Everyone has heard that keeping a low intake of fat, salt and calories is important in maintaining a healthy diet, but the value of vitamins and minerals in everyday life is what members of Yummy For Your Tummy want to impress on students.
The Yummy For Your Tummy club began this semester through the combined efforts of Antoinette Mannie, Asia Ghazi, Caylor Davis, and Mayra Renteria to educate students about fun and delicious ways to get various vitamins and minerals that are a necessary part of a proper diet.
“I spoke to a couple of people in belly dance class and we decided to give it a try,” club president Mannie said.
The idea for the club was a mutual decision between the four, but Mannie and Ghazi had their own reasons for starting it.
Mannie, who wants to be a surgeon, feels advocating health consciousness, especially vitamins and minerals, is a prime way to reduce avoidable diseases like heart disease.
“It really came from within,” Mannie said. “What you consume affects how you feel the next day.”
Club event planner Ghazi aspires to open a restaurant based on healthy substitutions for basic ingredients, like replacing butter for olive oil, so the club’s message fit with that goal.
”I wanted to get a master’s in nutrition, but I realized my real passion was in culinary arts,” Ghazi said. “I want to do something in culinary arts with an emphasis on nutrition.”
The club chooses a vitamin or mineral as a theme for their events, and then they showcase foods that are high in content in that particular vitamin or mineral.
“At Club Rush we showcased vitamin E and served asparagus, chocolate-covered strawberries, hummus, guacamole, vegetable chips, and other foods that were high in vitamin E,” Mannie said.
At their next event, scheduled to be sometime after spring break, the club plans to showcase vitamin C and are currently in the process of creating the menu for it.
Both Mannie and Ghazi agree that none of this would be possible without help from the ASO and especially without the help of their faculty advisor, Assistant Professor of Biology Shannon DeVaney.
“I think it’s a great message,” DeVaney said. “They’re all about promoting a healthy lifestyle.”
The club does not have any set hours, but they typically meet Friday about noon at the Coffee Bean at the intersection of Ventura and Corbin.
The next meeting is scheduled to be April 13 at 12:30 p.m.
The club is always looking for new members, but there is no pressure to join, and people are encouraged to visit the club’s events and enjoy the free food.
If you would like to find out more about the club, including events and information, they can be contacted through their email: yummy4urtummyclub@gmail.com .
link: http://www.piercecollege.edu/connect/index.asp
