The Light House has been proud to partner with Growing Potential Services to put on a completely free eight-week Healthy Eating course funded by Stop and Shop. This course, led by integrated physician Dr. Kendra Becker dove into how to cook healthy and nutritional meals that cater to different food sensitivities in an inexpensive way.
Being able to cook healthy and nutritional meals is one of the biggest obstacles parents face on a day to day basis, and this problem is only exacerbated within families living in a low-income area. Having the additional challenge of children with autism spectrum disorder or other related diagnoses means accommodating children with an increased sensitivity to certain foods or diets.
During the course, parents and families learned how to buy and cook meals for their entire family using organic ingredients that they could find at their local grocery store. The first six classes each focused on a different area of meal planning and cooking, including healthy snacks and drinks, quick healthy lunches, breakfasts, beef, chicken, and fish. During the class, parents got hands on experience preparing meals that they can use in their own homes.
The final six classes went over a variety of different healing diets and how parents can use them to increase the health of their child, including the Feingold diet, the Keto diet, SCD-GAPS, the Paleo diet, Vegetarian diet, and the Auto-Immune diet. For children with food related sensitivities, these diets are extremely important because they contribute directly to the gut health of the child.
Educating parents on how to cook healthy meals on a budget, and the health benefits of those meals, can help combat food insecurity and encourage healthy eating in our community, while also making sure that children can grow up healthy. We are grateful for the opportunity to have worked with Growing Potential, Stop and Shop, and Dr. Kendra Becker to provide this resource for our community.