The LSU AgCenter is offering an eight week Smart Portions program. The Smart Portions program teaches people how to eat healthy and lose weight. Losing weight can be a challenging task unless you have great support. The Smart Portions program is designed that participants encourage and motivate each other to stay on task. They team up and support each other for eight weeks. To verify change in behavior, participants will have their body mass analyzed, waist measured, and their starting weight recorded on the first day of class. Each week participants weigh in. At the end of the eight weeks, waist measurements and body mass are analyzed again. To help participants stay on task each week, they receive an enhancement tool to keep them on track reaching their goal.

In this class, participants learn how to change eating behaviors by looking at true portion sizes. They learn how to eye-ball portion size by looking at familiar items such as a baseball, which is equivalent to one cup or a deck of cards that represents 3 ounces of meat. Many times we just accept what is put on our plate and eat it! If you eat out on regular bases, you may notice it is hard to maintain your weight because of the huge portion sizes. If you’re from the clean the plate club, like I am, it is hard to leave food on your plate! Participants will learn strategies to help them not to over eat when eating out or at home and not to give in to habits. Do not eat in front of the television or eat when you are bored, angry, or happy. Participants learn to become more mindful of what they are eating and how to enjoy food.

We discuss how stress may induce eating, how to make changes to your favorite recipes, what body mass index says about your health, the importance of exercise, what the best kind of exercise, and how to read labels. In the Smart Portions class, participants also learn how make healthy food selections when eating out and how to make food tasty.

The Smart Portions program is a great way to start healthy lifestyle changes with the help of other participants. The class helps participants to be accountable for their food choices and exercise. I enjoy teaching the class because it helps me stay on track and I am accountable to all the participants. If you are like me and need motivation to eat healthy and exercise, then join us for the winter Smart Portions class. Class registration for the eight weeks is $60, which covers the cost of materials and enhancement tools.

The class will begin on January 24-March 28, 2013 in Room 208 at Trinity Methodist Church, 1000 Woodward Avenue (Service Road) in Ruston. Weigh-in will begin at 12:00 noon and class will begin at 12:15 p.m. The class will conclude at 12:45 p.m. If you are interested in participating in Smart Portions, call our office at 318-251-5134 or email us at Lincoln@agcenter.lsu.edu.