Mets star visits Flushing school to teach students about healthy eating

New York Mets outfielder Mark Canha joined students at P.S. 201Q Discovery School for Inquiry and Research in Flushing on May 31 to encourage healthy eating. During the Eat Smart with the Mets event, Canha joined students for a cooking lesson as they learned to create a healthy meal together.

Eat Smart with the Mets was organized through a partnership between the Amazin’ Mets Foundation, GrowNYC and Empire BlueCross BlueShield. The event is meant to encourage healthy eating and provide nutritional knowledge for these young students.

Canha joined the kids in chopping up and mixing vegetables as they created “Terrific tomato and herb dip.” Canha also talked to the kids about some of his favorite healthy foods and the importance of eating healthy.

“[My wife and I] try to have our kids eat plenty of healthy things [like] fruits and vegetables,” Canha said. “We also let them eat sugar sometimes. I think it’s very important to have moderation in everything that we eat. Fruits and vegetables are not just something that we have to eat. They can be delicious as well. Sometimes they can be the most delicious part of a meal.”

In addition to being a great baseball player, Canha has earned a reputation as an avid foodie. He often posts pictures of meals that he gets during his travels to various cities across the season on his Instagram page, bigleaguefoodie. He’s earned a large following through this, as he also describes the meals to viewers. He also recently created a YouTube channel, BigLeagueFoodie Chronicles, in which he and various Mets teammates discuss their food habits.

“I think affecting young people is the most important and best parts of my job,” Canha said. “The fact that this is a food-related venture and part of what the Amazin’ Mets Foundation is doing, I jumped right in. I hope these kids realize that great food and cooking is something that could be fun and not that difficult. There’s a lot that can be taught about…