"Even the best nutrition education is likely to fall flat without the opportunity to put it into practice.

"You can teach people, but unless you change the environment it's very difficult for people to actually use what you've taught them," explains Fran Miller, community nutritionist for the Suquamish Tribe of Port Madison, WA.

This means making nutritious foods more available and eliminating opportunities to choose fatty, nutritionally empty options.

Some tribes have started by cutting out sugary beverages at community events.

The S'Klallam tribe of Jamestown, WA took a drastic step toward building a healthy environment in 2008 when it requested that the new, large convenience store at its 7 Cedars Casino not have a deep fryer in-store. "

Get the Story:
Nutrition a Pressing Concern for Native Americans, Part III (Food Safety News 3/7)

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