Health, nutrition and exercise sciences faculty Sherri Stastny and Julie Garden-Robinson were awarded the Pyramid Power Award for Nutrition Education at the annual North Dakota Dietetic Association meeting held in Fargo on April 21. They were honored for their program titled “Eating for Your Eyes.”
The Pyramid Power Award is a peer-reviewed award, named after the former food guide pyramid. It recognizes dietitians who develop a nutrition education tool or disseminate nutrition education that is unique in concept, creative in design and presentation, nutritionally sound and effective.
“We want to know if people plan to change their behaviors and then if they actually do because of our program,” Stastny said. “Participants complete a questionnaire after they attend the program. Then, 90 days later, we call participants to see if they did change their eating habits, exercise routine or other lifestyle habits.”
According to Stastny and Garden-Robinson, specific behaviors include increased intake of fruits and vegetables, increased physical activity, stop smoking, start wearing sunglasses routinely and other behaviors that help protect the eyes.
At the meeting, Stastny also gave a presentation on Eating for Your Eyes. The presentation included awareness and knowledge of the parts of the eye, eye diseases and age-related macular degeneration. Participants learned about strategies to help prevent eye disease, especially age-related macular degeneration, and specific foods to promote healthy eye nutrition as part of a balanced diet.
“We had a great turnout and participants responded very positively in the post-program evaluations,” Stastny said. “Dietitians can be a tough audience (we tend to be critical) so we were quite pleased to see their comments and how much they learned.”