Plant-Based Beats Processed

Posted on September 13, 2022 by Hollis Bass

It seems like processed and ultra-processed foods have been i n the news a lot lately.

While some people get mired in conversations about what foods should be considered processed (canned beans? whole grain bread?), you can’t go wrong by promoting a plant-based eating pattern that’s centered on vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, and fruits.

We have some great ways to get your students, clients, or employees off the processed food track and on the road to a plant-based eating pattern.

1. One of our newest posters uses pictures to encourage nutrient-dense foods over ultra-processed ones:

Nutrient-Dense Vs Ultra Processed Food Poster 18x24 Laminated - Nutrition Poster

$19.00 ~~$24.00~~

Add to Cart

2. One look at this poster (which also comes as a banner, stickers, and bookmarks) kind of says it all:

Real Food Grows Poster - Nutrition Poster - Motivational Poster

$22.75 ~~$25.50~~

Add to Cart

3. If there’s a health fair in your future, create an eye-catching display with our Real Food Grows theme materials. You’ll really get their attention when you wear our fruit and veggie mask!

By Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

Free Handout: Nutrient-Dense vs Ultra-Processed

Custom Real Food Grows Banner Stand 24" X 67" - Wellness Fair Banner 24" X 62" - Add Your Logo To This Health Fair Banner

$175.00

Add to Cart

Show Off Fruits & Veggies

Posted on May 17, 2022 by Hollis Bass

‘Tis the season for fresh fruits and vegetables and we have a beautiful new poster that shows them off. Take a look at the I Heart Fruits & Veggies poster:

I Heart Fruits and Veggies Poster - Photo Heart - NEW - 18" x 24" Laminated Food Art Nutrition Health Poster

$22.75 ~~$25.50~~

Add to Cart

Here are some ways to use this bright, eye-catching poster in your nutrition and health education:

With younger children:
- Ask questions…
  - What colors do you see?
  - Can you count the fruits and veggies?
  - Can you name them?
  - Which ones do you eat?
  - Which ones have you never tried before?
- Do a hands-on activity with a fruit or veggie that’s in season: look, touch, smell, taste.
- Have a fruit & vegetable story time: here are some children’s book suggestions from University of Nevada Extension.
With teens and adults:
- Ask questions…
  - How many of these fruits/veggies can you name?
  - Which ones have you tried?
  - Which ones do you like?
  - How do you prepare them?
  - Are there any that you’ve never tried?
  - Any you’ve never seen?
Alongside these nutrition education topics and activities:
- MyPlate: Make half your plate fruits & veggies
- Dietary Guidelines: Make Every Bite Count
- Cooking demos (use our guide!)
- Farmer’s market tour
- Supermarket tour
- Heart healthy eating
- Eat the rainbow or Colors of Health
- Plant-based eating pattern
- Fruit for dessert with our Fruit Tooth Dessert Cookbook

By Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

Focus on Fruit

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Hollis Bass

The holiday season’s bright colors fade away in January when the reality of winter sets in. Plan now to cheer up those cold, dreary days with our beautiful Focus on Fruit poster.

Focusing on fruit means adding color, flavor, fiber, nutrients, and a little sweetness to meals and snacks. Here are some ideas to help your students or clients Focus on Fruit — use them for social media, classes, or individual counseling:

Peel something new … try different citrus fruits every week. Introduce your family to tangerines, blood oranges, kumquats (don’t peel them!), cara cara oranges, and satsumas.
Bake up some comfort … make warm, healthy desserts like baked apples or pears with cinnamon.
Keep cans on hand … create winter fruit salads using canned fruit like peaches, pears, and mandarin oranges.
Toss in some color … experiment with adding frozen berries to your oatmeal – what’s your favorite combination?
Say aloha to smoothies … bring the tropics into your kitchen by making fruit smoothies with frozen papaya, mango, or pineapple.

Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

Focus on Fruit 18" x 24" Laminated Nutrition Poster - Motivational Poster

$19.00 ~~$24.00~~

Add to Cart

Got a Sweet Tooth?

Posted on June 22, 2021 by Hollis Bass

From berries to watermelon to peaches, some of our favorite fruits are now in season. It’s the perfect time to turn that sweet tooth into a fruit tooth!

Help your clients or students learn to reach for fruit — not candy and rich desserts — when they get that craving for something sweet. They’ll be rewarded with a little bit of sweetness and a lot of taste and nutrition.

Here are some teaching tips to promote fruit during the summer or any time of the year:

Host a class based on our Fruit Tooth Dessert Cookbook, which showcases beautiful and delicious (not to mention healthy) desserts that can be enjoyed at home or taken to summer potlucks.
Run weekly contests on social media — think prettiest fruit dessert, most creative fruit salsa, or best fruit salad combination. Include categories for canned and frozen fruit, too.
Decorate with our Focus on Fruits bulletin board kit. It comes with an activity guide plus three handouts: How to make a smoothie, fruit and yogurt snack recipes, and how to make a watermelon cake.
When COVID restrictions aren’t a concern, set up a make-your-own fruit and yogurt sundae bar for your classroom or office.

Enjoy your summer fruits! July is Berry Month, Blueberry Month, and Watermelon Month. August is Peach Month.

Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

Best Ways to Rinse Produce

Posted on June 25, 2020 by cheryle

My Sister-in-law texted me: how do you wash your produce?

Me: Water

SIL: Don’t you use soap or something?

Me: No just lots of fresh running water.

SIL: Dr. on YouTube says to use soap in the sink.

Me: That will make you sick.

SIL: So how do you kill the germs?

Me: Don’t want to kill them, just slide them down the drain.

OK, first let’s set the record straight. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there is no evidence that food or food packaging is involved with the transmission of COVID-19 (up-to-date information is available on their website ). Like all other viruses, it needs a living host —which could be a person or an animal — on which to grow. Viruses do not grow in food. While the chances of this happening are very low, the virus could potentially be on the food if a fellow shopper or store worker with the virus sneezed or coughed on it. So washing your hands after touching food and packaging is a prudent activity. Remember this is a respiratory illness not a gastrointestinal illness, the virus needs to get into your respiratory system to make you sick.

Back to the instructions: don’t touch your face, nose, and mouth and wash your hands (with soap and water) a lot.

Produce should be handled all the time, not just during this COVID-19 pandemic, using good food safety practices.

Wash your hands and counter tops before handling produce.
Wash the produce thoroughly in fresh running water.
Even wash foods that you’re going to peel because dirt or bacteria can be transferred from the skin onto the moist meaty section of the food when you slice or peel it.

Check out the FDA’s 7 Tips for Cleaning Fruits, Vegetables for specifics: https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/7-tips-cleaning-fruits-vegetables

Despite what you may have seen on social media, you should not wash produce in soap, detergent, sanitizer or any chemical disinfectant. If produce is washed it soap, the soap may be absorbed by the food or you may not get it washed off completely, this could cause gastrointestinal problems.

Plain water is good enough. Several studies have been done looking at washing produce with commercial produce washes and they found that they are no more effective than running water.

Be a good consumer. Don’t shop if you’re sick. Sanitize shopping carts and hands as you enter stores. Don’t touch items you don’t plan on purchasing. Sanitize your hands when you leave the store and wash them when you get home.

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS

Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University

References: Washing Food: Does it promote food safety? United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/2ceaa425-0488-4e86-a397-e2d9c470fc4a/Washing_Food.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

Bulletin #4336 Best Ways to Wash Fruits and Vegetables, University of Maine Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and Cooperative Extension https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/04/wash-fruits-vegetables.jpg

Buying Pineapple

Posted on August 1, 2019 by cheryle

The other day I was at the grocery store and there was a pile of pineapples at a very good price. I picked one up and thought to myself “what do I know about buying pineapple?” I seemed to remember something about the leaves pulling out—but is that bad or good? I just grabbed one and hoped for the best.

But, now that I’m home, I decided to look it up and share because I figured I’m not the only one in a quandary.

I learned that pineapples do NOT ripen after they are picked. They just get older. So quickly my pineapple went from the counter to inside the refrigerator. The sooner you eat the pineapple the better—for best quality eat within four days to a week of purchase. Once cut, continue to store covered in the refrigerator and eat within two days.

If allowed to fully ripen on the plant a yellowish-orange rind will give you the best fruit quality. Pineapples ripen from the bottom up, so the more yellow as it moves up the body the better. But this doesn’t mean that a green pineapple is bad and many are picked and shipped with green color. Unless you’re standing in a pineapple plantation, having one shipped directly to you from a grower or have a plant in your garden, you’re going to have to trust that the growers picked the pineapple at the appropriate degree of sweetness and ripeness. There is no “season” for pineapples. They are available year round. In general, pineapples from Hawaii are shipped only to the west coast of the continental US and other parts of the country get pineapple from Mexico and Costa Rica.

If there is a pile of pineapple—pick one of the bigger and heavier ones. You just get more for your money.

The best way to tell if you have a good pineapple is that it looks fresh and the leaves are still green. Avoid bruised, mushy skin and soft spots on the body. The base of the pineapple should not be wet or moldy. Does it smell pleasant and sweet? If it smells slightly spoiled or like fermentation or vinegar—avoid that one!

Two slices of pineapple (about 4 ounces) has 50 calories, zero fat, 1 gram sodium and 19 mg of vitamin C which is about 60% the amount needed for one day.

Remember when I thought about the leaves? This tends to be an “old wives tale”. Being able to pull the leaves out of the crown is not a sign of ripeness or quality.

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS
Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University

Best ways to prepare and serve fresh pineapple:

grilled and warm
cubed and placed on skewers
slice and place on salads
chopped and put on any protein dish
add to stir fry dishes
add to salsa

Download Recipe PDF:

Wild Rice with Pineapple

Infused Water:

Posted on April 30, 2019 by cheryle

We’re seeing them everywhere these days from cafeterias, hotel lobbies to gyms. What am I talking about? Infused water containers. You know those large water containers with ice and other added ingredients such as fruits, vegetables or herbs. I’ve seen many varieties including lemons and limes with the rinds, cucumbers with mint and strawberry basil.

They are all the rage for several good reasons: encouraging hydration, providing a low/no calorie sugar-free beverage, adding ingredients/flavors that may entice people to drink a little more water, reducing waste by encouraging refilling water bottles and saving money by not buying bottled water.
I personally am a little leery to use them…for several food safety reasons. Perhaps, I know too much, but I wonder if the people preparing these containers on a daily basis know or use any food safety practices.

First: Are the containers washed, rinsed and sanitized between uses? I’m a little less concerned when they’re in food service locations…but the one at my gym scares me.

Second: Do they wash and/or scrub the added ingredients? Do the preparers use gloves when chopping and adding these ingredients? This would be “bare hand contact” with ready-to eat foods.

Thirdly: Do the “users” of these containers cross-contaminate the spouts with their refillable bottles? This is especially important if the “mouth” on their already used bottle touches the spout on the large container.

There’s not a lot of real scientific data out there on the safety (or the lack of safety) of these water containers. You’ll need to make your own decision if you feel there is a risk when opting to refill your water bottle. Some key points to consider when evaluating these containers is to make sure they have a lid and there should be ice present to insure the water is kept cold, ideally under 41 degrees F.

Infused water cucumbers

If you like the idea of infused water, but would rather make your own to insure the safety, here are a few tips:

Date the infused water container and refrigerate if you have any leftover.
Examine the fruits and vegetables in leftover water as they may break down and decompose quickly. Use within 2-3 days.
Make sure the fruits and vegetables you are using are fresh and free from spoilage or bruises.
Wash and scrub these products as you would any fruit or vegetable you are eating.
Some recipes for infused water call for allowing the water and additional ingredients to “infuse” for 1-2 hours at room temperature. I think this is just asking for trouble. Infused waters should be kept in the refrigerator or iced down, check the ice frequently to keep the temperature of the water at 41 degrees or below. Proper refrigeration will make your infused water more refreshing and safer, too!

Here are our favorite flavor ideas, using fruit and herbs or spices together:

Strawberries and green tea
Peaches with lemons and mint
Oranges and cloves
Fresh cherries and cinnamon
Limes and cucumbers
Grapefruit and rosemary
Blueberries and basil

Infuse the flavors in the refrigerator and then add a swish of sparkling water for a really refreshing treat!

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS
Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University

MyPlate Goes Anywhere

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Hollis Bass

Did you know that 90 percent of adults don’t eat the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables?* Maybe if we saw MyPlate billboards as often as we see signs for fast food or soda, this number wouldn’t be so high. Since that’s not going to happen, it’s up to us to plant the MyPlate image into everyone’s minds.

The MyPlate Start Simple poster is a great discussion-starter for helping people find simple ways to fill half of their plate with fruits and veggies, whether they’re eating at home, at a restaurant, at work, or at school.

At home – this should be the easiest because you’re in charge. Keep lots of fruits and veggies on hand to fill up half of your plate. Bags of pre-washed baby spinach and spring mix make it easy to fix a salad every day. Stock your freezer with a variety of frozen vegetables to steam, microwave, or roast in the oven.
At restaurants – you don’t have as much control, but checking out the menu online ahead of time can help. Look for vegetable sides and order an extra serving. If you’re getting subs or burritos, visually deconstruct them to see how they would look on a plate, then decide if you need to add an extra veggie or fruit, choose a salad instead of sandwich, or go easy on the rice.
Packing lunch – keep that plate in mind as you put your lunch together. Pile all the veggies you can onto sandwiches. Add sides of raw veggies like baby carrots and cherry tomatoes, and a piece of fruit. Or pack lunch the easy way – leftovers from a MyPlate-friendly dinner make the perfect MyPlate lunch.

*Source: CDC (read more here).

Use this link to get 15% off all MyPlate Teaching Resources – this week only! Good through April 13, 2019

MyPlate: Start Simple Poster

$22.75 ~~$25.50~~

Add to Cart

It’s Time to Change It Up!

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Hollis Bass

We’re constantly bombarded with images of fast food, junk food, and processed food. Marketers know what they’re doing by getting these pictures into our subconscious minds. Well, let’s fight back! It’s time to Change It Up!

Our Change It Up theme features a gorgeous butterfly made up of real photos of fruit. Now, this is an image we want in our clients’ minds! The message is simple but impactful – transform your life with healthy food and regular physical activity. Go from a fast-food caterpillar to a healthy butterfly.

Our poster and banners come with the free Change It Up printable handout. One side provides general tips on changing up your diet (MyPlate, portion sizes, and fruits and vegetables) and every day activity. The other side offers more detailed suggestions for transforming your meals, snacks, and exercise routine.

How can you use the Change It Up materials in different settings? Glad you asked!

Display the banner or poster in the cafeteria, a hallway, or waiting room. (We also have a salad bar sign!) When people see the beautiful, colorful, fruit-filled butterfly every day, they’re bound to think more about healthy food.
Give out the stickers and bookmarks so people can take the picture and the message with them.
Set up a Change It Up table in the cafeteria or at a health fair. Engage visitors with questions: Are you more like the butterfly or the caterpillar? What changes can you make to transform yourself into the butterfly? Give away the Change It Up handout, stickers, and bookmarks.
Teach a Change It Up class. Depending on your audience, here are two lessons:
- Focus on how small shifts in eating and activity will make everyone feel transformed.
- Go with the caterpillar to butterfly theme. How does the image of the butterfly make you feel? How about the caterpillar? When you eat healthy food and are active, which one do you feel like? How can a healthy diet and regular exercise make you feel transformed?

Here is a handout called, 9 ways to make easy and healthy switches for a better diet and exercise plan: 9 Easy Healthy Switches Handout

Your bananas, my bananas…Yonanas!

Posted on May 14, 2018 by cheryle

Banana Date Yonananas

We’ve had a lot of fun with Yonanas! Don’t know what I’m talking about? Yonanas is a small kitchen appliance that takes frozen bananas and other fruit and quickly processes them into a creamy frozen dessert-type product that looks like it came out of the machine of your favorite frozen yogurt place.

We had friends over for dinner one evening and we pulled out the Yonanas machine to make dessert. The friend admitted that she thought to herself “there’s a sucker born every day, what is this thing?” But after eating the Yonanas she wanted one for herself.

The joy of Yonanas is you’re eating pure fruit. Although the name implies bananas , you can use any fruit or combination of fruit. It is recommended to use a banana every time because it helps make the creamy consistency— I personally like the combination of bananas, mango and strawberries. The combinations are endless and it comes with a recipe book.

Just think of all the calories and fat calories you can save by eating Yonana instead of ice cream? Two bananas, 1/2 cup strawberries and a half of a mango makes more than enough Yonana for three people for only 112 calories each. Yonanas satisfies the craving for ice cream without the added cream, sugar or preservatives. It’s a fun way to encourage kids to eat more fruit. Plus bananas are a good source of potassium, dietary fiber, manganese and vitamins B6 & C.

A couple tips: the fruit needs to slightly thaw (5-8 minutes) before putting through the Yonana machine to get a creamy texture. It doesn’t take long. If it thaws out too much, your final product will be mushy. The machine also comes with popsicle forms to refreeze any leftover product. I haven’t been real successful with this; you may need to experiment a little.

Another plus…it’s a great money saver. Fruit that would otherwise get tossed (over 40% of food in the US is discarded) is now saved for the Yonana! Simply freeze those very ripe bananas or buy the “mark down” bananas for Yonanas. No more wasted fruit or feeling the need to make even more banana muffins or nut bread. Plus kids can come up with their own flavor concoctions or toppings. It would take an older child or adult to push the fruit through because some exertion is needed.

A word of caution: as with any small appliance, it’s only good if you’ll use it. It’s easy to clean. I put it in the dishwasher.

Check out their website at www.yonanas.com (note: you can get a refurbished machine for 20% off with Amazon’s Warehouse Deal).

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS
Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University

Check out the savings:

Food:	Calories per half cup:	Fat (g)	Calories per week for a year:
Yonanas	112	0	5,824
Ice cream	250	16	13,000
Savings	82	16	7,176

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Cart