CHESAPEAKE
With school out and summer approaching, it's a good time to implement some healthy lifestyle choices.
The Chesapeake office of the Virginia Cooperative Extension and Greenbrier Public Library are teaming up to help.
From 10 a.m. until noon Tuesday, the library will host Jeri Kostal, a family and consumer sciences extension agent who will offer visitors information on nutrition and healthy eating.
Kostal believes that healthy living can be accomplished by making small, incremental changes.
"By providing people with research-based knowledge, I'm trying to help them start making steps toward a healthier lifestyle," she said. "You don't have to make drastic changes in your lifestyle - even small changes can have a benefit on how you feel and on your health."
Kostal will show a video that explains "My Plate," a dietary guideline by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that replaced the old food pyramid in 2010.
She also will offer handouts on nutrition and physical activity, healthy recipes, and food-safety and food- preservation tips.
"I'm trying to encourage people to cook more meals at home, but to do it in a healthy way," said Kostal, 24, who holds a master's degree in food science and technology. She recently took over a position that had been vacant for about three years at the Chesapeake office of Virginia Cooperative Extension.
"That's partly why I'm doing this event - to get out in the community and let them know that I am here and inform them of the programs that I can offer," she said.
Since joining the extension office in January, Kostal has made presentations at health fairs, career days, churches, schools, farmers' markets, farms, community centers and to senior groups.
Other extension agents focus on financial management, family and human development and agriculture.
"We work across city and county lines to cover everything," Kostal said. "Most educational programming is free."
The Greenbrier library offers educational programs on a regular basis as a community outreach, according to Susan Harder, information specialist, who worked with Kostal to organize the upcoming nutrition event.
"We've had job-help programs on resume writing, financial workshops such as paying for college and managing your finances and plant clinics," Harder said. "Jeri called and said she wanted to try something different with health and nutrition and that sounded great."
The Tuesday event will coincide with summer story and reading programs at the library, so Harder is hoping for a good turnout.
Kostal's information booth will be located near the library entrance and is open to the public.
Lia Russell, rhett2lia@cox.net