Additional Kentucky Proud Programs

The Kentucky Proud Eat to Win Program encourages all K–12 students across the Commonwealth to incorporate more locally grown fruits and vegetables into their diets as part of a healthful lifestyle.

From aspiring scientists to athletes and artists, Kentucky’s students take steps, large and small, every day to reach their goals. A nutrient-packed, balanced diet will help Kentucky’s future leaders achieve their passions, talents, and dreams.

A few tips to a healthier life:

• Don’t Skip Breakfast: Over 50% of middle and high school-aged athletes skip breakfast three or more times per week, and over 15% skip breakfast daily. The overnight “fasting” effect lowers glycogen levels in the body and impairs performance, especially when engaging in prolonged endurance activity. Remember, carbohydrates equal energy. When you restrict carbohydrates, you restrict energy. If you’re in a hurry, grab a serving of fruit every morning before you leave your house.

• Variety Matters: Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables to ensure you are getting proper amounts of different vitamins and minerals. This will help fuel your body as well as replace what you have depleted throughout the day.

• Don’t Cram: Eat healthy portions of carbohydrates every day rather than trying to “cram” all your carbohydrates into a pre-game or post-game meal. Make sure to add appropriate levels of protein, essential fats, and fluids to all meals to meet your total nutrition needs.

• During physical activity (especially activity lasting longer than an hour), it’s important to eat a small amount of carbohydrates (30–60grams) to maintain vital energy levels. While sports drinks provide carbohydrates, they are also loaded with sugar. Mixing in a medium-sized portion of fruit along with sports drinks prevents feelings of hunger and weakness.

• For post-game meals, athletes should eat carbohydrate-focused meals within 60 to 90 minutes after the completion of activity to replenish muscles. Athletes should also add an adequate amount of protein to their post-game meals to repair tissues.

Farm to School Junior Chef pits high school cooking teams in a statewide competition, with the state champion decided at the Kentucky State Fair. The program is designed to offer youth the opportunity to learn valuable skills in recipe development, food preparation, marketing, public presentation, organization, teamwork and community involvement.

Junior Chef aims to stimulate interest in local agriculture, create a non-traditional market for Kentucky producers, and improve the quality of products available to school cafeterias. Ultimately, the goal of the program is to increase consumption of farm-fresh food by Kentucky’s students. Not to mention, valuable scholarship opportunities provided by Sullivan University are available to the top three winning teams each year!

Do it for the win. Do it for Kentucky.

Ready for a bold statement? The foundation of America’s wine industry is largely planted in Kentucky. That’s right, the fourth largest wine producing country in the entire world owes quite a bit to the Commonwealth. While it’s true that California is now responsible for roughly 85% of the total US wine production, that wasn’t always the case.

America’s commercial wine industry was born in Kentucky in 1798 when Swiss vine-dresser, Jean-Jacques (John James) Dufour established the first commercial winery in the United States on steep banks of the Kentucky River in modern-day Jessamine County.

Since 2000, the number of Kentucky wineries has grown from less than 10 to more than 75, and that number continues to grow each year. Vineyard acreage is on the rise and the future of Kentucky’s grape and wine industry looks like there will be many very good vintages to come!

To read more about Kentucky wine (and craft beer) and to start planning your weekend adventures, check out Drink KY. It’s your personal guide to Kentucky’s wineries and craft breweries.