Don’t Get Hooked by the See-Food Diet

A school nurse recently bought our See Food Diet Poster. She says she is trying to get all the kids on a good schedule with eating right, sleeping, and learning after all the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, she loves this poster so much that we made it into a banner for her – yes, all our posters are also available as banners!

The See Food poster features a beautiful fish swimming along in the sea. The fish is tempted by hook after hook baited with not-so-healthy food choices like soda, chili dogs, cake, and candy.

But if the fish takes its eyes off the junk food, it will find a treasure chest spilling over with healthier food choices.

The message? Don’t eat everything you see. Don’t get hooked!

Kids (and adults!) will love this colorful and fun poster. You can use it to generate discussions about:

  1. The food industry and how junk food and fast food are formulated to tempt your tastebuds.
  2. Mindful eating and how to pause instead of automatically taking the bait of unhealthy food.
  3. Planning ahead so you always have healthy foods handy.
  4. Using portion control so you can have occasional treats without overdoing it.
  5. Healthier options at restaurants and convenience stores, for those times when you find yourself hungry and away from home.

By Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

Ultra-Processed Foods & the American Diet

Americans are eating more ultra-processed foods than ever. That’s not a good thing, considering the link between highly processed foods and chronic disease, obesity, and cancer.

  • Highly processed foods account for two-thirds of the calories consumed by American youths aged 2-19. (NIH)
  • Ultra-processed foods account for 57 percent of total calories consumed by American adults. (AJCN)

We have a new poster that addresses this issue head on: Nutrient-Dense vs. Ultra-Processed Food poster. This beautiful poster uses photographs of real food to encourage people to eat more whole foods and minimally processed foods that are nutrient-dense instead of ultra-processed foods.

You can include the idea of nutrient-dense versus ultra-processed foods when you teach about most nutrition education topics. For example:

  1. MyPlate: Emphasize less processed foods for each food group.
  2. Supermarket tours and shopping tips: Explain where in the grocery store you’re most likely to find less processed foods and which aisles are danger zones for ultra-processed foods.
  3. Healthy beverages: We automatically think of sugary sodas, but diet soda is also ultra-processed.
  4. Plant-based eating: Point out that some plant-based foods are highly processed.
  5. Medical nutrition therapy: Help your clients find alternatives to any ultra-processed foods they regularly eat.

Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

Plant-Based Eating Done Right

From the Impossible burger to the Beyond taco, plant-based ‘meats’ are everywhere. Products like these are fueling the plant-based diet movement.

While we’re thrilled to see this healthy way of eating become more popular, let’s make sure the right messages are getting out there. Today we want to share a few materials and tips to help you quickly put together a class on real-food plant-based eating.

Our Grown, Not Processed poster says it all. The elegant photographs of fresh produce are a reminder of what real food looks like, in stark contrast to the images of fake-meat sandwiches that consumers see every day.

Our Plant Power! poster might be better for younger audiences. They’ll be drawn to the iguana, then realize he’s made up of vibrant photos of plant foods. And the poster comes with a handy plant-based diet quiz!

These are just two examples of materials that can spark a conversation about real food, plant-based eating, and where processed plant-based ‘meats’ fit in. Here are five teaching tips to use:

  • Eating Out: Bring some local restaurant menus to class, or ask participants to look up their favorites on their phones. Have them find plant-based items on the menu. Are these options highly processed? High in fat or salt? Help them find the healthiest plant-based menu items, and discuss how not-so-healthy items could be modified.
  • Some Meat is OK: Ask participants to name their favorite meat or poultry-based dish. How can they change it so the meat is more of a side dish or garnish? Discuss how a plant-based diet doesn’t have to mean a completely meatless diet.
  • Plant-Based MyPlate: Working in small groups, have participants come up with a few plant-based meals that follow MyPlate. On a large piece of flip-chart paper, have them draw a circle (plate) for each meal and fill in the MyPlate sections with the name (or drawing) of the food. The groups can then come together to share their meal ideas.
  • Unprocessed Plant Protein: Do a cooking demo featuring beans, peas, or lentils. Pass around small zip-top baggies holding different types of dried legumes so people can see the huge variety of choices.
  • Processed Plant Protein: Bring in packaging from products you can find in the supermarket, like frozen veggie burgers and corndogs, chicken-less tenders, fish-less filets, etc. Let individuals or small groups take one or two packages and tell the class about the product, its ingredients, nutrition facts, and how they think it fits into a plant-based way of eating.

Let’s show people that it’s not impossible to fit more plant foods into their diet. In fact, if they go Beyond the processed products advertised on TV, they’re sure to find lots of healthy, delicious, real-food options in the produce section of the grocery store!

Use the code PLANTS15 to get 15% off all of our plant-based teaching resources and prizes! Good until February 1st. Hurry!

 

 

 

A School Nurse, A Great Idea, and A Banner

Cheryl Bachinski was frustrated. As a school nurse, she noticed the same three things happening with her students. They happened over and over again, and she couldn’t seem to help the kids break the cycle. Those three things were…

  1. Healthful Choices BannerChoosing screen time over exercise.
  2. Drinking more sodas and energy drinks than water.
  3. Eating tons of packaged, processed snacks.

These three things combined to make the kids feel unhealthy, tired all the time, and unwilling to try new things. It affected their energy levels and general well-being. They were stuck in a rut, with no apparent way out.

Determined to do something to help her students break the cycle, Cheryl gave us a call. In the middle of our talk about ways to promote a healthful lifestyle, she had to drop the phone because one of her patients threw up.

I knew I had to help her with this problem.

To address the trifecta that was leading to cycles of unhealthful habits, my team and I created a basic banner and poster set. The set lays out exactly what was wrong with too much screen time, too many sugary beverages, and tons of packaged snacks. But it doesn’t stop there. It also offers alternatives to each of these problems, inspiring students and adults alike to make a change.

The messages are based on the lessons from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and their basic nature makes them all the more compelling. A copy of the banner is already on its way to Cheryl, and there are tons of other uses for these key health lessons. The banner or poster would be perfect for…

  • Health fairs
  • Back-to-school nights
  • Classroom decorations
  • Parent teacher conferences
  • Corporate wellness events
  • Decorations in an RDN’s office
  • Cafeteria displays
  • And much more!

So what problems are you facing? Can we help?

Vegetable Bulletin Board Kit

Weight Management Brochure

Healthy Choices Banner