News Release
June 14, 2007

Story contact: Suzy Pelican, (307) 766-5177 - pelican@uwyo.edu 

UW educators urge independence from overfeeding this July Fourth

Thomas Jefferson wasn’t describing courses of food when penning “When in the course of human events...” in the Declaration of Independence, but celebrants this Fourth of July could throw off the shackles of overfeeding their guests and adopt a new approach at social gatherings.

Fresh Approaches: Ideas for enjoyable and healthy foods at social events and other gatherings, MP112-3, is a new bulletin from the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service. It discusses the challenges to being a food planner, quick keys to planning enjoyable and healthy foods, avoiding portion distortion, challenges of potlucks, and tips for working successfully with caterers and other food providers. The publication is available at http://ces.uwyo.edu/PUBS/MP112-3.pdf.

“Other publications are available on the Internet from reliable sources, but they tend to be quantitative – how many inches a bagel should be or how many grams of fat are in an ideal cracker,” said Suzy Pelican, food and nutrition specialist and senior extension educator in the College of Agriculture’s Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Pelican and five other authors decided to offer suggestions that can make food healthy and enjoyable.

“We decided to avoid nutrition by the numbers to try to get people excited about food and to make it taste good as well as being good for you,” she said. “If you don’t enjoy food, it can’t be healthy. You can’t maintain that pattern for any length of time.”

It’s not your mother’s mantra – fruit salsa, hummus dip, chili, chocolate-covered strawberries, juice spritzers, Italian sodas, to name a few ideas.

“We try to make people feel we are opening the door to lots more ideas instead of making healthy something restrictive and non-appealing,” she said. “We want to improve the health and well-being of people who attend events and social gatherings.”        

Many of the ideas can be applied to Fourth of July celebrations, said Pelican. Potlucks can become “Pot Plans” by having signups so there are not too many desserts or high-fat dips and main dishes.

“Despite all the talk about health and weight these days, there is tremendous media and social pressure to serve only high-calorie foods and beverages at social gatherings.  In turn, most people overeat when these are their only choices,” she observed.  But, she added, “Guests also play a role in being gracious and understanding of a host who is trying to balance rich taste and good health.” 

Pelican and her co-authors state in their publication, “Be kind to food planners:  Their task is a tough one.”        

Hardcopies for $2.50 each can also be obtained by e-mailing the College of Agriculture’s Resource Center at bixbyd@uwyo.edu, calling the center at (307) 766-2115, or writing to the University of Wyoming, College of Agriculture, Department 3313, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071.

Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor
Phone: (307) 766-6342
E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu

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