Building on a Friend's Momentuum

"So please, go out and do something good for your friends and neighbors!"
-Excerpt from Jeff Chen's blog post on the PUA website.

Working within the nutrition education industry it is sometimes difficult to imagine proactive ways to fight for the health of others on a daily basis, but I'd like to think that the same kind of rational idealism is as possible as Jeff Chen of PUA makes it out to be. So, here are some practical ideas for doing some good for your friends and neighbors relating to their health whenever you have a minute to do something charitable:

1. Plan a potluck where all meals are homemade (theoretically homemade food is healthier because the cook would never add the preservatives and stabilizers added to most processed foods.
2. Get a younger person to help you plant some flowers. (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/sandy_bauers/20100712_GreenSpace__GreenSpace__Knowing_more_about_plants_and_wildlife_will_do_a_world_of_good.html)
3. Ask a friend if they want to go on a trash walk (pick up garbage as you walk around the neighborhood--count how many food wrappers you find littered).
4. Get friends together to play an outdoor game.
5. Cook and deliver healthy dessert for an unsuspecting neighbor (this kind of kindness is less unusual the closer to a holiday you do it).
6. Create a neighborhood cooking group.
7. Create a neighborhood gardening group.
8. Create a compost pile in your backyard where you can discard your food waste.
9. Volunteer at a local school and bring healthy snacks to a class of young people.
10. Do something selfish and eat some delicious fruit (peaches are my favorite).

For all the talk about "getting our country" healthy there are very few convenient ways to work within our communities to get active and learn healthy cooking together. This is a huge problem. The lack of community engagement on the issue leaves the individual without a support system. Do yourself a favor and get together with some friends and build the momentuum.