Long before launching the new Nourish Schools Super Food Cards this past October, Katherine Sumner has been an inspiration on the Real Food front. While a parent at George Mason Elementary School in Alexandria, she organized Farm to School events that inspire me today, now that I have two kids in elementary school. We met seven ago during a cooking class after which Katherine went on to complete her holistic health coach training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in New York and then to co-found Nourish Schools.
Katherine and Nourish Schools co-founder Casey Seidenberg (whose great nutrition articles you’ve probably seen in the Washington Post’s Local Living section) are both moms. Katherine has two boys who have adjusted well to life in Colorado, and Casey has remained local with her two sons and daughter. After a few years of helping schools assess and improve their health/wellness scorecards, the two decided that the time had come for them to create the product their clients needed to help them be successful at implementing wellness protocols.
Katherine said, “Over the years when I would do either cooking classes or we’d do talks, we just kept hearing people say there was so much information out there. The people we were working with, this was so new to them; they hadn’t heard about soaking grains. They just felt overwhelmed. So we started putting together these cheat sheets, and one of our clients said to us ‘you need to get these out there.’ We realized there was a need for a resource that was both user-friendly and sustainable.”
And thus were born Super Food Cards.
For this first set of cards, Katherine and Casey decided to focus on basic categories of nutrition – Greens, Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts & Seeds, Beans, Whole Grains, Protein, and Stocks (broths) – and to keep the product to a card with a front and back. The cards are geared toward wide audiences; they can be used by people new to nutrition and as cheat sheets for those who already soak their grains and beans.
The cards are folded so that they have four sides, each 7.5 x 10″. Each card includes how-to (prepare, store, etc). information as well as explanation of why you’d want to eat each food and quick tips for integrating them into your diet. On the back of the Greens chart, for example is a chart describing which stems to eat (or not), which are good in a smoothie, and which to eat raw.
The cards are on waterproof paper so it’s okay to get them wet.
At an Alexandria event yesterday at the home of Alexandria mom Diana Reynolds, Katherine and Casey shared more about their plans for the future. They are working on a Kids Cards series as well as cards geared toward low-income folks, college students, the aging population, and a series specifically on anti-inflammatory diets that will have more information on gluten and other foods that can aggravate health conditions in some people.
To get the whole food goodness in your own hands, purchase the cards for $24.99 via Nourish Schools, pick some up (and meet the creators in person!) today or tomorrow (Friday or Saturday, December 5 and 6) at the St. Albans Holiday Market, and enter the giveaway below for a set that you can give away as a gift of health and wellness!
The thing that most confuses me about food is what to do with all the leftovers/scraps! I would love a card that offered different spice combination suggestions for each food item. :)
I always get confused by ways to maximize nutrition (ex iron with vit C but not calcium) and best ways to prep foods. These cards sound fantastic!