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Students in the Mixed Delivery Classroom at the Alleghany Highlands YMCA West Early Learning Center in Covington enjoy fruits and vegetables as part of Dr. Yum’s Food Adventure, a research-based curriculum designed to help preschool-aged children explore and enjoy a wide variety of healthy foods. The program was introduced in response to a growing trend of childhood obesity across the country. (Photo Courtesy Alleghany Highlands YMCA)



YMCA Implements 'Dr. Yum's Food Adventure

 
Low Moor, VA (July 8, 2025) - Apples, bananas, beets, bell peppers, spinach, strawberries and many more — Dr. Yum is full of yummy.

In response to a growing trend of childhood obesity across the U.S., the Alleghany Highlands YMCA Early Learning Centers have implemented Dr. Yum’s Food Adventure, an innovative, research-based curriculum designed to help preschool-aged children explore and enjoy a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

The program is aimed at reducing picky eating behaviors and increasing openness to new foods.

“Healthy eating habits start early,” said Dr. Sandra McHenry, Alleghany Highlands YMCA Healthy Highlands Program leader. “When children are introduced to new foods, encouraged to explore different tastes and taught why nutritious choices matter, they’re more likely to carry those habits into adulthood.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 in 5 children across the U.S. suffers from obesity. Obesity at a young age significantly increases the risk of developing chronic health conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease later in life.

In response, the Alleghany Highlands YMCA Early Learning Centers are taking steps to address this public health crisis. By implementing an educational curriculum focused on nutrition and healthy food choices, the centers are helping our children build a strong foundation for lifelong wellness. Dr. Yum’s Food Adventure is already established at the YMCA’s West Learning Center in Covington and was scheduled to begin at Central in June.

So far this year in the West Early Learning Mixed Delivery Classroom, 3- and 4-year-old students have joined Team Strawberry and made Strawberry Salsa with Cinnamon Chips, joined Team Beets and made a Purple Power Smoothie and joined Team Spinach and made a Green Dragon Smoothie. Each lesson has a featured fruit or vegetable to discuss, and the children learn fun facts about these healthy food choices.

Through interactive activities, Dr. Yum’s Food Adventure encourages children to build lifelong healthy eating habits. Students are taught about the “superpowers” of the featured fruit and vegetables, the vitamins and nutrients they each contain and how they can strengthen their bodies and fuel their minds. They learn how these foods grow, how they feel, look, smell and taste. The youngsters learn not only how their food is prepared, but also about how it is grown and harvested, along with the regions or countries from where these foods originate.

They’ve also read some entertaining books that go along with their lessons, including Dragons Love Tacos. They even learned to make their own stamps out of fresh beets.

The children are able to familiarize themselves with the ingredients and try them all separately on their “Happy Mat” before students and teachers work together to complete the recipe. The youngsters enjoy washing, peeling, cutting and measuring out the ingredients with minimal help from their teachers. They have been fast learners on how to use the dog knives and are quick to remind each other to never place their fingers near the “teeth” or blade, because “dogs can bite.”

“Dr. Yum has been a wonderful addition to our Mixed Delivery Classroom at the West Early Learning Center. It has gone so well with the children that we are extending this program to our Central Early Learning Center Mixed Delivery Classroom as well,” said Amanda Tucker, Alleghany Highlands YMCA Early Learning director. “They will begin experimenting with Dr. Yum this summer and then will run it all year long this coming school year.

“The children were so excited to make their vegetable and fruit-filled recipes,” Tucker continued. “They have even convinced me to try some of what they have made. The Purple Power Smoothie is my favorite so far.”

Just recently, students and staff continued their food adventure by joining Team Berry and making Berry Banana Smoothie Pops.

“Dr. Yum’s Food Adventure makes trying new foods fun and engaging for the children,” added Leandra Masters, lead teacher. “I have watched them try fruits and vegetables that they had never experienced or heard of and learned about why they are good for their bodies. Now when we tell them we are going on a food adventure, they all get excited and are eager to see which featured fruit or vegetable it will be.”

To combat the growing rates of childhood obesity, pediatrician Nimali Fernando, M.D., M.P.H., fondly known as Dr. Yum, started the Dr. Yum website in 2011 to teach her patients and their families about the benefits of healthy eating. What started out as a recipe site and a few after-school cooking classes quickly grew into a larger project focused on identifying and helping communities overcome barriers to eating well.

In 2013, the Dr. Yum Project, a 501(c) 3 organization, was born, and in 2014, a teaching kitchen and garden were opened. This space served as a hub for in-person teaching and a home base for outreach and nutrition and cooking educational programs. In 2020 as COVID restrictions dictated a shift to virtual offerings, the program pivoted and leveraged its most impactful programs to better the lives and health outcomes for tens of thousands of families across the country each year.

The Dr. Yum Project continues as a nonprofit organization whose mission is to assist families and communities overcome barriers to eating well. These barriers include food insecurity, lack of basic cooking skills, misconceptions that eating healthy foods must be expensive and time-intensive, unfamiliarity with fresh and whole foods, typical “picking eating” and a lack of informational resources on how to raise children who enjoy nutritious foods.

Dr. Yum’s Food Adventure is a nationally approved partner of the YMCA of the USA, a national ally with the National Child and Adult Care Food Program and a proud partner of the National Head Start Association. For more information on Dr. Yum’s Food Adventure, visit dryum.org.

The Alleghany Highlands YMCA Early Learning Centers are a DSS Child Care Subsidy provider and offer financial assistance scholarships to those who wish to apply. Mixed Delivery Classrooms at the Early Learning Centers are subsidized by a grant through the United Way for funding preschool slots for children ages 3 and 4 years old. Thirteen slots are available at West and 12 slots at Central. For enrollment information at Central, please call Kim Coles at (540) 862-0488. To enroll at West, contact Heather Entsminger at (540) 965-9622.

Since its inception in 1993, the Alleghany Highlands YMCA has provided a wide variety of youth, family and senior citizen programs with expanded membership and services into all of the Alleghany Highlands communities. For more information on any YMCA programs, please call (540) 962-9622.

 
 
 

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