Articles

Eat smart! Eat here! ...Oakland’s guide to healthy foods

Category: Health Published on Friday, 18 November 2011 09:47 Written by Courier Newsroom

In 2010, the Oakland Business Improvement District (OBID), along with four Oakland partner organizations, the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and the Allegheny County Health Department, received a grant award through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Healthy Communities Program. Oakland was one of 40 communities selected in 23 states and one territory to advance the nation’s efforts to prevent chronic diseases and related risk factors through a locally collaborative approach. This approach is called Action Communities for Health, Innovation, and EnVironmental changE (ACHIEVE). The ACHIEVE mission is to bring together local leaders to build healthier communities by promoting policy, systems and environmental change strategies focusing on physical activity, nutrition, tobacco cessation, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

OBID’s role, in particular, is to work toward increasing access to healthy foods in Oakland’s restaurants, businesses and at the Oakland Farmers Market. In September 2011, OBID launched the Eat Smart! Eat Here! campaign promoting fifteen area restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations that have developed healthy food options for customers. Each business owner met with a nutritionist to gain advice on creating healthier menu options and also received advice from graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing on marketing techniques geared toward attracting health- and wellness-focused customers. Below is a detailed promotion of the program.

EAT SMART! EAT HERE!

Eating healthfully isn’t always easy, but in Oakland you can find restaurants or shops that offer healthy options and better choices to complement an active and healthy lifestyle. Each of the participating Eat Smart! Eat Here! locations has worked with nutrition experts to offer healthier choices to customers. Find out where you can easily make a healthy choice at the Eat Smart! Eat Here! Web site http://www.onlyin­oakland.org.

This project is funded by OBID and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy Communities Program (ACHIEVE), in partnership with the Oakland Neighborhood Partnership Program (Community Human Services, Peoples Oakland, Oakland Transportation Management Association and the Oakland Planning and Development Cor­poration), the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and the ­Allegheny County Health De­partment.