Native Foods Safety, Preparation, and Nutritional Impact on Obesity, Diabetes, and Overall Wellness

<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:<br/> Project Planning: A series of planning meetings will take place September - November 2011with project partners including project directors for NICC and UNL, UNL Nutrition and Food Safety Research Faculty, NICC College of Excellence Directors (Dakota and Omaha) and NICC Tribal Extension Director. These meetings will identify and make plans to reduce project barriers and implement program activities for success. This group will give brief informational presentations to NICC faculty and staff, and the NICC Board of Directors regarding the pilot study. Addressing Barriers: - Project directors, nutrition and food safety professionals, and cultural consultants (NICC College of Excellence Directors) will determine the most critical barriers that will need to be addressed during the pilot study in order to provide successful results that can lead to a
more in depth research study. Project participants will also help to identify barriers as they occur and /or are realized during the project implementation.
APPROACH: Project Activities: - The primary activities for the Pilot Study will be: 1) Planning meetings to identify barriers and make plans for addressing barriers; planning for a implementing pilot educational workshops for participants; 2) Collection of data and completion of food logs and surveys during participant workshops and daily nutrition activities; 3) Completion of project evaluation, including focus group discussions, compilation of data and completion of reports to determine the feasibility of a more complete research project. Project Evaluation: All documentation and data will be compiled during September - November 2012. Focus group discussions (talking circles) will also take place to document participant thoughts, behavior changes and recommendations during the pilot study. All data, observations and conversations will be compiled to determine the
effects and changes related to food identification, food preparation, food safety, eating habits, significance of native food consumption and lifestyle changes. The pilot study will also provide data regarding some preliminary determination that Native food sources are either healthier, less healthy, or have no effect on overall wellness.
<p>PROGRESS: 2011/09 TO 2012/08<br/>OUTPUTS: Activities: - At least 23 different participant families attended monthly educational sessions learning about foods, gardening, and physical activity. Total number of individuals was 33, including 13 Isanti Sioux tribal members, 15 Umonhon tribal members, 3 Caucasian and 2 others. - Six two-day educational sessions were held for participants at locations in Santee and Macy. These sessions were taught by UNL Food Scientists, Tribal elders and project directors. The sessions included food safety, food nutrition, food preservation, food preparation/ cooking, use of cooking utensils, discovering Native foods and low impact physical activity. - Gardening activities were part of Native Foods, working in partnership with the NICC Tribal Extension program. At least 11 participants were actively involved in community, individual and
container gardens. For most, this was the first time being involved in their own garden. Events: - Native Foods was involved and had a display booth at 3 health fairs in Santee, Walthill and Macy. - Four Native Foods participants volunteered at 2 powwows in Santee and Macy, helping with booth displays. Services: - NICC project directors provided tilling for community and individual gardens and provided information to participants on getting the gardens started. - Project assistants provided home visits to 11 participants in Macy and 8 different participants in Santee in order to get information from the participants regarding how the project has helped them and answering any questions they had. Products: - Recipes and Materials: Participants were provided recipes, food preservation and nutrition documents/publications at all educational cooking sessions. - Participants were provided with
basic cooking utensils, and safety supplies such as carving knives, cutting boards, refrigerator thermometers, meat and cooking thermometers. - Participants were provided with monthly deliveries of fresh healthy fruits and vegetables and other food items that were part of the educational cooking sessions and/or included in session recipes. Food was made available for participants since for both locations, it is a 40-60 minutes minimum drive to access healthy food markets and grocery stores, and transportation is often a challenge. PARTICIPANTS: -Dawn Hair, lead PI for Native Foods project, a science instructor at Nebraska Indian Community College. She coordinated the details of the workshops, communicated with Participants, kept records, and tilled gardens. Native Foods was approximately 25% of lead PI's time. -Jim Hallum, Native Foods co-PI, Director of NICC Tribal Extension. He
assisted with activities, communication, and garden projects. Native Foods was approximately 10% of co-PI's time with Tribal Extension grant program. TARGET AUDIENCES: - Native American people were the primary audience for this project. Because of the growing prevalence of diabetes, obesity and other health issues among Native Americans, individuals impacted were primarily low income, enrolled members on the Omaha and the Santee Sioux tribes, with some living in surrounding communities and in urban South Sioux City, Nebraska area. - All of these participants were involved in the informal education program efforts as part of this research project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.