Health Education Resources
for 2020 Health Resolutions

Quitting smoking, drinking less alcohol, and eating a healthier diet for weight loss and other health benefits are among the most common health resolutions. Here are just a few of our creative health education materials to help promote and encourage positive lifestyle changes for 2020.

Quitting smoking is one of the best decisions a smoker can make to achieve better health and decrease the likelihood of premature death. However, some smokers may not realize the many ways that smoking can damage the body, and many long-term smokers may believe that it’s too late for them to achieve any benefits from quitting. Meanwhile, other smokers may want to quit but need some help getting started.

Wherever smokers are in the journey to quit smoking, our Smoking Cessation Package is a great resource to use with individuals or groups to encourage smokers to quit. The package features resources that explain the hazards of smoking, why quitting is beneficial no matter how long an individual has smoked, and steps to create a successful quit plan.

The package includes our Quit Smoking for Life Folding Display, which covers reasons to quit smoking, steps to get ready to quit (including setting a quit date, determining strategies to overcome obstacles, and getting support), and ways to stay smoke-free. The 50 copies of the accompanying Quit Smoking for Life Booklet provide additional information about many of the conditions caused by smoking—such as lung cancer, other forms of cancer, COPD, heart disease, stroke, and more—and coping strategies to deal with the effects of nicotine withdrawal. The package also includes 10 hourglass cigarettes, each featuring a 40-second hourglass to represent how much life the average smoker loses with every puff of a cigarette. Both the 100-sheet English/Spanish Benefits of Quitting Smoking Tear Pad and the Giant Cigarette Action Display explain how the benefits of quitting smoking start within minutes of the last puff of a cigarette and continue to grow the longer a person stays smoke-free.

For many people, cutting down on alcohol is an important health resolution that can have significant health benefits. Alcohol consumption is associated with multiple health risks, ranging from motor vehicle collisions and risky sexual behaviors to liver and heart disease, certain forms of cancer, and more. In the United States, excessive alcohol consumption is responsible for approximately 88,000 deaths each year.

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, it is not recommended that people who are nondrinkers start drinking. And some people should completely avoid alcohol, such as people under the legal drinking age, pregnant women, people who are alcohol-dependent, and people with certain medical or mental health conditions.

For adults ages 21 and older who choose to drink alcohol, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans state that alcohol should be consumed only in moderation. Moderate alcohol consumption means drinking up to one standard drink per day for women and up to two standard drinks per day for men. Drinking alcohol in excess of these guidelines increases the risk of injury and disease.

Many people have no idea what a standard drink is. Our DrinkAware™ Display is a great way to raise awareness and explain what constitutes a standard drink. The display includes four models that represent four examples of a standard drink, including one 12-ounce cooler with 5 percent alcohol, one 12-ounce beer with 5 percent alcohol, one martini with 32 percent alcohol, and a 1.5 ounce shot of spirits with 40 percent alcohol. The accompanying two-sided tent card defines moderate drinking, binge drinking, and heavy drinking and gives more information about standard drinks with varying percentages of alcohol.

Viewers are often amazed when they see the size of a standard drink, making the DrinkAware™ Display an ideal resource for discussions about drinking responsibly. The models are perfect to include in lessons about moderate drinking and serve as visual reminders while providing tips for reducing alcohol intake, such as keeping track of alcohol consumption, having alcohol-free days, avoiding peer pressure, and not having alcohol in the home.

For just a few of our other teaching tools that highlight the importance of limiting alcohol, check out our Alcohol Abuse Consequences 3-D Display and our Effects & Hazards of Alcohol Folding Display.

Eating a healthier diet is on many people’s lists of New Year’s resolutions. There are many reasons to eat a healthier diet, such as feeling better, losing weight, and getting blood pressure under control.

Cutting liquid sugars is important for cutting calories and improving health. Consuming beverages high in sugar can contribute to the development of several serious health conditions, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and tooth decay. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, people should get less than 10 percent of their daily calories from added sugars. In a daily 2,000-calorie diet, for example, a person should consume no more than 200 calories per day from added sugars, which is no more than 50 grams (about 12 teaspoons) of added sugars. Liquid sugars add up fast. For example, one 12-ounce can of regular cola has about 39 grams (9 teaspoons) of added sugars. Americans typically consume more than 13 percent of their daily calories from added sugars.

Our best-selling Fizzics of Soda™ Display is an attention-grabbing, fun way to show how easily a daily soda habit can lead to weight gain, thanks to the empty calories in liquid sugars.

The display features a giant soda can (10½" x 16") that reveals that you can gain more than 2 pounds in a month if you consume two 12-ounce sugary sodas a day in excess of daily calorie needs. The giant soda can contains a 5-pound bag of sugar representing the amount of sugar consumed after drinking two daily sodas in a month as well as a blubbery, BIOLIKE 2™ soda bottle representing a monthly weight gain of 2.4 pounds of body fat.

For other unique Heath Edco resources that raise awareness about liquid sugars and how they can lead to weight gain, check out our Cold Case™: The Facts Against Sweetened Drinks Display, A Quick Cup of Empty Calories™ Activity Set, and Rethink Your Drink Chart.

At Health Edco, with have hundreds of products to help any group understand the importance of making and sticking to health resolutions to create healthier lifestyles. To discover more of our educational resources to promote tobacco cessation, responsible decision making about alcohol consumption, and healthy eating, please visit our product sections dedicated to tobacco education, alcohol education, and nutrition education.

©2020 Health Edco^®