The Florida Beef Council recently attended the American Academy of Pediatrics Florida meeting. Deanne Maples of the Florida Beef Council sat down with us to discuss this further.
“This weekend, the Florida Beef Council was proud to serve as the vitality and wellness partner for the American Academy of Pediatrics Florida meeting over the Labor Day weekend,” Maples said.
“And this is such an important audience for us because pediatricians and healthcare professionals are among the first people parents turn to with questions about feeding their kids. And that could be from the very first foods through those teenage years. They really do help shape the nutrition decisions families are making,” Maples explained.
“And so over three days in the exhibit hall, registered dietitian Jamie Lee McIntyre, we’ve talked about Jamie Lee before, she joined us and shared very practical science-based resources from safely introducing beef as an early food, which is a thing that the pediatricians were telling us is something that they’re seeing so much in their practices. There are parents being afraid to introduce that. And I get that as a mom myself,” Maples described.
“So how we can help them have those discussions to family meal inspiration, to nutrition for the growing kids and the young athletes. And so, as the wellness partner, we also got to have a little fun with it too. We did a Friday night beef trivia event, a Saturday morning yoga class, and then a Sunday family fun run,” Maples said.
“And after the run participants refueled themselves with beef sticks and fresh chocolate milk that was provided to us from our friends over at Florida Dairy Farmers. So, for us, conferences like these, particularly interacting with pediatricians, it’s really about building relationships with these trusted professionals and making sure they have the latest, greatest, credible beef nutrition resources that they can share with Florida families,” said Maples.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.