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Lesson Plan Two - Calorie
Awareness
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Nutrition Tip: Food Portions
Physical Activity Tip:
Importance of Warming Up
Behavior Tip: Using Smaller Plates
Handouts:
- Controlling Portion Sizes
- Do Increased Portion Sizes Affect How Much We
Eat?
Additional Items Needed:
- Food labels to look at serving
sizes. Use containers
that appear to be single servings, but the labels specify the
container actually has two servings.
- Different size plates can be a
good visual for potential serving size problems.
Class: (Print
Version) 
Nutrition Tip - Food Portions
Most people underestimate portion sizes, especially
on food records. It is important to read food labels to know
what the serving size is for that item. Candy bars, chips and
crackers are typical examples of foods that may be considered single
servings but are labeled as multiple servings. Food labels from
common snack foods are interesting to read. You may be surprised
at the actual number of serving sizes!
Portion sizes are not easily recognized. The
handout from the American Cancer Society (Handout 1) provides
helpful ways to identify serving sizes. For example, the portion
of meat for an adult is similar to a deck of cards or the palm of a
hand.
For additional information, the PowerPoint
presentation, Portion
Distortion, may be viewed on a personal computer.
Physical Activity Tip - Importance of warming
up
Do not forget to warm up before your workout or cool
down afterwards. Five minutes of stretching and a
warm-up/cool-down walk can help keep soreness away and give your body
time to adjust to its new demands
Pick an exercise routine you enjoy; it will help you
stick with your new plan!
Behavior Change Tip - Use Smaller Plates
The message, "Sir, don't waste while your wife
saves; do your part and clean your plate," emerged during World
War I to encourage people to conserve food when there was a limited
supply. That led to the formation of "Clean Plate
Clubs" in many elementary schools. However, today adults
may eat all the food served on the plate without realizing it.
One study found the bigger the portion, the more
participants ate. Participants consumed 30 percent more energy
(162 cal) when offered the largest portion (1000 g) compared to the
smallest portion (500 g). They also reported similar ratings of
how full they were, despite the fact that they ate more. After
the study, only 45 percent of the subjects reported noticing that
there were differences in the size of the portions served.
In a similar study, adults ate all the popcorn
served at the movies, regardless of the size container.
Moviegoers who were given fresh popcorn ate 45.3 percent more popcorn
when it was given to them in large containers. This
container-size influence is so powerful that even when the popcorn was
disliked, people still ate 33.6 percent more popcorn when eating from
a large container than from a medium-size container.
What does this mean to you? If you are eating
at home, serve your food on smaller plates. The plate will still
look full, but you will be consuming less food per serving. When
you are finished with a plate of food, do not immediately go back for
seconds. Remember, it takes your stomach a while before it can
tell your brain that you are full. After you wait about 20
minutes, if you are still hungry then eat a small portion of a
vegetable. If you are not feeling hungry, don't eat! Refer
to Handout 2.
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