Recipes for Healthy Kids and a Healthy Environment
Kids Building a Safer and Healthier Community
Take-Home Talk
Lesson 8: Sustainable Eating, Healthy Foods,
and Community Gardens
To Share:
•	In order to have a nutritious diet—one that gives us the energy, vitamins, and minerals that we need—
it needs to be varied and include healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.
•	When we go into grocery stores, we see food that was grown and processed all over the world and
shipped to us. This means that we get to eat many new and interesting foods. But moving food (and
other items) around the world uses a lot of resources. And we get used to eating things that don't
naturally grow in our region and we want them.
•	Eating locally and sustainably is becoming very popular.
•	Eating locally means eating food that grows well nearby and animals that are raised in the
surrounding area, so less energy is used to transport it to you.
•	If you can sustain something, you can keep it going. Eating sustainably means eating food that is
healthy for consumers and animals, and that does not harm the environment or workers and farmers
during the process of growing/raising it. It also means treating animals humanely and supporting farm
communities.
(continued on other side)
oEPA

-------
To Do:
•	Well Traveled to YourTable! The next time that you go to the grocery store, investigate where
the food comes from. The backs of boxes and jars will tell you where the food comes from
("made in" or "product of") and fruits and vegetables should have signs that tell you where they
were grown.
•	Look in the produce aisle—what item has taken the longest trip to get to your store? Which
canned food is from the farthest away? What box of cereal took the longest journey?
Russia
Ukraine
United States
China
Algeria
Sudan

Australia
Argentina
To Take Back:
• What was the coolest thing that you learned from talking about this topic with your family
and friends?

-------