Portion Distortion and Eating Styles—Week 3
Lesson Overview:
Orient student to behavioral aspects of eating as well as portion sizes
Lesson Objectives:
Lesson Activities:
Lesson Plan:
A. Discuss eating styles with selected “Portion” slides 10 minutes
B. Take “Your Personal Eating Style” Questionnaire 20 minutes
C. Create poster on “Tips to Eat Well” 15 minutes
D. Journaling 10 minutes
55 minutes
Understanding portion size
Information on portion size is available to facilitators in supplementary materials if needed.
Challenge 2
Create energy posters or come up with another
poster idea for presenting favorite healthy foods/healthy ideas to promote
healthy eating and living for students at your school. Consider a creative
presentation of your healthy new ideas.
Your Personal Eating Style Questionnaire
“Hunger and mind are in continuous dialogue. Sometimes we eat when we’re not hungry because we’ve been taught to eat when food is set before us. Other times we eat when we’re upset. In some families, people stop eating during times of stress.”
“Let’s listen to these silent dialogues between food, hunger, families, and our choices by discussing the results from our eating styles questionnaires. This quiz presented seven different styles of eating: spiritual/sensory, emotional, fresh food/fast food, fretting, task-snacking, atmosphere, and social eating. The test’s creators believed that we should be using all of these eating styles. If we are not paying enough attention to the reasons why we eat and the ways that we eat, we may be increasing our tendency to become overweight or obese.” In your teams, let’s talk about what each of these categories mean: spiritual/sensory, emotional, fresh food/fast food, fretting, task-snacking, atmosphere, and social eating.
(The Personal Eating Styles Questionnaire is available in the “Supplementary Material)
Think about your own eating styles. Are you a task-snacker, emotional eater, or a social eater? Fill out the Personal Eating Styles Questionnaire and tally the results for yourself. Use your score and background to talk with your students about eating styles, and be open about what you could improve.
Discuss with your group members and select 4 of these strategies that you think would be easiest to put into practice. Please put your 4 ideas on your group poster. Decorations are a plus!
Tips to Eat Well
• Drink water before a meal. • Eat half your dessert, or choose fruit as dessert. • Avoid food portions larger than your fist. • Drink diet soda instead of regular soda. • Eat off smaller plates (you’ll think you’re eating the same amount!). • Don't eat late at night. • Skip buffets (you really don’t need that much food and it will convert itself to fat).
• Grill, steam, or bake instead of frying. • Share a meal with a friend. • Eat before grocery shopping. • Choose a checkout line without a candy display. • Make a grocery list before you shop. • Drink water or low-fat milk over soda and other sugary drinks. • Flavor foods with herbs, spices, and other low-fat seasonings (experiment!). • Keep to a regular eating schedule. • Eat before you get too hungry (that way you don’t overeat!). • Don't skip breakfast (your body will hold onto the energy/food you consume longer, decreasing the rate at which you burn calories). • Stop eating when you are full, period. • Snack on fruits and vegetables you’ve already prepared for snacking or are easy to take when you’re on the go, such as carrots, apples, pears, bananas, sweet potatoes). • Top your favorite cereal with apples or bananas (include the peel for extra fiber!). • Include several servings of whole grain foods daily. • If main dishes are too big or expensive, choose an appetizer or a side dish instead. • Ask for salad dressing “on the side”. • Don't take seconds. • Try a green salad instead of fries. • Eat sweet foods in small amounts. • Cut back on added fats or oils in cooking or spreads. • Cut high-calorie foods like cheese and chocolate into small pieces and only eat a few pieces. • Use fat-free or low-fat sour cream, mayo, sauces, and dressings. • Replace sugar-sweetened beverages with water and add a twist of lemon or lime. • Every time you eat a meal, sit down, chew slowly, and pay attention to flavors and textures. • Try a new fruit or vegetable (ever had jicama, plantain, bok choy, star fruit, or papaya?) • Instead of eating out, bring a healthy, low-calorie lunch to work.
• Ask your boyfriend to bring you fruit or flowers instead of chocolate.
Journal Nutrition in Color
As you think about portion distortion in your own life, consider what you’ve always thought were normal eating patterns, reflect on the content of this week’s lesson, and do a little internet research in order to answer the following questions:
Back to Table of Contents