Table 1.
Maintenance Curriculum Topics
| Month | Nutrition Topic for Both Group Class and Newsletter | Key Objective | Sample Recipe | Highlighted Strength Training Exercise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Life After | How to maintain the dietary changes achieved in the 16-week program, with a specific focus on eating a low sugar, high fiber diet. | Shrimp cocktail with vegetables | Benefits of strength training (ST) |
| 2 | Grocery shopping | How to select high fiber, low added sugar foods at the grocery store, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. | Whole wheat pita pizzas | Featured exercise: squats |
| 3 | School Food | How to pack healthy lunches and snacks with an emphasis on use of whole grain bread for sandwiches and use of a water bottle to avoid sugar-sweetened beverages. | Smoothies and sandwiches | Using resistance bands; Featured exercise: lunges |
| 4 | Fast Food | How to find healthier options on fast food menus, with an emphasis on selecting items such as salad and other foods that do not contain refined carbohydrates. An additional focus was how to make your own “fast food” at home. | Spring salad with grilled chicken | Making ST a part of daily life. |
| 5 | Fruits and Vegetables | How to find a farmer’s market and how to select and sample local, seasonal fruits and vegetables. | Snacks from the Farmer’s market | Available ST resources: local gyms/community clubs |
| 6 | Emotional Eating/Holiday Foods | How to avoid overdoing it around the holidays and how to make healthy, festive holiday foods that are low in sugar and high in fiber. | Baked yams and holiday snack/trail mix. | Core strength: Planks and abdominal crunches |
| 7 | Junk Food | How to find alternatives to favorite junk foods, such as finding other foods that satisfy the same cravings of spicy, sweet, or sour. | Fruit and yogurt parfaits | Featured upper body exercises with free weights: shoulder press |
| 8 | Party/Evaluations | How to create a healthy potluck dish. A review of all of the class topics was also given in the form of a trivia game. | Potluck | Maintaining motivation for ST; Featured exercise: tricep extensions with the resistance bands |