serving up a heart full of love: creating heart healthy
TRANSCRIPT
Serving Up a Heart Full of Love: Creating Heart Healthy Gifts for Coworkers
Jennifer Hamilton
DFM 655
December 9, 2014
2
Introduction
In many corporate offices around America the tradition to give and receive sweet and
salty treats during holiday times exists. Multitudes of cookies, flavored popcorn tins, 10 pound
boxes of chocolates, homemade toffees, rum balls and much more are in abundance. The
holidays coincide with the end of year stresses at work: will the employee make the end of year
deadline, will there be a bonus, and will they be let go after the New Year? It is easy to see how
many turn to the comfort of sweet and salty foods during this stressful time. In some industries,
such as the insurance industry, there is a high population of middle aged women that make up the
workforce. The job consists of long hours at a desk with little physical activity. The combination
of these factors can have serious consequences.
Physical activity levels, as well as age, ethnicity, genetics, and diet are some risk factors
for stroke. There is a strong correlation between blood pressure, hypertension, and stroke; which
can be compounded by extra stressful times in corporate offices. Stroke is the fourth-leading
cause of death in the United States according to the American Heart Association. Per the CDC
Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2012, women
between the ages of 45-64 years are more likely to suffer from hypertension or stroke than men.
They are also more likely to be inactive or sufficiently inactive, which increases their risk for
stroke. There are several ways to reduce the above stated risk factor by treating it non-
pharmaceutically and/or pharmaceutically. For the purpose of this conversation the non-
pharmaceutical approach will be discussed.
The suggested ways to reduce the risk of stroke are to increase physical activity, avoid
smoking, lose weight if overweight, and have a diet that is low in sodium, high in potassium, rich
in fruit and vegetables, and incorporates nuts (Meschia, J.F., et al., 2014). In small serving sizes,
3
nuts (in particular walnuts and almonds) can improve heart health. Wu, et al (2014) study found
a correlation between consumption of walnuts and a decrease in non - high density lipoprotein
(HDL) cholesterol, which lowered the risk of cardiovascular disease. Walnuts are high in omega
3’s and almonds are a good source of calcium, fiber and vitamin E (MacMillan, A., 2012). These
nuts can help lower low density lipoprotein (LDL) and increase HDL, which ultimately can help
lower the risk of stroke and hypertension.
As previously noted the holidays can be a time inundated with sweets and salty treats
given as gifts. Therefore to help provide alternative ways to show that you care for your
coworkers, the teaching presentation will teach people how to create a heart healthy gift that is
nutritious, fun to make, and enjoyable to receive. The target audience will be the people working
in a cubicle environment found in corporate America with an emphasis on middle aged women.
For the purpose of this lesson classmates will assume the role of corporate office workers. Based
on a pre needs assessment, see Appendix A, 43% of classmate’s snack all the time while
working, while 46% snack sometimes while working. Classmates preferred both salty and sweet
snacks as opposed to one or the other. In addition, they felt pretty confident in being able to
select a heart healthy snack as well as determine a serving size. Since my classmates are dietetic
students they may be more knowledgeable about heart healthy snacks and serving sizes
compared to the general population. However, teaching people the basics of how to determine a
serving size and to demonstrate how to assemble a gift that is heart healthy, is a good skill and
knowledge base to have.
Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) will be used for this teaching lesson. Bauer, Liou, &
Sokolik (2012), define SCT as a dynamic interaction of personal factors, behavior and the
environment with a change in one capable of influencing the others. By the end of the lesson, the
4
participants will be able to see there are alternatives to sweets and salty treats as gifts to give
coworkers. They will be able to identify an example of a heart healthy option, understand serving
sizes and be able to create their own gift for a coworker, family member or friend. This new
understanding may impact the person’s behavior of gift giving and therefore changing office
culture.
Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan: “Serving Up a Heart Full of Love”
Duration: 10 minutes
Target Group: Predominately middle age women in a cubicle office environment
Overall Goal: Increase knowledge of heart healthy gift ideas during the holidays in a work environment
Major Concepts:
Heart healthy nuts
o Good nuts
o Bad nuts
Serving size for trail mix
Objectives and Learning Domains, Generalizations and Learning Experiences
1. Participants will be able to identify a healthy gift from the heart
Domain: Cognitive – knowledge and comprehension
Generalization: Nuts are a great way to improve heart health. Level 1
Learning Experiences:
Talk about holiday office culture:
o Lots of sweets and salty treats available for consumption
o Stressful time of year, prone to eating more unhealthy items
o Can feel weighed down by amount of sweets consumed
A way to provide an alternative to a sweet gift is substitute a healthy gift
An example is making your own trail mix to give as a gift
Talk about nuts
o Good nuts
Almonds – high in Ca, fiber & Vit E
Walnuts – high in Omega 3
Pistachios – good source of potassium
o Less desirable nuts
Pecans – high in calories and fat if consumed in large amounts
Macadamia – high in calories and fat if consumed in large amounts
Still good as source of nutrients, just have to be careful with serving size
5
Nuts are good way to help with heart health
o The nuts just discussed can help with heart health
o They can lower risk of stroke and hypertension
o Why does this matter? Stroke is the 4th
leading cause of death in America
o Middle age women are more likely to suffer from hypertension and stroke than men.
Some significant risk factors are diet and inactivity
2. Participants will be able to measure out appropriate serving size of trail mix
Domain: Cognitive - Application
Generalization: Serving size for trail mix is determined by what ingredients go into it.
Learning Experiences:
Hold up preassembled gift bag with label hidden & ask participants how many servings of trail
mix are in the bag.
o Take several responses
o Even though there does not appear to be much in the bag, the whole bag is over 1000
calories and almost 69g of fat
Ask participants to take cup that was passed out with handout and empty contents into palm of
hand.
o Ask how much trail mix is approximately in their hand. Is it 1 cup, ½ cup, and so on.
o Wait for responses
Serving size for standard trail mix can be from 1/4 c to 1/3 c = about 200 to 230 calories.
Sizing can be deceiving. When making the gift, may want to put a label on the bag that indicates
how many servings are in the bag and/or indicate to share.
3. Participants will be able to assemble a healthy gift.
Domain: Psychomotor – set
Generalization: Creating trail mix as a healthy gift is easy and fun to do.
Learning Experiences:
Demonstrate how to assemble gift bag. Follow step by step directions on handout.
Indicate why adding each of the items or state each of the items here have multiple vitamins and
minerals which are good for the heart.
o Almonds (unsalted) – high in Ca, fiber, & Vit E
o Walnuts (unsalted) – high in omega 3
o Pumpkin seeds (unsalted) – high in protein and potassium
o Sunflower seeds (unsalted) – high in potassium & Vit E, good source of Ca, and low in
calories
o Dried blueberries – good source of Vit C and low in calories
o Raisins – high in potassium and low in calories
o Close bag and shake to mix
Initially when making the bag it looks empty therefore you can add larger items to fill space, such
as clementines. Fresh citrus is a great way to incorporate a touch of sweet that is also helping out
your body with extra Vit C.
Wrap 2-3 clemintines in wax paper and place on top of mix– good source of Vit C
Tie off with ribbon
6
Materials:
1 ½ cups each of assorted unsalted nuts (2-3 varieties, such as almonds and walnuts)
1 ½ cups each unsalted seeds such as sunflower & pumpkin
1 ½ cups each of assorted dried fruit (2-3 varieties, such as dried blueberries and raisins)
6 cuties aka clementines
2, ¼ cup measuring cups
3 cellophane snack gift bags with twist tie
1 premade gift with label
Wax paper
Spool of colorful ¼ inch wide ribbon
Educational Handout
6 premade Dixie cups with ¼ cup trail mix in each
Summary:
During the holidays, office culture can be stressful and the abundance of salty and sweet foods around can
cause more stress. ”Serving Up a Heart Full of Love” is a great alternative way of showing your
coworkers you care.
What is an example of an easy, fun healthy gift to make?
What is an appropriate serving size for trail mix?
Can you replicate the recipe on the handout with ease?
I thank you for your time and hope you have fun serving up a heart full of love as a gift for coworkers this
holiday season.
Evaluation:
Hand post assessment test to participants to complete at end of lesson. Questions will remain the same as
pre assessment test to be able to determine if there was a change in confidence level for heart healthy
foods and serving sizes. For the purposes of class presentation, an online post assessment will be done.
Conclusion
My teaching module started off well, I was collected. Throughout the presentation good
eye contact was maintained to keep the audience engaged. I felt confident, but the excitement of
teaching made me inadvertently omit some talking points that I wanted to mention. For example,
the number of calories and the fat contained in one gift bag was omitted. This information
supports why it is important to pay attention to serving size. In addition, the use of unsalted nuts
and the importance of using caution with dried fruit due to the amount of added sugar was left
7
out of the presentation. Lastly, I forgot to recap the lesson and inquire what was a heart healthy
gift, what was a serving size of trail mix, and would they feel comfortable assembling this gift.
This would have been a good quick evaluation tool of whether or not people understood the
lesson. Even with these omissions, my classmates still enjoyed the presentation as they were
unaware of the omitted talking points. The message of an alternative healthy gift and appropriate
serving size for trail mix was communicated by responses of participants after the presentation.
Based on the post assessment test (see Appendix B), participants felt 57% confident that
they could choose a healthy snack and 23.8% very confident they could choose a healthy snack.
This was an overall increase over the pre-assessment test where surveyors felt 43.9% pretty
confident and 29.27% very confident. In addition, participants felt pretty comfortable choosing a
serving size for a snack. This data increased from 39.02% to 52.38%. However, this data cannot
be fully compared on a 1:1 ratio since only half of the previous surveyors responded. This made
it difficult to do a true comparison of data. From the pre and post assessment it did appear that
there was a slight increase in confidence and comfortably.
After further consideration it was realized the questions of the assessment needed to be
more specific and less general in order to truly have comparable data. For example, instead of
inquiring about the confidence level of choosing a heart healthy snack, different snacks could
have been listed from which they could choose. This would have been more measurable. All in
all beyond these limitations, the students were very knowledgeable about the subject matter. I
cannot wait to try the lesson on the intended population of middle age women working in an
office cubicle environment.
8
Appendix A – Pre Needs Assessment
Picture yourself as an employee in a corporate office, where you sit the majority of the day...
1. Do you snack while working?
Yes, all the time – 41.46% (17 responses)
Sometimes – 43.90% (18 responses)
Never, I am too busy working – 14.63% (6 responses)
2. When you do have a snack it is...
Salty – 5.00% (2 responses)
Sweet – 17.50% (7 responses)
Both – 62.50% (25 responses)
Neither – 15.00% (6 responses)
Other (please specify) – Fruits & Veg, Crunchy, Bitter, and None (5 responses)
3. How confident do you feel in choosing heart healthy foods?
Very Confident – 29.27% (12 responses)
Pretty Confident – 43.90% (18 responses)
Somewhat Confident – 24.39% (10 responses)
Less Confident – 0%
Not Confident At All – 2.44% (1 response)
4. How comfortable are you with serving sizes for snacks?
Very Comfortable – 31.71% (13 responses)
Pretty Comfortable -39.02% (16 responses)
Somewhat Comfortable – 21.95% (9 responses)
Less Comfortable – 2.44% (1 response)
Not Comfortable At All – 4.88% (2 responses)
5. What is your gender?
Female – 87.80% (36 responses)
Male – 12.20% (5 responses)
6. What is your age?
18 to 24 – 41.46% (17 responses)
25 to 34 – 36.59% (15 responses)
35 to 44 – 9.76% (4 responses)
45 to 54 – 9.76% (4 responses)
55 to 64 – 2.44% (1 response)
9
65 or older – 0%
7. What is the highest level of education you have completed?
Did not graduate from high school – 2.44% (1 response)
Graduated from high school – 7.32% (3 responses)
Some college – 60.98% (25 responses)
Graduated from college – 21.95% (9 responses)
Some graduate school – 2.44% (1 response)
Completed graduate school – 4.88% (2 responses)
10
Appendix B – Post Needs Assessment
Picture yourself as an employee in a corporate office, where you sit the majority of the day...
1. Do you snack while working?
Yes, all the time – 28.57%% (6 responses)
Sometimes – 61.90% (13 responses)
Never, I am too busy working – 9.52% (2 responses)
2. When you do have a snack it is...
Salty – 10.53% (2 responses)
Sweet – 15.79% (3 responses)
Both – 73.68% (14 responses)
Neither – 0% (0 responses)
Other (please specify) – Fruits & nuts, Depends on my mood & the weather (2 responses)
3. How confident do you feel in choosing heart healthy foods?
Very Confident – 23.81% (5 responses)
Pretty Confident –57.14% (12 responses)
Somewhat Confident –19.05% (4responses)
Less Confident – 0%
Not Confident At All – 0%
4. How comfortable are you with serving sizes for snacks?
Very Comfortable – 23.81% (5 responses)
Pretty Comfortable – 52.38% (11 responses)
Somewhat Comfortable – 14.29% (3 responses)
Less Comfortable – 9.52% (2 responses)
Not Comfortable At All –% (response)
5. What is your gender?
Female – 76.19% (16 responses)
Male – 23.81% (5 responses)
6. What is your age?
18 to 24 – 42.86% (9 responses)
25 to 34 – 33.33% (7 responses)
35 to 44 – 4.76% (1 responses)
45 to 54 – 19.05% (4 responses)
55 to 64 – 0%
11
65 or older – 0%
7. What is the highest level of education you have completed?
Did not graduate from high school – 0%
Graduated from high school – 15.0% (3 responses)
Some college – 70.0% (14 responses)
Graduated from college – 10.00% (2 responses)
Some graduate school – 0% (0 response)
Completed graduate school – 5.00% (1 responses)
12
Appendix C – Handout
© December 2014 Jennifer Hamilton
Citrus is a great
source of Vit C
Serve up a “Heart Full of Love” gift for your
coworkers:
Take a small cellophane gift bag.
Into the bag measure out:
1. ¼ cup ea of unsalted almonds & walnuts
2. ¼ cup ea of unsalted sunflower & pumpkin seeds
3. ¼ cup ea of dried blueberries & raisins.
4. 1/8 cup of dried cranberries, for a little more sweet.
5. Now with one hand holding the bag shut, shake the
bag to mix.
6. Wrap 2-3 clementines in wax paper and place on
top of mix.
7. Tie off with a ribbon
8. Gift your coworkers!
Trail Mix Nutrient Composition
Walnuts: high in Omega 3
Sunflower seeds: high in potassium & Vit E, good source
of calcium & low in calories
Pumpkin seeds: high in protein and potassium
Dried blueberries: good source of Vit C & low in calories
Raisins: high in potassium & low in calories
13
SMOG Readability level: 22 words = 8th
grade (± 1.5 grades)
© December 2014 Jennifer Hamilton
Citrus is a great
source of Vit C
Serve up a “Heart Full of Love” gift for your
coworkers:
Take a small cellophane gift bag.
Into the bag measure out:
1. ¼ cup ea of unsalted almonds & walnuts
2. ¼ cup ea of unsalted sunflower & pumpkin seeds
3. ¼ cup ea of dried blueberries & raisins.
4. 1/8 cup of dried cranberries, for a little more sweet.
5. Now with one hand holding the bag shut, shake the
bag to mix.
6. Wrap 2-3 clementines in wax paper and place on
top of mix.
7. Tie off with a ribbon
8. Gift your coworkers!
Trail Mix Nutrient Composition
Walnuts: high in Omega 3
Sunflower seeds: high in potassium & Vit E, good source
of calcium & low in calories
Pumpkin seeds: high in protein and potassium
Dried blueberries: good source of Vit C & low in calories
Raisins: high in potassium & low in calories
14
References:
Bauer, K.D., Liou, D., & Sokolik, C.A. (2012). Nutrition Counseling and Education Skill
Development (2nd
ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Blackwell, D.L., Lucas, J.W., Clarke, T.C. (2014). Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults:
National Health Interview Survey, 2012. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital
Health Stat 10(260).
MacMillan, A. (n.d.). Best and Worst Nuts for your Health: Should you go nuts? Retrieved
November 23, 2014 from http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20585485,00.html
Meschia, J.F., Bushnell, C., Boden-Albala,, B., Braun, L.T., Bravata, D.M., Chaturvedi, S., …
Wilson, J.A. (2014). Guidelines for the Primary Prevention of Stroke: A Statement for
Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association/American Stroke
Association
Wu, L., Piotrowski, K., Rau, T., Waldmann, E., Broedl, U.C., Demmelmair, H., … Koletzko, B.
(2014). Walnut-enriched diet reduces fasting non-HDL-cholesterol and apolipoprotein B in healthy Caucasian subjects: A randomized controlled cross-over clinical trial.
Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental, 63(3), 382 – 391. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2013.11.005