The New (Ab)normal

The New (Ab)normal

The great American road trip is an essential part of most summers. And it wouldn’t be complete without stopping off for a bite to eat along the way. But, not only are healthy options on the highway often hard to find, the amount of food we’re served has gotten a lot bigger.

Even off the highway, in our very own communities, it’s not always easy to find healthy, smaller-sized meals. Servings everywhere have grown, along with our waistlines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its partners have tips on how we can make healthier options more available in our community. Big portion sizes have become the new abnormal, and it’s time to scale back.

Resources:

• CDC: Cutting Calories
  • http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/cutting_calories.html
• CDC: Avoiding Portion Pitfalls
  • http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/portion_size.html
• CDC: How to Use Fruits and Vegetables to Manage Your Weight
  • http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/fruits_vegetables.html
• CPPW: Mayor’s Healthy Hometown Movement, Louisville, KY
  • http://makinghealtheasier.org/video/healthy-hometown-menu-labeling
• CPPW: Wood County, WI Restaurants Make it Easier to Order Healthy Foods
  • http://makinghealtheasier.org/group/woodcountywi/page/restaurants

MakingHealthEasier.org is the interactive social networking website of Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW), a locally driven initiative supporting 50 urban, rural, and tribal communities over a two-year period to make positive and long-lasting changes that will help to reduce obesity, tobacco use, and exposure to secondhand smoke.