Our Residents

Marian Colon has starting reading food labels in the grocery store, avoiding things like an overload of sugar, salt and preservatives. She has also switched from white to whole wheat bread.

Rose Gonzalez has stopped drinking sugary soft drinks, saving on her food bill, losing a few pounds and ensuring healthier options for her children.

Both were participants in a program called ‘Choices: Steps Towards Health’ at Springfield Housing Authority’s Robinson Gardens Apartments, featuring weekly sessions with Antonia Ramos of the University of Massachusetts Extension Services.

The sessions ran five weeks, culminating in a graduation that featured healthy snacks and exuberant discussion of lifestyle changes featuring exercise, diet, and a general awareness of how to shop, cook and eat.

“I shop better, and my family eats better, thanks to these classes,” said Colon, the mother of three growing children. “We’re all more aware of a lot of things, and we’re paying attention.”

Robinson Gardens Apartments resident Marian Colon, left, with UMass Extension Service nutrition edicator Antonia Ramos, at the nutrition class graduation.

Colon listed things like avoiding fatty and salty foods, staying away from too many prepared items loaded with bad ingredients, choosing lower-fat options in dairy products, and even things like remembering the proper way to defrost meats to avoid contamination.

And then there’s exercise.

“I’m moving more, and liking it,” said Colon, who credited her new lifestyle with the loss of several pounds.

Nutrition educator Antonia Ramos ran the classes in Spanish for the most part, making the lessons easier for the group of women who speak English, but for whom Spanish is their first language. She said the sessions opened with a brisk walk around the development in the Bay neighborhood. Then, there were discussions in the dining room of the Resident Services office and cooking lessons in the kitchen.

“We focus on eating correctly, how we shop and prepare our foods,” said Ramos. “It’s all about health and prevention, doing things like exercising and taking care of yourself.”

Ramos relied on a UMass Extension Service curriculum that covered topics including physical activity, food safety, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fast food, fats (good and bad), shopping, nutrition for children and keeping fit.

“We focus on making choices that will help the whole family,” Ramos noted.

Members of the Robinson Gardens nutrition class gather.

Each participant got a pedometer to help them track their daily exercise. They also got lessons in how to cook healthy and tasty items, using foods low in fat, salt, calories and sugar.

“We’re so programmed to buying the bad stuff,” Ramos noted. “With this, we talk about the good choices, and then we actually try them out. I think this really made a difference for these women. They got to see first-hand how they can change their lives by making healthy choices.

“Hopefully it’s going to trickle down to the next generation and really make a difference,” she added.

UMass Extension Service nutrition educator Antonia Ramos, left, wtih SHA tenant outreach coordinator Zenaida Burgos.

Participants like Rose Gonzalez said the program is already a success as far as she’s concerned.

Once lackadaisical about her food choices, Gonzalez is now a careful shopper and cook.

“I used to drink two liters of soda every day,” she admitted. “Now, I don’t touch it. I’m suing less salt, and I’m buying whole wheat. My kids love it and I know we’re all healthier for it.”

Colon said there was another important benefit to the program, outside of the information on eating well and exercising.

“I’ve gotten to be friends with people who were my neighbors, who I didn’t even know,” she said with a smile. “We’ve all gotten so close.”

Gonzalez said that while she speaks English, having the program run in Spanish made a big difference for her.

“It’s just so much easier for me to understand, to get everything that’s being talked about,” she said.

Graduates of the program got folders that included a calorie counting chart, their personalized health profile, a healthy cook book, a lunch bag and a gift certificate to Stop and Shop.