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Eat healthy, eat cheap
City offering 'Good Food Fest' tomorrow

Come learn tips for healthy eating tomorrow at the city's first Good Food Festival. It's targeting all ages although the venue is the Pleasanton Senior Center, and aims to offer something for everyone interested in learning about healthy eating.

The festival kicks off at 9:15 a.m. with keynote speaker Dr. Susan Rapp from Kaiser Permanente. In "Eat Healthy and Thrive," Rapp will cover goals for eating well, diet myths, how to read food labels, and examples of healthy foods, among other topics.

"The Good Food Festival is an opportunity for all ages to learn about the small things we can do to improve our diet," said event coordinator Diana Tucker, "and the major implications those changes can have on our short-term and long-term health."

The topic was inspired by concerns about the growing epidemic of obesity among adults and children that are sweeping the nation. The American Heart Association reports that American adults eat 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, and teens eat 34 teaspoons of sugar a day. Ideally most women should be getting no more than six teaspoons a day of added sugar, while men's recommended limit is nine teaspoons.

Following the keynote speech, visitors can participate in a number of workshops and seminars including:

* Eating Well at Any Age

Presented by Carol Garberson, R.D., Senior Support of the Tri-Valley

* Shopping on a Shoestring

Presented by the 'Shoestring Sisters', Susan May and Joanne Hall

* Eating Organically for Health

Presented by Suzanne Aziz, Founder of The Heart and S.O.U.L of Nutrition

* Container Gardening

Livermore-Amador Valley Garden Club

Healthy food cooking demonstrations will also be included and are scheduled as follows:

* Making Your Own Healthy Snacks for Kids (ongoing throughout the morning)

Presented by Crista Haar, Cal High School Culinary Department

* Quick and Healthy Meals (10:00 a.m.)

Presented by Mechiel Taylor

* Cooking Organically for Health

Presented by Suzanne Aziz, Founder of The Heart and S.O.U.L. of Nutrition

The Senior Center's Snappy Café will offer a healthy lunch for $5 for non-seniors and $2 for seniors.

For more information, call the center at 931-5365.

--Dolores Fox Ciardelli EATING HEALTHY What: Good Food Festival Who: City of Pleasanton When: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Saturday, May 1 Where: Pleasanton Senior Center, located at 5353 Sunol Blvd. Cost: Free