Which Side Are You On?

Posted on March 15, 2022 by Hollis Bass

Don’t worry, we’re not talking about anything controversial!

In fact, our Which Side are You On? PowerPoint show will appeal to everyone who wants to eat healthier for any reason.

One side is the typical American diet of fast food and sugary beverages. The other side is a healthier eating pattern filled with nutrient-dense, less-processed foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and low-fat dairy.

Which Side are You On? uses more than 50 professional photographs of real food to compare the two sides.

This is a great way to do nutrition education for visual learners, people with low literacy, or any audience you want to impress. They will appreciate the picture comparisons and the messages will be easy to remember.

Use Which Side are You On? to teach:

Older adults at a senior center or retirement community.
Parents of young children (maybe for parent’s night at a child care center or elementary school).
Middle, high school, or college students or student-athletes.

Bonus – it’s only about 20 minutes long, leaving you plenty of time for Q&A or a cooking demo!

There’s also a Which Side are You On? poster. The poster and the PowerPoint come with our Fast and Lean Meal Planner Handout, which will help your audience start choosing the healthy side for all their meals right away.

Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

Which Side Are You On PowerPoint Show PPT With Handouts - DOWNLOAD

$39.00

Add to Cart

Which Side Are You On? | Healthy Food Poster

$22.75 ~~$25.50~~

Add to Cart

Menu Planning for Everyone!

Posted on August 17, 2021 by Hollis Bass

Menu planning is key to a healthy dietary pattern, but many folks don’t give it much thought, think it’s too hard, or don’t know where to start.

The tools in our Heart Healthy Menu Planning theme can help you teach the basics of meal planning to just about anyone – students, parents, employees, or clients.

It starts with the Heart Healthy Menu Planning Dry-Erase Poster. Planning meals is a breeze when you have the steps right in front of you. Pick a heart healthy protein, vegetable, whole grain, fruit, and dairy product – voila!

Here’s a fun activity to do with groups or individuals:

Review the basics of heart healthy menu planning using the poster, color handout, or Dry-Erase Wall Decal.
Ask participants to think about days when eating healthfully is particularly challenging. Maybe it’s when they work late, haven’t been to the supermarket, or eat at a restaurant.
Have them use the Heart Healthy Menu Planner to plan a day’s worth of meals and snacks (or just one meal), taking into account those challenging situations.
Here are some examples of scenarios to get your audience thinking…
- You’re dining at your favorite restaurant that night.
- It’s meatless Monday (for all meals or just dinner).
- You’re taking a road trip.
- The power has gone out but you still need to eat.
- You’re eating lunch in the school or work cafeteria that day.
- You just don’t feel like cooking!
Send everyone home with new ideas for planning heart healthy meals no matter what’s going on. The Heart Healthy Menu Planner color handout is perfect for this!

Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

Splash Into a Healthy Summer

Posted on June 2, 2020 by Hollis Bass

After a challenging spring, everyone is ready for summer break. While we continue to live with the pandemic, summer can still mean the start of something new and fresh and healthy. What better way to add joy than to add cooking skills, adventures, and projects in the kitchen!

Whether you work with children or adults, here are some ways they can splash into a summer of healthy eating:

Fresh Herbs: Plant a few of your favorite herbs to use in summer salads and salsas. Or buy fresh herbs at the farmer’s market. For more on herbs:

How to Use Fresh Herbs from the American Heart Association.
Our Eat Your Herbs PowerPoint shows.

Knife Skills: Practice your knife skills by cutting up summer fruits and veggies. Make it fancy or keep it simple. Even kids can be taught to use a knife safely. Chopping tips:

Our Home Run Cooking Book and Cooking Demo Program.
American Heart Association’s Knife Skills video (about nine minutes long).

Plan It: Meal planning keeps healthy eating on track all summer long. Plan for a week or plan for a day … whatever works for you! Tools to use:

Our Menu Planning Handout.
Get your MyPlate Plan, a personalized food plan showing what and how much to eat every day.

Cook Together: Make meal prep a group effort by giving everyone a job … even if it’s a little messy.

Jobs for kids in the kitchen.

Buy Something New: Buy yourself something a new kitchen gadget to use with summertime fruits and veggies. Maybe a salad spinner, a special container for fresh produce, or a new vegetable brush.

Try something new:

Outside: Grill salmon, pizza, or a head of romaine lettuce. Imagine all the things you can cook on a grill and have fun making new favorites.
Inside: Try salad in a jar. And make your own salad dressing.

Summer with MyPlate: Check out MyPlate Summer Resources, including this cute idea for a “mad-libs” type of activity.

Reduce Food Waste with Meal Planning

Posted on December 3, 2019 by Hollis Bass

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average American family of four loses $1,500 to uneaten food each year. Food waste can impact your budget, but also the environment. One way to reduce food waste is to plan your meals. Of course, meal planning has many more benefits – it can help with eating on a budget, weight management, eating more family meals, following MyPlate, and more.

Here are some ways to teach your students, clients, or other groups about meal planning and reducing food waste:

Zero-based food plan: Have you ever heard of a zero-based budget? You basically plan where every dollar of your income will go for the month – savings, rent, utilities, food, clothing, coffee, postage stamps, etc. (Learn more by reading this Nerd Wallet blog post.) How about applying this concept, in general terms, to the food you buy? By planning your meals, you can buy just as much food as you need. When leftover food is planned into future meals, food isn’t wasted (we call these planned-overs!). Knowing where every ounce of frozen broccoli will go isn’t such a big deal, because whatever you don’t use can go back into the freezer. But if you’re buying fresh vegetables for a recipe, either buy the exact amount you’ll use, or make a plan to use what’s left over. Try zero-based food planning with fresh produce, eggs, dairy products, bread, and other perishables.
Fruit & veggie stock up: Use meal planning to make sure you have enough fruits and vegetables to fill up half of your plate for every meal, every day. Avoid food waste by planning on meals with fresh produce for the first few days after food shopping. Then start using frozen vegetables, and frozen fruits, too (add some to yogurt or oatmeal, heat some in the microwave to use as a topper for toast or pancakes). As you get to the very end of the week, use canned vegetables if you’re out of frozen. Canned fruit, applesauce, and raisins can fill in for fresh fruit.
Meal styles: A more general meal plan with meal styles can make weekly meal planning easier. You have a different style for each day of the week. For example, Monday can be beans (burritos, chili, or soups). Saturday can be salads (entree salad with different proteins and veggies). See our free handout for seven different meal styles and ideas for each. These make the basis for meals, then you can add your own favorites, try new recipes, etc.
Keep it simple: If meal planning makes you think of the perfect pictures of perfect meals you see on social media, think again! Meal planning is whatever YOU want it to be. Maybe you just want to plan breakfast for the week. It’s all fine – check out our free Meal Planning Ideas handout to get started.
Menu planning tool: In our store, we have a great tool to use no matter how you decide to teach menu planning. Use the Menu Planning Dry Erase poster to walk individuals or groups through planning a week’s worth of meals. We also have a larger Menu Planning Dry Erase Wall Decal. And people can take home our smaller Menu Planning Tearpad to practice what they’ve learned.

Remember, planning meals can help you buy the right amount of food and use it before it goes bad. That’s good for you, your family, and the world!

Start September with Meal Planning

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Hollis Bass

There’s something about September that makes people feel refreshed and ready to start something new. This makes it the perfect time to talk about menu planning. Use our Menu Planning handout to show your clients the benefits of planning ahead.

Here are the benefits of planning meals ahead of time:

Your healthy eating plan is in writing, so you won’t “forget” your intentions halfway through the week.
Your written menu plan makes food shopping easy because you know exactly what you need to buy.
Instead of shopping, why not write a menu with 4-5 dinner ideas (like this one) then use a meal delivery app like Instacart, Amazon, or any online local delivery service to have your grocery list delivered to your door!
By shopping online you can find store specials for an ingredient (sort), stick to your list, and use the extra time to plan your menu, clean your kitchen, cook, and get organized for another week. A little experimentation shows it can save money because you are not adding “extras” from store aisle temptations!
Great ideas for fall meals include winter squash, beans, lentils, chickpea stews, chili, and delicious meals that cook or roast for a while to add aroma and warmth to a kitchen. These types of meals can be served over several days in one week.

123 method of meal planning:

Think flavor instead of meat! Do you like spicy, roasted, thick and hearty? Plan meals around beans and lean protein and focus on flavors instead of meat as the centerpiece. Think about seasonal veggies and use them as the centerpiece. Here are a few examples: spicy bean chili, roasted winter squash, creamy corn chowder, and thick lentil-vegetable soup. If you use meat or poultry or fish, use it in smaller amounts and as a flavoring agent.
Include a fibery starch like whole grains, beans, potatoes, yams, peas or winter squash.
Include a seasonal, non-starchy vegetable like greens, tomatoes, asparagus, broccoli, peppers, etc. Salad counts!

Remember MyPlate’s lesson to make half of your plate veggies or fruits and veggies.

If planning a week’s worth of meals is overwhelming, we have some suggestions to make it easier:

Pick one or two food groups to plan, such as fruits and/or vegetables.
Plan for 3-4 days instead of the week.
Choose one meal to focus on and plan that for the week.

Help your clients say goodbye to summer and hello to healthy meal planning!

New Product: Menu Planning Handouts

Posted on December 10, 2018 by Hollis Bass

“When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Truer words were never spoken, especially when it comes to healthy eating! In fact, research shows that planning meals is associated with healthier diets and reduced rates of obesity (1).

Menu planning also helps you:

Make a shopping list.
Stick to a grocery budget.
Eat more meals at home.
Get out of the “same old” mealtime rut.
Enjoy mealtimes with less stress.

There’s no doubt about it — planning sets clients up for success. Our new Menu Planning Handouts make it easy! Healthy menu items are pictured and listed at the top. Choose from these to fill out the one-week menu planning chart at the bottom.

The Menu Planning Handouts are great for a class or one-on-one counseling. They’re printed on both sides, so clients can do one side as a group or with your help, then use the other side to plan on their own at home.

I like the idea of using the Menu Planning Handout as a menu planner AND a food diary all in one. Clients can use it to plan meals and snacks for the day or the week, then check off what they eat as they go.

Adding the matching dry-erase Menu Planning Poster or Wall Decal makes this the perfect system to help your clients plan to succeed in their healthy eating goals.

Ducrot P, Mejean C, Aroumougame V, et al. Meal planning is associated with food variety, diet quality and body weight status in a large sample of French adults. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2017 Feb 2;14(1):12. DOI: 10.1186/s12966-017-0461-7.

Menu Planning Handouts on Tearpad

$42.00 ~~$46.00~~

Add to Cart

Lean Protein Spotlight: Turkey

Posted on October 9, 2017 by cheryle

The other day, I roasted a 15-pound turkey, but I was only serving two people. What was I thinking?

Actually it’s a simple answer.

Before Thanksgiving last year, our grocery store offered whole turkeys at $0.37 per pound if you bought $35 worth of groceries. I had to take them up on that deal, which meant that I had two turkeys in the freezer. Recently, I decided to cook one of them for guests, but they cancelled. Since I already had the turkey thawing in the fridge, I cooked it anyway. That’s the easy part: no dressing, no basting, cook until the thickest parts reach 165 degrees F. Results: a lot of food for two people.

Frozen turkeys will keep for a long time if held below zero degrees. They’re usually packed in air- and water-resistant plastic wraps that help prevent loss of quality during freezer storage. The general recommendation for freezer storage is one year, if the food has been frozen that whole time. This is a quality recommendation and not a food safety deadline.

According to the National Turkey Federation, removed bones typically reduce the weight of the turkey by 25% and my turkey was fairly true to that estimate. I weighed the bones after I cooked them down for soup and picked the meat off, and I had 3.3 pounds of “waste” (there was additional fat and moisture I couldn’t weigh) from my 15-pound turkey. We ended up with about 10 pounds of meat at around $0.50 a pound. What a deal!

The usual recommendation is to purchase one pound of turkey (on the bone) for each person served. This is geared for holiday meals with all the trimmings and to save leftovers too. With my February turkey, we had a few meals of roast turkey and then two big pots of soup. We also had lots of leftovers for sandwiches at a much better price, taste, and quality than that expensive processed turkey meat in the deli. Plus, I froze a few packages of cooked turkey for quick meals later. The recommendation for frozen cooked turkey is to eat it within three months.

The US Dietary Guidelines suggest choosing lean or low-fat meat and poultry as your protein source. Turkey is lower in fat and calories than many other foods in the protein group and can be a good choice. According to the USDA Nutrient Database, 3 ounces of whole turkey (meat only) contains 135 calories, 24 grams of protein, and only 3.26 grams of fat.

Even if you can’t get as good a price as I did, roasting your own turkey or turkey parts any time of the year can be an easy job with lots of nutritional benefits. Why wait until Thanksgiving?

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

Portion Control Activity Ideas

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Stephanie Ronco

Portion control is often key to maintaining a healthy weight and reducing the risk of chronic disease.

We’ve all heard about the many benefits of a healthful eating pattern that incorporates proper portion control.

Making portion control something that is accessible and appealing to your clients, on the other hand, can be more of a challenge.

That’s why my team and I created these beautiful portion control plates!

We designed these plates to help consumers stay on track when it comes to maintaining a healthful diet, practicing portion control, getting regular exercise, and staying hydrated.

By using this plate to dish up their meals, people can save up to 60% of their daily calories per meal (compared to just loading a plate by eye like most people do). This plate keeps foods in the proper proportions and portion sizes, as recommended by MyPlate.

The inside of the plate guides people to balancing their plates with:

3 ounces of lean protein
1/2 cup of cooked grains
1 cup of vegetables
1 cup of fruits

Meanwhile, the rim of the plate is full of reminders to sip the right kind of beverage and get moving from time to time!

The beautiful color pattern of the plates makes them attractive for home, picnics, the office, and parties. Plus, they work beautifully in wellness fairs, cooking demos, classrooms, and one-on-one consultations.

To celebrate the release of these wonderful nutrition education materials, I want to share two activities that you can do with these plates today!

Activity #1: Fill the Portion Plate

What you’ll need:

Enough portion control plates for everyone
Magazines
Scissors

What you’ll do:

Assemble your group, pass out the plates, and make sure everyone has access to scissors and magazines. Explain that they are going to cut out pictures of food and then sort them into the appropriate areas of the portion control plate.
Offer your participants some time to cut out their selections, then explain the next part of the activity.
Pick a food group and call it out. The participants must find a food that fits into that group (from their collection of magazine images) and place it on the correct section of the plate, holding up both the picture and the plate so that you can see it. Award points for speed and accuracy, correcting any misconceptions that may crop up.
After the game is over, you discuss the results and let the class go or add a twist. For the latter, see who can find the healthiest food to fit in a food group the fastest. Discuss. What makes each food a good fit for its food group? What nutrients does it contain? How much saturated fat, added sugars, or sodium is in the food?

Portion Control Planning:

What you’ll need:

1 portion control plate per person
Paper
Pens or pencils

What you’ll do:

Pass out the plates to each participant. Give everyone pens and pieces of paper too.
Have everyone examine the food groups on the plate. What are the portion sizes like? How do the proportions work? Discuss what they notice.
Have people list the days of the week across the tops of their papers. Using the plates, have them plan meals that would fill the plates in the proper portions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on each day of the week.
Once everyone has their ideas mapped out, ask for volunteers to share their plans. What inspired them? Why? Which ideas are the best for a healthful eating pattern? What makes them healthful?
Once your discussion is finished, let your participants keep their plates, and, if you’ll see them again, check in on their progress. Do they like using these new plates? Why or why not?

I hope you liked this resource spotlight!

Portion Plate - Portion Control Plate for Diet and Exercise Success

$30.00 ~~$29.00~~

Add to Cart

Here are some other great portion control materials — which will make your life easier?

Eat Less Portion Control Video on DVD Nutrition Education DVD

$99.00 ~~$99.00~~

Add to Cart

Scale Down Your Portions Banner 48X36

$88.00 ~~$110.00~~

Add to Cart

Portion Control Banner 48" X 36"

$88.00 ~~$110.00~~

Add to Cart

Looking for Healthy Meals

Posted on November 4, 2015 by cheryle

Okay, I’ve got a story for you today. My husband and I were recently eating lunch — I had made us each a quick salad with lettuce, apples, some thawed frozen berries, avocado, leftover grilled chicken and homemade balsamic vinaigrette. As we ate, my husband commented, “It’s amazing that you look in the refrigerator and see salad; when I look in the refrigerator I just see soda.”

That seems to capture a common sentiment in a nutshell. How do people plan menus and think about turning what’s available into a healthful meal? Is this something that’s intuitive or can it be learned?

For me it’s easy, because I love to cook and experiment with food. But what about people who really don’t like to prepare meals or don’t have these skills?

All home management experts say that planning meals ahead of time is the number one way to save time, have balanced meals, control the food budget, avoid food waste, and reduce trips to the grocery store. However, I’m realistic enough to know that most families don’t do this.

So, how can we, as health educators, make this easier for our clients?

Here are a few of my latest ideas…

Try planning just a few meals a week instead of setting up a program for all seven days. If this works, then perhaps you could develop a menu rotation.
Have everyone in the family contribute their menu ideas and meal likes and dislikes.
If other members of your family are just learning to cook, or don’t yet have a wide recipe repertoire, having menus posted can help them learn and develop their cooking and menu-planning skills.
Keep MyPlate in mind as you go. We all know the concept of trying to fill half the plate with fruits and vegetables at each meal, so now it’s time to put it into action. Remember to fill the other half with a lean protein and a whole grain, then add low-fat dairy on the side to round out the meal.
Post your planned menus. That way, everyone in the family knows what’s for dinner. This could help the first one home to get dinner started too!
Make sure that the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry are stocked with the foods that you need for these menus. It’s especially important to have a variety of fruits and vegetables available for meals and snacks. After all, how can you fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables if there aren’t any fruits and vegetables in the house?

Try these tips and who knows? Maybe the next time your family looks into the fridge, they’ll see dinner!

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

Here’s a free PDF handout with a few of the top tips from today’s post…

Here are some more healthy meal resources, brought to you by the Nutrition Education Store!

Healthy Kitchen Poster Set

Learn to Cook Workbook

Heart Smart Cooking PowerPoint Presentation

Plan a Meal Together

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Admin

Planning a family meal together can be a great experience for kids and parents alike. You can turn an everyday dinner into a dinner party with just a few simple steps…

Preparation Timeline

Plan your menu.

Check out cookbooks, websites, and family recipes for inspiration.
Remember to balance the plates appropriately and include lots of fruits and vegetables.

Make lists of everything you need.

Ingredients that you need to locate (ie pantry staples that are probably somewhere in your house, like pasta, rice, and spices).
Ingredients that you need to buy.
Equipment that you need to have at the ready.

Go shopping for the ingredients and equipment that you need.

On the Day of Your Party…

Prep everything (that you can) ahead of time — pre-chop, even pre-measure if possible.
Cook the food.
Serve it to your guests.

Elements of Stylish Gatherings

If you want to have a remarkable meal together, a few simple changes can really make a differenec.

• Set the table with…

All the silverware that you would need to eat all of the dishes.
Nice glasses for water.
Napkins — decide whether you need cloth or paper options.

• Consider adding…

A nice centerpiece — try flowers, candles, or an arrangement of glasses.
Placemats.
A tablecloth.
A runner over the tablecloth.

Basic Dinner Party Building Blocks

Number of Guests

A dinner party typically involves 6 to 8 people, but make exceptions as you see fit.

Courses

A simple dinner party may limit itself to salad or soup, a main course, and dessert.
You could also include amuse-bouches, appetizers, or even palate cleansers.

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Here are the benefits of planning meals ahead of time:

123 method of meal planning:

If planning a week’s worth of meals is overwhelming, we have some suggestions to make it easier:

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Cart