Penn State Extension

A nutrition education advisor with the Penn State Cooperative Extension recently offered her services to help clients of the Blair County Prison Re-entry Coalition.

Dottie Elder “provides research-based nutrition education to low income audiences in Bedford and Blair Counties,” including recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Women, Infants, Children to promote better “nutrition, increase (listeners’) physical activity and develop life skills needed for self-sufficiency and better health,” according to an Extension web page.

Many individuals coming out of prison lack the kind of knowledge Elder can impart on cooking, menu planning, shopping and budgeting, said coalition Director Ken Dean.

Elder can tell clients about food safety, identifying healthful, good-quality products at the supermarket and stretching food dollars, Elder told the coalition at a recent meeting.

She can show clients how to prepare beans as a meat substitute, how to ensure one is getting enough fiber and how to add ingredients to prepackaged dinners to make them more healthful, she said.

Prepackaged macaroni and cheese can be made better by adding vegetables to increase the percentage of fiber and to provide more nutrients, while helping to dilute the high percentage of sodium in the unimproved original, according to Elder, who took the initiative to contact the coalition after learning of its mission.

Elder stresses with clients the importance of washing their hands and washing their work counters before beginning meal preparations, she said.

She outlines for them the various food groups and the type and concentration of nutrients that each provides.

She can help individuals without means — including homeless people who would be challenged to cook — to make the best of their difficult situations, she said.

She often counsels patience, as clients come to grips with the ordinary tasks of living, Elder said.

Patience is necessary because, in many cases, “their lives have been turned upside down,” Elder said.