It's been a busy couple of months! Healthy Waltham participated in numerous events in April and May throughout the city to promote healthy living. YMCA Healthy Kids Day, Plympton Elementary Health Fair, and the Moody St. 5K are a few of the places you may have seen us! It was great to collaborate with so many great organizations. Thanks for stopping by to say hello, plant a seed, draw a vegetable, or sample a salad! We also had to say goodbye to another fabulous group of Brandeis interns, who happily donned vegetable costumes, staffed tables, worked with kids, and bowled us over with their ideas and creativity.  Thank you Danielle, Yifan and Liza! 

Join is for a community  conversation about what we eat, where it comes from, and why it matters. Waltham Connect presents "From Farm to Feast." Panelists will be Judy Fallows from Healthy Waltham, Dan Roberts from the Waltham Fields Community Farm, and Bob Perry, owner of the Elephant Walk restaurant and founder of the Benefit Restaurant Project.

• WHAT:  From Farm to Feast
• WHEN:  Thursday, May 16
• TIME:  7:00 - 8:30 PM
• PLACE:  First Parish Church, 50 Church St, Waltham

All are welcome and refreshments will be served; childcare provided.  Send an email to walthamconnect@gmail.com for more information.  Download the flyer here.

Obstacle course was a big hit at the Waltham High School Health Fair

The Waltham High School Health Fair was back for its third year on May 3!  Health teacher Lauren DeViney and her team of enthusiastic students put together another great day showcasing health topics from skin protection to nutrition, exercise, relationships, health screenings and more.  We were honored to participate again. Read all about the Health Fair in the News Tribune by clicking here.

Complete Streets is a set of guidelines for designing streets and roadways to

George Darcy, Sonja Wadman, and Mayor McCarthy at the Complete Streets workshop

make them accessible to ALL users--pedestrians, bikers, those using public transportation, the disabled--not just cars. The Waltham Energy Action Committee and Healthy Waltham organized Waltham's first Complete Streets workshop recently. It was funded by Mass in Motion, hosted by Mike Garvin, Waltham's Traffic Engineer, and led by Doug Prentiss, Senior Traffic Engineer, consultant to BayStateRoads, and Waltham resident. Complete Streets can make our communities more liveable for everyone, and help to alleviate traffic and parking problems, as well as make our streets safer. The workshop was attended by a wide cross-section of municipal departments, engineers, walking and biking committee representatives, and elected officials including several city councilors and Mayor McCarthy, and was a great success. 

Healthy Waltham intern Danielle Einhorn recently teamed up with Healthy Waltham's garden facilitator Louise Forrest on an article for the Waltham News Tribune.  The article covers tips for the backyard gardener and composter and  you can read it by clicking here.  Danielle did double duty this semester as an intern for the Waltham Recycling Department.

Yifan Wang, another Healthy Waltham intern this semester, worked with children from the Waltham Family School to teach them to "eat a rainbow" by eating a

Rainbow poster at the Waltham Public Library

colorful assortment of fruits and vegetables every day. To illustrate the point, the children drew pictures of their favorite fruits and vegetables. The pictures were arranged in the shape of a rainbow! This beautiful poster is now on display at the Waltham Public Library through the month of May. Come see the Healthy Waltham display in the case outside the Children's Room.

Consuming excess sugar is a big problem for children and adults, especially when it comes to drinks. In summer, when it is important to stay hydrated, think before you drink! Often people don't realize how much sugar is in common beverages, which can lead to consumption of unwanted calories, weight gain and poor nutrition. Healthy Waltham Intern Liza Ansher created a display to highlight some of the facts about sugar consumption. She also measured out in teaspoons the amount of sugar found in common beverages. It was alarming to see the amounts of sugar we consume without thinking. Liza's poster was on display at several of our events this spring and can now be seen at our display in the Waltham Public Library!