On Sunday, October 3rd, Healthy Dublin held their second annual Community Health Festival at the Dublin Rec. Center, but sent mixed messages about being healthy.
Many excellent services were provided for free, such as blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol screenings. Varckette Family Chiropractic offered free spine screenings. Health From Within was also there doing vitamin deficiency and colon screenings. Many vendors provided important information on how to prevent and check for diseases such as ovarian cancer, diabetes and kidney disease.
Other vendors offered fitness information and ways for the whole family to stay in shape. In the gym, a family fun zone had nutrition and fitness-based games and activities such as "Eat This, Not That."
The Health Festival excelled in providing fitness and disease prevention information, as well as services, but lacked a good range of healthy foods. A few booths offered healthy snacks like bananas, apples, or peanuts, but others offered candy and lollipops. Among the food vendors, samples of natural fudge, cookies made with organic ingredients, frozen yogurt, and gluten-free cupcakes were given out. Also in attendance, Papa Murphy's handed out slices of their take-and-bake pizzas.
The concern here is in the health benefits of these samples. Natural fudge is still made with high amounts of sugar and fat; it may be healthier than regular fudge, but it certainly is not a healthy food. There is a place for these health-conscious treats; many people seek out alternative snacks when they cannot or do not wish to consume snacks containing preservatives, sugar or gluten, but the treats still need to be eaten in moderation. There was a serious lack of samples and information on preparing healthy, everyday meals and snacks. Only one vendor offered a sample of what could be a tasty, healthy dinner of Indian-spiced lentils and rice. The Healthy Dublin Festival lacked balance among their food vendors.
Keeping moderation in mind, the samples were delicious. Menchies offered samples of their tasty original tart, peanut butter, and orange sorbet frozen treats. They have fat-free, low-fat, sugar-free, and dairy-free options, most of which range from 80 to 150 calories per serving. Be careful though, the frozen yogurt is low-calorie, but not necessarily the toppings they offer. Also, Our CupCakery handed out tasty chocolate and vanilla cupcakes which were sugar-free and gluten-free.
Overall, Healthy Dublin's Health Festival was a beneficial community event, but hopefully next year they will further stress the importance of healthy eating with more information and samples from vendors.
Comments