http://dnrc.nih.gov/pdf/nutritionmonth-brochure-09.pdf
March is National Nutrition Month, which is a nutrition education and information campaign, sponsored annually by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Every year the NIH Division of Nutrition Research Coordination, the DNRC, creates a brochure on a relevant nutrition topic. The brochure released a few years ago for March 2009, caught my attention. It was titled “Healthy Eating without Overspending” and as a broke college student this naturally peaked my interests. I have personally experienced sticker shock at various grocery while perusing their “Natural Foods” sections, and feel that a brochure that can provide tips and advice for how to save money while shopping healthfully would be of great benefit. I feel that the perceived cost of healthy foods can be a significant barrier for a lot of individuals who are learning to eat healthier, and that this brochure could help them overcome that barrier and make shopping seem more manageable.
Check out the brochure here!
I personally find this brochure interesting and easy to read, but it is definitely not for everyone. I have evaluated it to be at an 8th grade reading level, which narrows its potential audience to those who are more competent readers. Also it is fairly “wordy,” so those who are not already interested in the topic would probably pass it over. The front cover is attention grabbing and has visual interest; both images and words are used to spell out “Healthy Eating without Overspending.” In general, the layout is simple, yet effective, and there are a few images to break up the text.
http://dnrc.nih.gov/pdf/nutritionmonth-brochure-09.pdf
I feel that the “Healthy Eating without Overspending” brochure can be effective due to the advice it provides. It has categories titled, “Good Buys for Good Nutrition,” “Shopping Tips,” “Cooking Tips,” and “Dining Out,” which provide practical tips for saving money and getting the biggest bang for your buck. If you don’t have time to read the entire brochure at first you can read the few words of each bullet point that are highlighted in green. For example, under the category of “Fruits and Vegetables” you would read “Buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season,” “Examples of fresh fruits and vegetables that are often among the cheapest include…,” and “Store fruits (including tomatoes and avocados) separately from vegetables.” If they peak your interest then you can read more to get further details, but just skimming the brochure can provide useful advice.
One of the most useful parts of the brochure is that it provides a link to a “recipe finder” website run by the USDA. The majority of the recipes have 5-10 ingredients or fewer and it shows the cost breakdown of the meal per person. For example if you wanted to make the “5 A Day Salad” it shows you that the serving cost is $1.48, the Total Cost is $5.91, and that is makes 4 servings. However, in order to use this information the reader would have to be able to access to the Internet, which may exclude certain individuals who do not have this luxury.
Access it here!
Overall I feel that the “Healthy Eating without Overspending” brochure can be effective for the right target audience. It would be the most effective for individuals who are looking for a way to save money and eat healthy. I don’t think this would be a useful tool for those not interested in making that type of change because the information provided is more useful and matter-of-fact than attention grabbing or shocking. Also those who would get the most benefit from the brochure would be adults who have at least an 8th grade reading ability and access to the Internet. I love food, and I love saving money, so to me the “Healthy Eating without Overspending” brochure is a success.