve education and enabling our participants to be self-sufficient. That’s why we live by the adapted proverb “Give a man a fish, Teach a man to fish, Stock the pond for all.” Our many Nutrition Education programs teach nutrition, culinary skills, smart shopping strategies, and ultimately how to combine all three of these components to create a community that knows how to eat healthy on a budget.

We would like to use National Nutrition Month to highlight some of our favorite healthy recipes and budgeting tips to share with you! Bite into a healthy lifestyle with these healthy tips and recipes below: