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Seniors educated on benefits of healthy eating
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.A crowd of 11 women went to the Boardman library to learn about the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables and proper exercise.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Park Vista of Youngstown clinical dietitian Agapi Mantos spoke at the Boardman library about the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables and proper exercise.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Boardman library supervisor Pam Witte introduced Park Vista of Youngstown clinical dietitian Agapi Mantos before she spoke about the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables and exercising.
By TIM CLEVELAND
The Boardman library and Park Vista of Youngstown teamed up on Sept. 25 to educate area seniors on the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables as well as proper exercise.
“We’re going to go over how much fruits and vegetables everyone should consume on a daily basis, the types of fruits and vegetables, what are the benefits, antioxidants, phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and then going into how much exercise people should get on a daily basis and we’re going to do a little demonstration of some exercises as well,” said Park Vista clinical dietitian Agapi Mantos, who was the speaker at the event.
The Park Vista staff demonstrated biceps curls, leg lifts and walking in place exercises to the 11 senior women who attended. Mantos advised that a total of three cups of fruits and vegetables should be eaten on a daily basis, with two of those cups being vegetables.
Mantos said following that diet and exercise program will have many benefits for seniors.
“Reducing weight, reducing the chance of getting a chronic disease later in life like heart disease, obesity, diabetes,” she said. “A lot of fruits and vegetables will not only prevent obesity and chronic diseases later in life, but they have a lot of vitamins, minerals and the phytochemicals and antioxidants in them. Those phytochemicals and antioxidants have the benefit of helping people who have something like macular degeneration because those individual nutrients have a benefit for those people as well.”
Library manager of youth services and programming Jo Nolfi said the partnership between the two entities will be beneficial for both sides.
“The library is in a partnership with Park Vista for their Lifelong Learning Institute,” she said. “We are committed to expanding learning opportunities and activities for seniors. This was a great partnership for the both of us.
“The library will have customers coming in to learn about the library and Park Vista will be able to reach a broader audience because we advertise these programs in our advertising, so through their advertising we reach more people and through our advertising they reach more people. The winners, obviously, are the seniors.”