In nutrition education, which practice involves setting specific, measurable goals for clients?

• A. Guided discovery method
• B. SMART goals
• C. MOOD goals
• D. Action planning

Answer: (B)

Setting goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound provides a clear framework for nutrition education and behavior change. Specific clarifies exactly what behavior will change; Measurable ensures there’s a concrete way to track progress; Achievable keeps goals realistic; Relevant ties the goal to the client’s needs and motivations; and Time-bound adds a deadline to work toward. This combination makes progress observable and makes it easier to evaluate and adjust the plan as you work with the client.

For example, a SMART goal could be: eat no more than a certain amount of added sugar per serving at breakfast for the next two weeks. This kind of goal is directly observable and testable, which helps both the client and educator see what’s working and what needs tweaking.

Other approaches may be useful in practice, but they don’t inherently provide the same built-in structure for measuring progress: guided discovery helps clients uncover solutions through questioning; MOOD goals isn’t a standard framework; action planning focuses on the steps to take, but without explicit measurable criteria, progress isn’t as readily trackable.