Diabetes Education – One Size Doesn’t Fit All

When it comes to nutrition education, one size doesn’t fit all. This is especially true for teaching people about diabetes.

As educators, we have to think about who we’re teaching:

  • Are they newly-diagnosed?
    • There’s a lot to learn.
    • They may be in denial, scared, motivated, overwhelmed, or all of the above.
  • Are they “veteran” patients?
    • They may think they know everything, but their numbers show otherwise.
    • Good habits can slip during times of stress (or a pandemic).
    • There’s always something new to learn.
  • Do they have pre-diabetes?
    • They may be motivated to do what they can to avoid or delay diabetes.
  • Are they caregivers or family members of someone who has diabetes?
    • They may want to learn all they can to help their loved one.
    • They may resent having to make changes to accommodate the person with diabetes.

We also have to consider things like motivation level and learning style. So you can see that one size definitely does not fit all!

Our 12 Lessons of Diabetes Program can help. We’ve put together a dozen PowerPoint presentations that can be used in different ways depending on who you’re teaching and what they need to learn. The 12 topics are:

  1. Diabetes basics
  2. Goal setting
  3. Know your numbers (A1C, blood pressure, cholesterol)
  4. Weight management
  5. Exercise
  6. Healthy eating
  7. Importance of breakfast
  8. Diabetes plate
  9. Carb counting and label reading
  10. Food shopping
  11. Snacks
  12. Sugar substitutes

You could use the program to offer a 12-part series. By the end, your clients will learn everything they need to live a healthy life with diabetes. Presenting information in “chunks” makes it less overwhelming. In between sessions, there’s time to digest the information and put it to use in the real world.

For clients who don’t need the entire program, you can pick and choose which sessions will be most beneficial. If they are resistant to learning, letting them choose what to cover might help.

Most importantly, the information in our 12 Lessons is always presented in a light-hearted, positive, and supportive way.

Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

Take a Look at Fall Vegetables

Fall is officially here! Along with cooler temperatures, we’re excited to see a new crop of seasonal vegetables at farmer’s markets and in the supermarket.

For too many people, fall produce means pumpkins (or just pumpkin spice!) and sweet potatoes. We know that’s just the beginning, so why not offer a class on fall vegetables? We have a DVD that makes it easy for you, and it’s perfect for virtual class settings.

Our Building a Plant-Based Eating Pattern: Vegetables DVD has everything you need to teach practical skills that your audience will be able to use right away. Videos show them how to select, store, and prepare all types of vegetables. They’ll also see kitchen veggie hacks and take home healthy, delicious recipes.

The DVD breaks vegetables down into categories based on plant parts (roots, tubers, bulbs; stalks; leaves; flowers; fruits; and seeds), because these parts often have similar preparation and cooking methods.

For fall, you might want to use the lesson on Bulbs, Tubers, and Roots because so many are now in season:

  • Beets
  • Carrots
  • Garlic
  • Onions
  • Parsnips
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Yams
  • Turnips
  • Rutabagas

Through engaging videos, your audience will learn how to choose the freshest bulb, tuber, and root veggies; where to store them; and their health benefits. They’ll feel like they are right in the kitchen as we show them how to make an easy vegetable root salad with greens, shaved ginger, grated carrots, and thinly-sliced golden beets, all tossed in vinegar and oil. They’ll also see how to use baked, roasted, microwaved, and pureed veggies to make a healthy MyPlate.

The Building a Plant-Based Eating Pattern: Vegetables DVD also includes recipes you can give the audience. How do Cider Baked Sweet Potatoes, Carrot Hummus, and Raspberry & Beet Cheesecake sound?

Of course, there are many other fall vegetables covered throughout the seven lessons included in our DVD. Maybe you’ll focus on winter squash, Brussels sprouts, arugula, broccoli … the possibilities are endless!

Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

 

Teach the Facts: Microbiome & Gut Health

Gut health and microbiome are hot topics that go together. Like most hot topics, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Teach your audience the facts with our Microbiome and Gut Health PowerPoint show.

Our presentation covers all the basics, answering the questions your clients are asking:

  1. What exactly is the microbiome?
  2. What factors affect the microbiome?
  3. Can I change my microbiome?
  4. How does my microbiome affect my health?
  5. What foods play a role in a healthy microbiome?
  6. What are probiotic supplements and should I take them?

Our PowerPoint show has everything you need for an interactive, informative class on the microbiome. We give you many options so you can adapt the presentation according to your audience, time-frame, and available technology. Purchase our show or use our ideas in yours to include:

  1. “Taking Care of Your Gut” – a handout your clients can take home with them.
  2. Click a link to watch all or part of “How our microbes make us who we are,” a TED Talk by Rob Knight, PhD.
  3. A pop quiz to engage your audience and see what they’ve learned.
  4. Click on a variety of links to access the latest research and information. Nature has a great one here.

Research on the microbiome is exciting, but there’s still a lot to learn.

The bottom line: Your best bet for a healthy gut is to eat more high fiber, plant-based foods, and less processed foods and high-fat animal products. Yep, a plant-based diet wins again!

5 Ways to Use Our MyPlate Adult Coloring Books

Have you ever thought about using adult coloring books with your clients or patients? Coloring can be meditative. It takes your mind off your worries. It relaxes the brain. And with our unique MyPlate adult coloring book, you get the added benefit of being exposed to healthy messages and images of healthy foods!

We have five ideas for how you can use our MyPlate coloring book, which is geared toward adults and teens:

  • Color-while-you-wait. In a waiting area, set up a table with a few of our MyPlate coloring books and a mug or two filled with sharpened colored pencils. Add a sign that invites people to sit down and color, even if it’s only for a few minutes. Maybe something like this: “Stressed out? Relax with some coloring!”
  • Color-for-a-tough-audience. Have you ever been asked to teach a healthy eating class and the audience is restless or just not that interested? We’ve all been there! Maybe it’s a group of high school students who have other things on their minds, a lunch-and-learn with stressed out employees, or an evening class where people are tired. Flip the switch with some MyPlate coloring!
  • Color-to-recharge. Teaching a seminar or workshop? When you give participants a restroom break, add an extra five minutes for some MyPlate coloring.
  • Color-to-recover. Coloring is great for patients recovering from surgery. It gives their brains something to concentrate on besides pain, discomfort, boredom, or worry.
  • Color-giveaway. Use our MyPlate adult coloring books as prizes at health fairs, biometric screenings, open houses, and other events.

And don’t forget to save one for yourself — your brain deserves a break, too!

See our free coloring sheet here in our nutrition month theme.

Heart Healthy Cooking Demos Made Easy

The recently released 2019 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease recommends a healthy plant-based or Mediterranean-like diet high in vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, lean vegetable or animal protein (preferably fish), and vegetable fiber. Sound familiar?

No matter how much people know about heart-healthy eating, the hard part is putting it into practice. Show them how to remake their favorite dishes with a heart-healthy cooking demo.

Why cooking demos? Because we think there’s no better way to get the message across than with food. Show people how to cook, let them taste healthy food, and they’re more likely to try it at home.

Cooking demos are great for:

  • Employee lunch-and-learns
  • Community classes
  • Parent nights at school
  • Health fairs
  • Home school groups
  • Women’s shelters
  • Food pantries
  • Afterschool programs
  • Drug/alcohol rehab
  • Church groups
  • Senior centers

Cooking in front of a crowd may sound daunting, but our Cooking Demo Book and CD Kit will make you look like a Food Network Star. The 300+ page book contains more than 30 lessons plus PowerPoint shows on Recipe Modification and Menu Planning & Shopping Tips.

Each lesson includes:

  • Leader guide
  • Recipes (tested and simple, with easy-to-find, affordable ingredients)
  • Make-ahead & presentation tips
  • Shopping & equipment lists
  • Handouts

For heart-healthy eating, we suggest the lessons on:

  • High fiber
  • Fish
  • Fruits & veggies
  • Hypertension
  • Vegetarian cooking
  • Beans
  • Grains
  • Recipe modification
  • Heart healthy recipes
  • Meet MyPlate

For makeovers, it is always great to show these switches, featured in all of our cooking demo kits:

  • Whole milk to skim milk
  • Butter to olive oil
  • A little grated Parmesan cheese instead of a lot of grated regular cheese like mozzarella or cheddar
  • Adding more veggies for most recipes
  • Lean ground beef or turkey instead of regular ground beef
  • Using more beans instead of meat

You’ll also want to check out our MyPlate Cooking Demo Book & CD, Home Run Cooking Book and Demo Program, and Cooking Demo Toolkit.

Get 15% off all heart health education materials now through the end of March 2019!

I Am – New Poster for Diet and Lifestyle Motivation

The Nutrition Education Store has a new poster! The “I Am” poster is supportive and includes great messages about staying on track and not giving up.

This motivational health poster emphasizes the steps on your journey to a life of health and well-being. Affirmations serve as gentle reminders for self-care (sleeping enough, forgiving a setback), diet (eating mindfully when hungry, loving fruits & veggies), physical activity (moving more, exercising consistently), attitude (not giving up), and intention (planning and working to success).

These key phrases call out to people, encouraging them to slow down and read the poster. They recognize which steps they’ve taken and which ones may need more attention. Above all, they’ll realize that “I Am” in charge of taking these steps to the life I want to live.

Lessons from the I Am poster:

  1. Your journey to a healthier life takes planning and work, and starts with one step.
  2. Success comes from taking care of yourself, being kind to yourself, and not giving up.
  3. Physical activity means getting into the habit of moving more.
  4. Eating well means eating mindfully and learning to love healthy foods.
  5. Be mindful
  6. Encouragement and motivation
  7. One step starts a great journey
  8. Don’t give up
  9. Be consistent
  10. Empowering

Target population: In English, for general audiences, ages 12 – 100

Great for the classroom, gym, office, health fair, hallway, employee break room and more!

This poster is great for supporting all employees, clients, students, and patients on their journey to better health. It is part of a new diet and lifestyle motivational poster collection.