Kitchen workshops stress dairy’s role in health

The collaboration aims to elevate evidence-based nutrition education within the Department of Nutrition and Sciences dietetics degree track while reinforcing dairy's role in health, sustainability and food-as-medicine frameworks.

Dairy MAX represents more than 700 dairy farm families across eight states, including Texas. Its mission is "to bring the joy and power of dairy to everyone to create a stronger, healthier tomorrow."

"The future of healthcare begins at the table," said Angela Griffin, a TWU assistant clinical professor. "By teaching fellow students that food as medicine - such as whole dairy is a functional food - dietetic students become catalysts for healthier communities."

The partnership supports interdisciplinary workshops conducted in the Cochran Wellness Kitchen, located in the new Health Sciences Center on the TWU Denton campus. These learning experiences align perfectly with the center's teach, train and treat philosophy.

Ten dietetic students will lead the workshops, teaching fellow students from other disciplines how to incorporate different food groups, including dairy, into their diets in a healthy way.

"Dietetic students promoting the knowledge and skills to their healthcare peers empowers future generations to recognize functional foods such as dairy that nourish, protect and promote lifelong health," Griffin said.

The partnership kicked off in April with its first workshop. Seven students from speech, language and pathology, occupational therapy and nursing units participated, leaving with practical nutrition knowledge and some healthy snacks.

Braelyn Bowles, an incoming senior nutrition student, moderated the initial workshop. She guided the group through three recipes: cottage-cheese based ranch dressing, homemade crackers with sliced vegetables and homemade hummus. While the participants sliced and blended, Bowles shared nutritional information and dairy facts.

For Bowles, the partnership offered a perfect opportunity to get involved on campus. A practicing aesthetician who attends TWU full time, she became more interested in dietetics after seeing a connection between nutrition and skin health.

"I've noticed that your skin, how you age and all those different things are really rooted in what you eat," Bowles said. "And that's kind of what made me circle back around to dietetics."

While Bowles kept the workshop on task, her classmates set up the workstations and managed food prep.

The attendees peppered Griffin and the dietetics students with questions. But the learning went both ways. Bowles learned quite a bit, especially about dairy during the prep and at the workshop.

"I don't know everything and I'm still learning," Bowles noted.

While Griffin and Bowles agree there are minor ways to improve future workshops, they view the debut as a success with plenty of momentum heading into the coming semesters.

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