Author: Michael Hetrick

10 Tips to Get Enough Dairy Throughout the Day

The Dairy Group includes milk, yogurt, cheese and fortified soymilk. They provide calcium, vitamin D, potassium, protein and other nutrients needed for good health throughout life. Choices should be low-fat or fat-free—to cut calories and saturated fat.

How much dairy is needed in a day?

Older children, teens, and adults -3 cups

Children 4 to 8 years old- 2½ cups

Children 2 to 3 years old- 2 cups

  1. “Skim” the Fat- Drink fat-free (skim) or low-fat (1%) milk. If you currently drink whole milk, gradually switch to lower fat versions. This change cuts calories but doesn’t reduce calcium or other essential nutrients.
  2. Boost Potassium and Vitamin D and Cut Sodium- Choose fat-free or low-fat milk or yogurt more often than cheese. Milk and yogurt have more potassium and less sodium than most cheeses. Also, almost all milk and many yogurts are fortified with vitamin D.
  3. Top Off Your Meals- Use fat-free or low-fat milk on cereal and oatmeal. Top fruit salads and baked potatoes with low-fat yogurt instead of higher fat toppings such as sour cream.
  4. Choose Cheeses with Less Fat- Many cheeses are high in saturated fat. Look for “reduced-fat” or “low-fat” on the label. Try different brands or types to find the one that you like.
  5. What About Cream Cheese? Regular cream cheese, cream and butter are not part of the dairy food group. They are high in saturated fat and have little or no calcium.
  6. Ingredient Switches- When recipes such as dips call for sour cream, substitute plain yogurt. Use fat-free evaporated milk instead of cream, and try ricotta cheese as a substitute for cream cheese.
  7. Choose Sweet Dairy Foods with Care- Flavored milks, fruit yogurts, frozen yogurt and puddings can contain a lot of added sugars. These added sugars are empty calories. You need the nutrients in dairy foods—not these empty calories.
  8. Caffeinating? – If so, get your calcium along with your morning caffeine boost. Make or order coffee, a latte or cappuccino with fat-free or low-fat milk.
  9. Can’t Drink Milk? – If you are lactose intolerant, try lactose-free milk, drink smaller amounts of milk at a time, or try soymilk (soy beverage). Check the Nutrition Facts label to be sure your soymilk has about 300 mg of calcium. Calcium in some leafy greens is well absorbed, but eating several cups each day to meet calcium needs may be unrealistic.
  10. Take Care of Yourself and Your Family– Parents who drink milk and eat dairy foods show their kids that it is important. Dairy foods are especially important to build the growing bones of kids and teens. Routinely include low-fat or fat-free dairy foods with meals and snacks—for everyone’s benefit.

For more healthy tips, follow us on Facebook. For recipes visit etfbrecipes.org.

The tips featured in this blog post were developed by the USDA. For more information, visit myplate.gov.

“Our fridge is bare…but there’s a place that I can go to.”

Franc - Blog Story

“I know that when I’m in a tough spot, when I have a choice between paying water bills and groceries, there’s a place that I can go to.”

That’s what Franc shared with us when he visited an East Texas Food Bank pantry partner. Franc lives with his sister, her three children, and his grandfather who came to live with him after a health scare..

“I’ve been taking care of him after he had heart failure last year,” Fran said. “I went to see him in New York and thought we were going to have to bury him with how sick he was. But he survived, and I told him that it would be good for him to come back to East Texas with me.”

Franc works a warehouse job, but finds that money can be short at times with his busy household.

“I’m thankful for the job I have, but right now our fridge is bare,” he said. “That’s why I decided to come here (to the pantry) today. This is gonna give me that push until the weekend to allow me to get more funds and fill the fridge on my own.”

Franc said that the pantry always provides him plenty of options to help his family.

“They offer us a lot of vegetables, fruits and snack packs,” he said. “I know once the kids come home, they will have a snack today. That’s a good feeling.”

Franc also said that if anyone is struggling to provide for their family, they should check into food pantries where they live. “It makes a big difference,” he said. “They are not gonna turn anyone away that’s hungry or in need.”

Finally, Franc wanted to share his appreciation for those that help his family.

“They are helping people in the community that really need it like myself,” he said. “It’s a big thank you!”

If you would like to help families like Franc’s that the East Texas Food Bank works to feed each day, you can make a donation online, volunteer with us or host a virtual food drive.

 

Feeding Neighbors, Building Community: East Texas Food Bank Announces New Strategic Plan

The East Texas Food Bank, East Texas’s largest hunger-relief organization, announces a strategic plan for $11.8 million in investments across its 26-county service area. The plan will work to ensure that the one in five East Texans who are facing hunger have access to the nutritious food they need.

“The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a heightened awareness of hunger in East Texas. We’ve all seen the long lines of cars waiting for hours to receive a free box of groceries. Thankfully, it has also brought out resiliency in our hunger-relief network and unprecedented generosity from our community,” said East Texas Food Bank CEO Dennis Cullinane. “With a renewed sense of understanding and empathy towards hunger in East Texas, now is the time to build upon the momentum and strategically grow our programs to meet the need.”

The announcement comes as East Texas is battling an unprecedented hunger crisis. Texas has the seventh highest food insecurity rate in the nation. Locally, one in five East Texans, including one in four children, are facing hunger. That’s approximately 239,800 East Texans, including 85,450 children.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic hit our most vulnerable neighbors the hardest. Seniors couldn’t safely go to the grocery store. Hard-working parents had to switch to at-home learning and lost the free and reduced meal programs through school. College students lost their jobs when restaurants shut down. We heard so many stories like these from people who had never needed food assistance before the pandemic,” Cullinane said. “Even though our state reopened and the economy is on the path to recovery, we are still seeing an increased need for food assistance. Our response continues to be a marathon, not a sprint.”

To meet the need, the East Texas Food Bank, in collaboration with its network of partner agencies, community leaders and generous donors, will work to ensure people struggling with hunger have access to the nutritious food they need to thrive. In order to do this, the East Texas Food Bank seeks to distribute 32 million meals a year throughout East Texas by 2025.

The East Texas Food Bank will accomplish this ambitious goal through six key strategic initiatives in its highest-need communities:

  1. Major Partner Agency Investment– ETFB will invest in strategic partner food pantries to expand their capacity to provide traditional meal distribution as a primary way to increase local food resources and increase their SNAP outreach and applications.
  2. Resource Centers– ETFB will bring the resource center model started in North Lufkin to other high-need communities. The resource centers will include a client-choice, healthy pantry and other wrap-around support services to provide a one-stop-shop of support for families.
  3. Targeted Direct and Mobile Pantry Distributions– ETFB will continue direct, targeted distributions it started during the pandemic to reach low-income, under-resourced neighborhoods with fresh produce.
  4. Fresh Produce and Purchasing Program– There is a high need for fresh produce, which is crucial for a healthy diet. ETFB will continue scaling its fresh produce and purchased food program to increase the availability and variety of items to its partner agencies.
  5. State and National Advocacy– ETFB will work in partnership with Feeding Texas and Feeding America to secure high-priority public policy, legislation and resources to support the collective, long-term goals to end hunger.
  6. Infrastructure- Key investments will include building out the East Texas Food Bank facilities and fleet and adding the staffing needed to meet this ambitious goal.

The revised strategic plan was made possible in part by a $9 million donation by renowned philanthropist Mackenzie Scott. In late 2020, Scott’s team anonymously researched 6,490 organizations and ultimately chose to invest in only 384. Of the 200 food banks across the U.S., ETFB was one of 42 selected.

In the Medium post, Scott said her team of advisors took a data-driven approach to identifying organizations with strong leadership teams and results, with special attention to those operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates and low access to philanthropic capital.

Scott noted, “We do this research and deeper diligence not only to identify organizations with high potential impact, but also to pave the way for unsolicited and unexpected gifts given with full trust and no strings attached. Our research is data-driven and rigorous, our giving process can be human and soft.”

“This generous investment in the East Texas Food Bank is a vote of confidence in the work we are all doing together to end hunger in East Texas,” Cullinane said. “Every partner agency, volunteer, donor, staff member, board member and stakeholder should feel proud to receive this recognition and investment.”

However, Cullinane added that the hunger crisis in East Texas is bigger than what any one philanthropist can solve. It will take individuals, corporations, foundations and our local organizations working together to end hunger.

“Ending hunger and its devastating effects in East Texas is within our reach when we all come together to fight hunger. With these investments and continued generosity of all East Texans, we can end hunger together,” Cullinane said.

In The News

10 Tips to Eat More Fruit


Eating fruit provides health benefits. People who eat more vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet are likely to have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Fruits provide nutrients vital for health, such as potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin C and folate (folic acid). Most fruits are naturally low in fat, sodium and calories and none have cholesterol. Any fruit or 100% fruit juice counts as a part of the Fruit Group. Fruits may be fresh, canned, frozen or dried, and may be whole, cut-up or pureed.

Here are 10 tips to eat more fruit throughout your day:

  1. Keep Visible Reminders– Keep a bowl of whole fruit on the table, counter or in the refrigerator.
  2. Think About Taste– Buy fresh fruits in season when they may be less expensive and at their peak flavor. Add fruits to sweeten a recipe.
  3. Think About Variety– Buy fruits that are dried, frozen and canned (in water or 100% juice) as well as fresh, so that you always have a supply on hand.
  4. Don’t Forget the Fiber- Make most of your choices whole or cut-fruit rather than juice, for the benefits that dietary fiber provides.
  5. Be a Good Role Model- Set a good example for children by eating fruit every day with meals or as snacks.
  6. Include Fruit at Breakfast- At breakfast, top your cereal with bananas, peaches or strawberries; add blueberries to pancakes; drink 100% orange or grapefruit juice. Or try a fruit mixed with fat-free or low-fat yogurt.
  7. Try Fruit at Lunch- At lunch, pack a tangerine, banana or grapes to eat, or choose fruits from a salad bar. Individual containers of fruits like peaches or applesauce are easy and convenient.
  8. Experiment with Fruit at Dinner– At dinner, add crushed pineapple to coleslaw, or include orange sections, dried cranberries or grapes in a tossed salad.
  9. Snack on Fruits– Dried fruits make great snacks. They are easy to carry and store well.
  10. Keep Fruits Safe– Rinse fruit before preparing or eating them. Under clean, running water, rub fruits briskly to remove dirt and surface microorganisms. After rinsing, dry with a clean towel.

For more healthy tips, follow us on Facebook. For recipes visit etfbrecipes.org.

The tips featured in this blog post were developed by the USDA. For more information, visit myplate.gov.

ETFB Summer Food Program provides over 16,000 meals in June

SFSP Update June2021

The East Texas Food Bank Summer Food Program has wrapped up its first month of providing meals to children at 24 sites across our service area. Over 6,300 breakfasts and over 9,800 lunches have been served so far to help kids stay fueled up for summer fun.

The Summer Food Program partners with community locations to provide free meals to students who usually rely on free and reduced meal programs through their school. The program makes sure that children won’t miss meals throughout the summer and get the nourishment they need to thrive until school resumes. 

Christina Villanueva, Director of Summer Programs at THE REC in Whitehouse, says the Sumer Food Program is important to the children at her location. THE REC has been a summer food site since 2018.

“We rely on it to be honest,” she said. “If it wasn’t available, it would probably be a little bit of a struggle trying to get all these kids their food.”

Villanueva says THE REC is serving about 50 children per meal per day, a number that has grown this year.

“Our numbers dropped significantly due to COVID last year,” she said. “While we haven’t quite doubled, we are definitely in a better standing then where we were last year.”

The nutritious meals provided during the Summer Food Program consist of whole-grain cereals, sandwiches, wraps, fruits and milk.

“The fresh fruit is a big hit,” Villanueva said. “The kids are always wanting the apples!”

Villanueva said she knows many families struggled with the loss of free and reduced lunches during the school year due to COVID.

“To be able to continue offering this program again this summer, it’s been helpful for families who may still be having that financial struggle,” she said. “We are able to provide all nutritious meals to them. It’s been good.”

To learn more about the East Texas Food Bank Summer Food Program or to find a feeding site near you, click here.