It seems that Jennifer Garner’s girl next door and amicable public persona isn’t just for show. The organic food advocate just proved that she can indeed walk the talk.
Recently, she and her baby food company just announced a collaboration with government agencies to bring the benefits of organic and nutritious foods to underprivileged families and their young children.
Bridging the Socio-Economic Divide
At the beginning of March, the actress and mother of three announced that the baby food company she co-founded, Once Upon a Farm, will be one of the first ones to offer their organic baby food to WIC-eligible families.
The WIC program is the United States Department of Agriculture’s project for safeguarding the health of low-income women and their children under the age of 5 through making nutritious food and health information more accessible to them.
Garner, who is also a Save the Children ambassador, attributes her decision to the lessons she learned while serving poor rural families. According to Garner, her main goal is to help in bridging the socio-economic divide and make healthy, organic baby food more affordable.
Baby Steps
Once Upon a Farm’s food bowls were specially formulated to adhere to the standards of the USDA’s program and are now approved in the states of Florida and West Virginia, where Garner herself grew up in.
The actress admitted that they still have a long way to go but is still very proud of what the collaboration has accomplished in West Virginia where they’re currently feeding 125,000 children in poverty-stricken homes.
Co-founding her company with Annie’s CEO John Foraker in 2017, Garner has been quite the hands-on entrepreneur even personally distributing samples of their products at Costco stores.
The company’s organic products are said to be inspired by Garner’s childhood growing up with a mother who made sure they only ate homemade and nonprocessed foods. She has then bought a family farm in her birthplace of Locust Grove, Oklahoma which she will use to grow the ingredients of the cold-pressed baby food products for her company.
Practicing What She Preaches
The actress herself eats a pretty healthy diet composed of organic and sustainable ingredients. She even has her own garden and mini-farm where she personally grows her own produce and chickens together.
Garner also follows the Fab Four eating plan that Hollywood nutritionist Kelly LeVeque recommends her clients. This means eating food from all four categories (greens, fiber, protein and fats) for each meal.
While it’s unknown whether her daughters follow the same plan, Garner has been known to prioritize organic food when cooking for her family.
While it’s unknown whether her daughters follow the same plan, Garner has been known to prioritize organic food when cooking for her family.