Success StoryPortion control to a healthier life



Portion control to a healthier life

Author: Valerie Robinette

Planning Unit: Pike County CES

Major Program: Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)

Outcome: Long-Term Outcome

The Pike County Cooperative Extension Service’s Expanded Food Nutrition Educational Program partnered with WestCare Rehabilitation program to teach the "Healthy Choices for Every Body" curriculum to female clients at Pike County Detention Center. The Expanded Food Nutrition Educational Program provided seven or more nutrition lessons which include topics about MYPLATE; Eating Better on a Budget; Reading Food Labels; Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Protein, Dairy and more. 

Clients learned portion control along with planning meals; food safety and knowing the limits of sugar, salt and oils.

One hundred percent of the fourteen clients who entered the program graduated. Ninety-one percent of graduates improved their diet quality and 93% improved their physical activity. Eighty percent improved in food safety practices, while 91 % improved in food resource management.

Clients were eager to share what they had learned. One said

“I am confident that I can budget and eat the right portions and eat healthier with the knowledge I have learned from this class. Another wrote, “By sticking to my list once I’m at the store, I won’t over spend and buy unnecessary things.”






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