food model kits | NCES HealthBeat Blog

“You can’t eat carbs 2 days of the week” or “Just eat our 6 pre-portioned snacks and meals each day to lose 7 pounds in 1 week”. We’ve all heard them… the claims from all the fad diet promoters. Many of them are easy to spot and we do our best to avoid them. Or at least I hope that’s the case. However, some are a little trickier to identify. Here are 3 quick tips to help you spot a fad diet before you endure the roller coaster that is “fad-diet weight loss” again!

Are they promising that you’ll lose 5-7 pounds each week? Experts recommend losing 1-2 pounds per week to maintain healthy body function and to avoid rebound weight gain.
Is it so simple that it requires no thought to participate? Making healthy choices is about education and understanding what you’re eating. If everything is perfectly pre-portioned for you, you’ll never learn the basics of healthy eating. Dieting is about more than just weight loss! It’s about learning how you became overweight to begin with. It’s also about understanding the foods you eat and the impact they have on your body.
Can you maintain this new ‘diet’ for a lifetime? Sure, it sounds easy enough to avoid restaurants and eat strictly fruits and vegetables for a 7 day cleanse. But, can you continue that for a lifetime? Odds are you can’t. So, as soon as you go back to your everyday life, you’ll jump right back in to your same old eating habits.

To sum it all up, you’re looking for a diet that represents a lifestyle change. One that you can carry on through your lifetime! Make your weight loss about the journey, not just the destination. When you’re thinking about your food choices, don’t just consider the affects it will have on your weight, but your body as a whole. How does it support overall health and longevity?

Finding a diet that fits your personality and goals is very important! Focusing on the USDA’s MyPlate and dietary guidelines is a great place to start. For dietitians looking to help patients understand proper nutrition and portion control, NCES food models are the perfect nutrition education resource! I hope these tips help you and your clients choose healthy diets that will last a lifetime.

For those with diabetes, there is probably no confusion about the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. However, to an outsider (especially the general public) there is a lot of confusion about the differences. What causes diabetes? How does it affect a person’s everyday life? Is it fatal? These are some of the questions that many people don’t have the answers to. So, our goal today is to clear up the confusion on these questions and provide a resource for those who are looking to learn more about diabetes.

The first thing that is important to understand is that Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented. Symptoms typically appear in childhood or young adulthood. Diagnosis comes because the bodies immune system destroys the cells that release insulin, meaning that the body cannot absorb sugar to produce energy. Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, can typically can be prevented, or at least delayed with a healthy lifestyle including a proper diet and exercise. The signs of Type 2 Diabetes typically appear in adulthood. However, there have been more and more cases of childhood type 2 diabetes in recent years. Diagnosis for Type 2 Diabetes occurs because the body doesn’t use insulin properly, resulting in its inability to absorb sugar to produce energy.

Treatment for Type 1 vs Type 2 diabetes can also look very different. In Type 1 Diabetes, because the body doesn’t produce its own insulin, a patient must inject insulin to regulate their body’s sugar absorption. Many cases of Type 2 Diabetes can be treated with a lifestyle change. Getting appropriate physical activity and eating a well-balanced diet can reverse the affects of Type 2 Diabetes for many. However, many patients with Type 2 Diabetes may end up taking Insulin at some point in their life as well.

Because Type 2 Diabetes is the most common form of diabetes and can be prevented, there are many diabetes educators, nutritionists and dietitians working to educate our society on the dangers of diabetes and preventative measures they can take now to avoid living with diabetes.

To aid in this, NCES has selected and created a robust line of diabetes education tools, books and other resources designed specifically for the diabetes educator and patient. If you’re a person living with diabetes and looking for resources, please browse our diabetes selection to see what’s available to help you. If you’re a diabetes educator, there are a lot of resources that can help you spread your message. Plus, you can share this blog to help others around you understand Type 1 versus Type 2 Diabetes. Simply use the links in the blog or click Diabetes in the header to start browsing NCES diabetes products.

Here are just a few of the many great products you’ll find when you visit us!

Right-Sized Diabetes Plate