Additional Resources
Food Insecurity Resources
Local Food Assistance from Feeding Kentucky
In partnership with Kentucky’s Feeding America Food Banks, this regional food bank can give you a list of local food pantries or meal programs in your county that can help you get access to nutritious food. Use their map to find the regional food bank that serves your county.
Learn More
SNAP in Kentucky
The Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program is designed to help individuals and families afford the nutritious foods they need to thrive. In Kentucky, you can apply for monthly SNAP benefits through the KYnect portal online or in person. Learn more and apply with the link below.
Learn More & ApplyWIC in Kentucky
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children provides supplemental foods and nutrition education for women, infants and children up to age 5 who are determined to be at nutritional risk. Apply through the KY Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Learn More & ApplyCSFP in Kentucky
The Commodity Supplemental Food Program provides monthly food packages to low-income seniors (age 60+). The food boxes are designed to provide a range of nutritious foods for a well-balanced diet as well as nutrition education. Contact your local agency for more details.
Learn More & ApplySeniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program
The Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program provides low-income seniors with coupons to purchase locally grown fruits, vegetables and fresh-cut herbs at participating farmers markets. This program aims to improve the nutrition of seniors. For availability in your county, contact your local farmers market or health department.
Learn MoreWIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program
Each summer, local health departments issue $30 to eligible WIC recipients for the purchase of locally grown fruits, vegetables and fresh-cut herbs. WIC participants can use these funds at participating farmers markets. For more details about program availability in your county, contact your local health department.
Learn MoreKentucky Double Dollars Program
This initiative provides a dollar-for-dollar match, up to $12 per day, for SNAP and WIC participants when they purchase locally grown fruits, vegetables and fresh-cut herbs at participating farmers markets and select retail locations. To learn how to double your benefits and find sites near you, contact your local health department.
Learn MoreNutrition Education Classes & Resources
Diabetes Prevention Program
The Kentucky Diabetes Prevention Program, offered free and virtually by the UK Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center and UK Cooperative Extension, provides patients with expert lifestyle coaches. These dedicated coaches help participants develop the skills to change their eating habits, lose weight and maintain a healthy level of physical activity, promoting long-term health and well-being.
Learn More
Cooperative Extension
UK Cooperative Extension Department of Family and Consumer Science offers free nutrition classes designed to educate participants on healthy eating habits and meal planning. These classes cover topics such as balanced diets, portion control and cooking techniques that are fun for the whole family. There is an office in every county; call to explore the FCS classes available in your area.
Learn More
Getting Started
Before you can fully embrace a food as health approach to managing your diet-sensitive chronic disease, you have to start with the basics. It can be difficult to know where to begin when it comes to cooking for heart health or diabetes. Sometimes, it's even good to get back to basics on some simple tips for preparing nutritious foods. We have dozens of resources to help you begin.
Learn MoreGrowing Your Skills
Stretching Your Food Dollars
Affording nutritious food can be challenging. The handouts below contain some tips and tricks to make the most of your food budget and prevent food waste.
- Storing Fruits & Vegetables
- Using Frozen Fruits & Vegetables
- Meal Planning
- Making the Most of your Food Budget
- Storing & Reheating Leftovers
- Meal Preparation
Nutrition Bites
These short posts contain details on a variety of topics related to nutrition and chronic disease. Each one also has a simple handout to break down the info even further.
- The MIND Diet: Learn more about the MIND Diet, designed to prevent the development of cognitive disease like dementia and Alzheimer's as you age.
- Fiber & Diabetes: Explore the important relationship between eating foods that are high in fiber and the management of type 2 diabetes through slowed digestion.
- Heart Disease & Dietary Fat: Learn more about the different types of fat in your diet, where they come from, and how to make healthier choices for managing heart disease.
Culinary Medicine
A variety of clinical conditions can be positively impacted through diet. These resources and recipes can help you manage certain illnesses with nutrition.
Links to websites not controlled by the University of Kentucky are provided for convenience, but the University disclaims any responsibility for assuring that those links work properly. Further, the content linked to represents the views and opinions of the site creator or other parties and does not constitute a communication from or content of the University, so the University also disclaims any responsibility for that content. Provision of external links does not constitute an endorsement by the University.
Connect With Us
308 Funkhouser Building
Lexington, KY 40506
859-218-5081
foodashealth@uky.edu
