Purpose: Restaurants have the potential to improve nutrition and positively shape social norms. We describe lessons learned and recommended strategies from Eat Well El Paso! (EWEP), a local restaurant initiative. Design: Descriptive case study. Setting: EWEP partnered with local restaurants from 2012-2017 in El Paso, Texas, along the US/Mexico border. Sample: Our sampling frame included EWEP staff and managers/owners at participating restaurants, of which the majority participated (80% and 85%, respectively). Intervention: EWEP was a local restaurant initiative led by the city public health department. EWEP contracted registered dietitians to assist locally-owned restaurants to increase availability of healthy menu options. Measures: Observation, key informant interviews, and document review assessed participation, barriers, and facilitators to restaurant participation and program sustainability. Analysis: Thematic and descriptive analyses. Results: 57% of restaurants completed the full on-boarding process, but long-term retention was low (24% of completers). Restaurant managers/owners perceived value in marketing, nutritional analysis, and menu design. Barriers included scheduling, complexity of restaurant culture, fear of food inspections, restaurant turnover, competing responsibilities, and lack of dedicated funding. Conclusion: Although local context and sample size may limit generalizability, lessons learned and recommended strategies are relevant and informative for communities working to increase restaurants’ healthy menu options.
Many public health professionals (researchers and practitioners) do not regularly spend time writing. We often receive no formal training in the practices that lead one to become a productive writer. In addition, many internal (mental/emotional) and external (schedules/distractions) barriers make writing consistently even less appealing and may lead to a cycle of avoidance followed by binge writing. This commentary demonstrates how one writing group became an effective means of providing career and professional development. Each week for 9 months we held a 1-hour writing group meeting designed around a commitment to ground rules, accountability, training opportunities, and feedback. Our experiences suggest that engaging in a writing group can help us develop as writers by allowing us to learn new practices and skills. Adopting new practices like writing regularly for short blocks of time, in turn, led to benefits like reduced anxiety and increased productivity. In the process, we became better writers, reviewers, and mentors. We provide recommendations and resources for groups and individuals who are interested in improving their writing as an essential component of their continuing education and professional development. Whatever your professional role, using a writing group to become a more powerful and productive writer will make you more effective.
Objectives Dietary approaches for weight loss are often focused on maintaining a recommended caloric intake aimed at creating an energy deficit. This assumes individuals can accurately estimate caloric content of foods and beverages, yet little is known about the validity of such assumptions. This study assessed the accuracy of calorie perceptions for individual food items and mixed meals in participants who were trying to lose weight (dieters) vs. not trying to lose weight (non-dieters). We hypothesized that dieters would be more accurate at estimating calories in individual food items and mixed meals. Methods A cross-sectional survey assessed calorie perceptions using both visual food displays and written calorie perception questions for 32 foods, beverages, and mixed meals. Participants were asked demographic questions and if they were currently attempting to lose weight. Results A total of 586 participants (18–81y) completed the survey; 63.3% (n = 371) were dieters. The majority of participants were female (n = 389) and Hispanic (n = 425). There were no significant differences between groups in under or overestimation for the majority of foods, beverages, and mixed meals with the exception of red and white wine. A lower percentage of dieters (58.4%) vs. non-dieters (71.4%) underestimated the calories in a glass of white wine (P < 0.01), but a higher percentage of dieters (41.6%) vs. non-dieters (28.6%) overestimated calories in white wine (P < 0.01). There was a similar pattern for red wine (P < 0.05). Conclusions Accuracy of calorie perceptions do not differ between dieters and non-dieters for the majority of items. An inability to accurately estimate calories in foods despite active efforts to lose weight may contribute to limited efficacy of weight loss efforts. Next research questions include whether dieters can be trained to better estimate caloric content of foods, and if that would positively influence weight loss. Funding Sources This study was partially supported by funding from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation.
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