Eating Mangoes at 64: A unique food class inspires healthy eating

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Feeding Tampa Bay is on a mission to take eating healthy on the road. They are hosting over a hundred classes this month for their brand-new food nutrition education program.

ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska sat in on a class in Pasco County at Dade Oaks Elderly, a rural community where many residents are on fixed incomes, live alone and have limited access to transportation. On a chilly Wednesday morning, we watched people coming out of their homes headed towards the clubhouse, excited about the one-hour class ahead.

“And it’s the first time I’ve tried mango, and it’s awesome,” Mary Ellen Estep told Paluska. “I’m 64, and I got a new fruit in my life.”

In the packed room, residents laughed and talked about healthy eating. The class is a safe place to build friendships, community and confidence in the kitchen. This was the second of six classes Feeding Tampa Bay will hold here.

“If these folks didn’t have this educational tool, how difficult would it be for them, in this rural area, to be healthier as they age?” Paluska asked.

“I would say close to impossible,” Samantha Wholley, Assistant Director of the Nutrition Education Program, said.

The program is Wholley’s baby, helping build it from the ground up. Topics covered vary by class, but all focus on nutrition, eating healthy, reading food labels, accessing fresh produce, empowering people to make healthy choices and stretching their food dollars.

“I’m passionate about not only providing nutrition education but doing it in a light that doesn’t shame people for their food choices,” Wholley said. “And it teaches them information on what they have access to and how to get more access to things and help break those barriers often in place for people to have consistent access to those things.”

Rural areas can become food deserts for many people. The USDA keeps a map to help identify those locations so nonprofits like Feeding Tampa Bay and other community leaders can work to fill the gaps.

As for Estep, she’s already seeing significant changes.

“I got up yesterday and ate fruit for breakfast. And I tried to tell myself to be obedient and eat the fruit. And then I ate a good salad for lunch. And then for dinner, I just ate like one of those big yogurts,” Estep said. “It taught me how to eat right. I was eating candy. And just too many nuts. Nuts are good for us, but not a whole can of cashews. I don’t know, I’m sporadic, you know, because I suffer from depression. So I don’t feel like cooking. Sometimes I do. But it taught me that what I’m going to put in here is how it will make me feel.”