Lessons in how to eat right

<p>In 2008, when 76-year-old Santa Rosa resident Rich Delambert was diagnosed with diabetes, his primary care doctor said it was time to change his diet and, hopefully, his life.</p><p>But instead of heading to the health-food section of the local Safeway or stocking up on the latest diet pill, Delambert set out to base his decisions on scientific fact and a hearty helping of medical expertise. He met with a registered dietitian to devise a new eating strategy. He attended group sessions through his health care provider (Sutter) to share best practices with other patients.</p><p>He even started shopping differently, opting for smaller portions and more raw foods.</p><p>This strategy paid huge dividends; over the past 18 months in particular, Delambert has gotten control of his disease completely.</p><p>"I wouldn't have had a clue what to do without the experts helping me along," he says. "I owe them everything."</p><p>Delambert isn't the only Sonoma County resident who has turned to local organizations for help tackling diet issues from a health and medical perspective; over the past decade (and more), thousands of others have done the same. From Sonoma to Bodega Bay, Petaluma to Cloverdale, the county offers a veritable smorgasbord of choices for medically based nutritional advice.</p><p>You simply have to know here to look.</p><p>For residents with health care, the best and biggest resources are right under your nose. In addition to on-staff resources by appointment, local health care providers such as Sutter Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa offer classes, some free, to teach nutrition.</p><p>At Kaiser, for instance, one class, "Bringing Food Back to the Table," is led by registered dietitians and is designed to teach students about the benefits of fresh and seasonal food.</p><p>"The class environment is great because we've discovered that people tend to be more engaged when they're engaged in a group," says Dr. Lynn Mortensen, a family physician and chief of health education for Kaiser Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park. "Working with your peers can be motivating and inspiring."</p><p>Beyond these, the two biggest public options happen to be the ones with the biggest portion of federal dollars: CalFresh, the state program formerly known as Food Stamps, and WIC -- Women, Infants and Children -- a program designed to support pregnant and breastfeeding women and their children.</p><p>The first, CalFresh, managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, aims to help low-income individuals and families have access to fresh, nourishing food. Benefits can be used only for food (or food-bearing plants and seeds), which frees up people's cash for other expenditures (such as medical bills or gas).</p><p>Marion Deeds, director of the Economic Assistance Division in the Sonoma County Human Services Department, says that starting this June, six farmers markets will accept CalFresh: Santa Rosa Original Certified Market and markets in Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Sonoma, Cotati and Rohnert Park. Some markets will offer a "market match" or incentive, where CalFresh consumers get an additional dollar for every two CalFresh dollars they spend.</p><p>"It's all designed to foster a connection between local growers and farmers and people in need," Deeds says. "According to a Beacon Economics report for the Child and Family Policy Institute, for every $1 generated in CalFresh benefits, $1.47 gets spent in the community."</p><p>WIC operates a bit differently. The program offers participants updated nutrition and breastfeeding education, as well as money (an average of $62 per person per month) to buy nutritious foods. The program also helps support breastfeeding moms with prenatal and postnatal classes, provides breastfeeding peer counselors and loans out free hospital-grade breast pumps.</p><p>While this program has eligibility requirements for participation (income guidelines are 185 percent of the poverty level), program director Tracie Barrow says that lots of people qualify, including fathers, grandparents and foster parents of certain children.</p><p>Other resources are organized in a more regional -- and therefore more local -- approach.</p><p>Many of the organizations behind these resources have affiliated through a countywide effort dubbed the Community Activity & Nutrition Coalition, which was founded in 1998 to promote optimal nutritional and physical health for Sonoma County residents with an emphasis on children.</p><p>Individual programs vary by organization. At the Northern California Center for Well-Being in Santa Rosa, for instance, programs are based on a biopsychosocial model, and use evidence-based strategies to effect healthy behavior change.</p><p>One class, dubbed, "Active Youth for Health," helps parents re-evaluate family eating habits, basic nutrition, meal-planning and simple ways to increase physical activity. A number of cooking classes focus on healthy shopping and even healthier cooking -- two great ways to get healthy and save money.</p><p>"Knowing what kind of food you need to buy in order to eat healthy can go a long way," says executive director Alena Wall.</p><p>"We're here to help people understand at least a little better how that's done."</p><p>Other classes from different organizations focus on different issues. Programs from the Network for a Healthy California -- North Coast Region, which is based in Santa Rosa, include weekly lessons designed to raise awareness about cutting back on sugary drinks, as well as classes that emphasize the importance of exercise for reducing long-term risk of chronic disease.</p><p>Also worth investigating: The Nutrition Connection, one of the longest standing, most well-respected nutrition counseling services in Sonoma County.</p><p>Finally, of course, the county is home to dozens of diet and nutrition experts, many of whom are more than happy to dole out advice and expertise (for a fee, of course). Every year, the county compiles a directory of registered dietitians and associates who provide these services.</p><p>For a look at the 2011 version of this list, go to pressdemocrat.com.</p><p>Matt Villano is a freelance writer based in Healdsburg. You can reach him at mjv@whalehead.com.</p>