HRA Encourages New Yorkers to “Cut the Junk”
On Monday, July 8, Commissioner Doar announced the return of HRA’s “Cut the Junk” Initiative, which will be featured throughout the City through August 30. The centerpiece of the “Cut the Junk” campaign, which HRA created in partnership with Cornell University Cooperative Extension, is an illustrated healthy eating and cost comparison booklet which shows that cooking food at home can be healthier and less expensive than eating take out or fast food. This season the booklet or its foldout brochure version in English and Spanish will be available at over 35 farmers’ markets citywide, including all 19 Stellar markets where free cooking and nutrition classes targeting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients are provided. For the second consecutive year, “Cut the Junk” joins NYC’s ongoing comprehensive public education effort about the importance of healthy eating. The campaign will feature a weekly texting program, a You Tube video, an Amazon kindle version and, ads carried by specially designed tricycles which will be visiting and handing out the booklet in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs.
“Our campaign this year sends an even stronger and clearer message that we need to ‘Cut the Junk’ from our diets, and that good nutrition can both save lives and taxpayer dollars,” said Commissioner Doar. “Cut the Junk presents a common-sense approach to eating healthier with less expensive alternatives than take out and fast food. Each tip in the booklet can help stretch a family's food budget or food stamp benefits further. We are very proud to come directly to people’s neighborhoods to start talking about healthy food as an affordable reality for New Yorkers.”
“We are gratified to learn that our Eat Smart New York classes transform the lives of thousands of families every year,” said Carol M. Parker-Duncanson, Program Leader at Cornell University Cooperative Extension's Nutrition and Health Program. “These families make long term decisions on how to use their food dollars and food stamp benefits wisely, by making nutritious choices. Making change to our diets can be challenging, but by working with the ‘City's Cut the Junk’ campaign we can give New Yorkers the tools they need to reduce their risk of obesity and chronic disease through improved nutrition and health practices.”
HRA’s “Cut the Junk campaign” emphasizes that eating healthy foods can be less expensive than unhealthy foods, which is especially important for low-income families stretching their food budget dollars. In 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service published a report emphasizing that many healthy foods, including fruits and vegetables, cost less than foods high in saturated fat, added sugars, and/or sodium.
The “Cut the Junk” booklet details the cost effectiveness of a meal made at home. For example, a whole baked chicken can be made at home for nearly 40 percent less than the price of the typical fried take-out version. The booklet contains a list of healthy snacks, educates readers on how to understand food labels and warns about foods that may have more sugar than readers think, such as iced tea and cereal. The booklet also includes suggestions on portion-control strategies, such as using smaller plates.
Choosing healthier options could mean a difference of hundreds of additional calories every day, as well as savings in real dollars and SNAP benefits. The campaign’s ads are provided by Cycle Media, a company which specializes in “brand” ambassadors pedaling into neighborhoods on specially designed tricycles fitted with large, multi-sided and illuminated ad modules. Cycle Media’s bike riders will hand out “Cut the Junk” foldout brochures along their routes to target specific neighborhoods and communities in the five boroughs from July 8-19. Adult residents are invited to post a photo of themselves with the emblematic ‘Cut the Junk guy’ poster on Instagram using the hashtag #NoJunk in order to receive a Cut the Junk booklet in the mail. People can find out whether and when the “Cut the Junk” tricycles will be in their neighborhood by visiting nyc.gov.
By texting “NOJUNK” to short code 877877, subscribers will receive weekly healthy eating tips and recipes directly on their phones for the duration of the campaign. The campaign also includes a video PSA available on YouTube focused on making healthier and less expensive food decisions both in the market and the kitchen. Also, Amazon Kindle users will be able to conveniently download the guide for free.
To support the healthy food purchasing power of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants along with Cut the Junk, HRA has also increased the funding for Health Bucks this year. For each $5 of SNAP benefits that a customer spends at farmers’ markets, they will receive one Health Buck coupon worth $2 for fresh fruits and vegetables at any farmers market. The City’s 138 markets are accepting Health Bucks and the 125 of those markets that accept Food stamps/EBT will also distribute the coupons as incentives. The program, which is the largest municipal farmers’ market incentive program in the country, runs from July 1 through November 15.
Besides being distributed at City farmers markets, the Cut the Junk guide will be available online and copies will be distributed at locations throughout the City Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Centers and food pantries. To learn more about the Cut the Junk initiative and to download the booklet please visit: www.nyc.gov. To get updates on the campaign, follow us on Twitter @NYCHRA.