Choosing a Healthy Life

Giving communities tools in the fight against obesity.

Give to the Marilyn Magaram Center

The obesity crisis in the United States is a grave public health threat, comparable to cigarette smoking as a public health hazard. Nearly 40 percent of Americans are obese, and obesity is linked to several chronic and expensive diseases including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Put simply, obesity is a preventable cause of premature death.

The Marilyn Magaram Center at CSUN is a powerful resource in the fight against obesity, using the tools of research, evidence-based nutrition education and food science. For more than 25 years, the center has delivered health and wellness strategies to the campus and community in the form of one-to-one nutrition counseling and education, nutrition experts, interactive weight management workshops, diabetes prevention programs, sodium reduction programs, healthy eating resources and more.

The center guides students on their pathways to careers in science, nutrition, dietetics, fitness and health and wellness by employing them as interns and giving them valuable hands-on experience in their chosen fields. Students also have invented new food products at the center, including Matador Marmalade made from oranges grown in the CSUN orange groves; Spicy Matador, a seasoning made from spices in the center’s Wellness Garden; and Bee Matador Honey, an award-winning, raw, local honey extracted from beehives in small apiaries on the CSUN campus.

Communities are taking charge of their health and well-being with support from the center’s experts and student interns. Programs like Champions for Change, which features a community garden, nutrition education, healthy cooking practice demonstrations and recipes that feature local, affordable produce have reached more than 28,000 people.

Your support elevates opportunities for students at the Marilyn Magaram Center, giving them clinical training and professional internships, moving them more quickly toward graduation and a career. Your gift also enables the center to impact communities it serves so families can live longer, healthier lives.