Editor’s Note: Injury prevention and wellness handouts are an effective (and inexpensive) way to educate and motivate employees to use good work practices and take care of their bodies.
Scroll to the bottom of this post for the free Wellness Handout PDF file.
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Portion Distortion Handout
Portion sizes (and Americans) have gotten much larger over the past 20 years. This is not a coincidence. Larger portion sizes mean more calories, and more calorie intake means more weight gain.
Just 100 extra calories per day leads to a weight gain of 10 pounds over the course of the year.
Portion Distortion — A Visual
Avoiding Portion Distortion
To avoid portion distortion, it’s important for you to understand what foods you need on a daily basis.
The USDA offers many resources to help you determine your body’s essential needs. The plate illustrates how your daily intake of food should look like.
For more information , visit choosemyplate.gov.
Fruits: Any fruit or 100% fruit juice counts as part of the Fruit Group. Fruits may be fresh, canned, frozen, or dried, and may be whole, cut-up, or pureed.
Vegetables: Any vegetable or 100% vegetable juice counts as a member of the Vegetable Group. Vegetables may be raw or cooked; fresh, frozen, canned, or dried/dehydrated; and may be whole, cut-up, or mashed.
Grains: Any food made from wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley or another cereal grain is a grain product. Bread, pasta, oatmeal, breakfast cereals, tortillas, and grits are examples of grain products.
Protein: All foods made from meat, poultry, seafood, beans and peas, eggs, processed soy products, nuts, and seeds are considered part of the Protein Foods Group.
Dairy: All fluid milk products and many foods made from milk are considered part of this food group. Most Dairy Group choices should be fat-free or low-fat.
Free Handout — Avoiding Portion Distortion
Help educate the employees at your company to avoid portion distortion with this free handout. They’re great for distributing to all employees, posting on bulletin boards or handing them out 1 by 1.
Avoiding Portion Distortion [PDF]
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Image credit: choosemyplate.gov.
