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Peggy has had a lifelong interest in healthy cooking since her father was diagnosed with high cholesterol in the late 1950’s. After retiring from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 2008, she returned to school to pursue her career in nutrition. Having graduated from the Nutritional Sciences program at the University of New Hampshire in 2011, she is looking forward to supporting nutritional awareness in her community. She worked in the local schools to teach students about cultural diversity and how different cultures are affected by food availability, preparation and consumption. She taught cooking classes in coordination with local recreation departments in an after-school program. The program emphasized safety in the kitchen and making smart food choices. She ran an 8 week series of cooking classes in coordination with the Seacoast Family Food Pantry and the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Service, which was a great success. Peggy joined forces with Kitchens & Company in Newington and ran a series of classes that ran seasonally for several years. She continues her work with the Salvation Army soup kitchen. And, she revels in the creative challenges of making healthy dinners people with limited supplies available. This year she is assisted by UNH students in the Dietetic Technician program to help at the Soup Kitchen. She has developed guidelines for them to use in serving balanced meals, and works with their ladies group on recommendations for healthy eating, including; serving sizes, whole grains, colorful foods and the new USDA guidelines for ‘My Plate’. Peggy has been working regularly with a local bank helping them develop their wellness program, teaching ‘Lunch & Learn’ programs and cooking classes. She also assisted with their wellness fair, discussing the many healthy benefits of making better choices. Peggy has developed a Health & Wellness program to encourage people to make better choices so they will have a better quality of life for many years to come. She helps create an individualized plan for every client to best suit their needs, either as a path of their own choosing or on the advice of their medical provider. She recently (Oct. 2012) became certified by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as a Dietetic Technician, Registered (DTR). The creation of this website is based on healthy meals that can be prepared easily and quickly. Peggy hopes this will encourage everyone to make better food choices, as well as help them realize they do have the tools to make quick and healthy meals. ABC Foods not only has a large selection of healthy recipes but also develops a shopping list based on the recipes that have been selected on the website. Another feature incorporated into the ABC Foods website is the nutritional breakdown of each recipe and the opportunity to submit recipes for nutritional analysis. | |||||||
