• students will calculate caloric intake in a day and compare it to the recommended caloric intake.

• students will calculate nutritional intake in a day and compare it to the recommended nutritional intake (protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sodium, fiber)

• students will describe the role of each of the nutrients in the body's functioning and the effects of too much and/or too little of each nutrient.

• students will analyze the effects of exercise on the number of calories a person uses and how that effects weight gain, loss or maintenance.

• students will be define and calculate BMI (body mass index)

• students will explain the health risks of being overweight, obese, underweight, and having inadequate nutrition

Per class

• Lunchtime--Standards  (View)
• Lunchtime--Answer sheet for IDEAL MEAL  (View)
• Lunchtime--Answer sheet WHAT DO THEY DO  (View)
• Lunchtime- Answer sheet for-BMI and OVERWEIGHT  (View)
• Lunchtime--Answer sheet for CALORIES  (View)

as determined by instructor

• Food folk menu

  The nutritional tables from Fast Food restaurants are available on the web, but it is useful to print them out for ease of use.

  Computer with internet access, Word and Excel; PowerPoint if desired

• Lunchtime--Food Folk  (View)
• Lunchtime--WHAT DO THEY DO  (View)
• Lunchtime--BMI and OVERWEIGHT  (View)
• Lunchtime--CALORIES  (View)
• Lunchtime-- FOOD FOLK presentation rubric  (View)

Per Student

• Lunchtime-- IDEAL MEAL  (View)
• Lunchtime--Hardcopy version of IDEAL MEAL  (View)

• Body Mass Index (BMI) - calculation of body mass based on height and weight
• calorie - a unit of energy producing potential in food which is equal to the heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of pure water by 1 degree centigrade.
• metabolism - the processes in living things by which food is converted into the energy and products needed to sustain life
• obese - extremely overweight and therefore at risk for heart disease
• overweight - weighing more than is considered healthy for somebody of a specific height, build, or age
• RMR - is resting metabolic rate--an estimate of how many calories are burned if at rest for 24 hours. BMR(basal metabolic rate ) is a similar measure taken under stricter conditions.
• underweight - weighing less than is considered healthy for somebody of a specific height, build, or age

Set-up Directions:

Ideally, each student or group of students should have a computer with internet access and Excel. If this is not possible a projector can be used, or the information printed.

Each student should have a plain piece of lined paper to write their selections on.

Once the selections have been made, hand each student the hardcopy version of theIDEAL MEAL worksheet or have them IDEAL MEAL online (the online version calculates the sums and products for them).

The Nutritional Tables from the websites can be used online or printed out.

A copy of a different FOOD FOLK menu for each group is necessary.You can cut pictures out of different people with different body habits and assign them funny names if you like  These were created to avoid personalizing the lesson too much and  so each would demonstrate a slightly different issue. These are explained on the answer sheets. If you do not have enough groups, pick the issues you feel are most important to address (obesity should be one, as it is addressed later in the lesson.) If you have more groups you can create more folks or have two groups use the same one. You can alter the food folk menus if you choose not to deal with some of the nutrients listed, or if you choose to focus on additional nutrients

Teacher Presentation & Motivation:

Students can go to any of a number of websites to pick their "ideal Meal" Burger King, McDonalds and Wendy's all have excellent websites with easy to find information. Hardee's website has a lot of pop ups and loads slowly. You can decide how much freedom to give your students in choosing a meal.

With no introduction, have students pick their "ideal meal" and write it on a blank paper so they don't know where you are going with it. Then, have them fill out the IDEAL MEAL worksheet (ideally online) with the calorie content and other nutritional facts. Have the class discuss what they have found and how this relates to their diet as a whole. IF they imagine that this represents one third of what they eat in a day (certainly not totally accurate, but good for demonstration purposes) they can calculate how close they are to the recommended values published by the FDA.It is easiest to do this using the %DV rather than the absolute values. If there is a concern that the discussion is too personal, have them pick out an average meal, a meal for a parent, or skip this activity altogether and give them their Food Folk menu and start with that (go straight to activity 2) 

**Experiment with the McDonald's website, you can "bag a McMeal" and get most of the nutrition facts  for this activity in a few clicks. Students will then have to go back to find the nutrition information that is not included in that summary.

Activity 1 - Ideal Meal

Students will choose their ideal lunch from one of a number of internet sites of fast food restaurants.They should simply look at the menu choices and record their "order" on a blank piece of paper so they cannot tell why they are doing this . Once everyone has chosen their meal,  have them fill in the IDEAL MEAL  worksheet which asks them to detail the calories and nutrition in the meal. They can find these facts by clicking on Nutrition Facts or some such button on the fast food restaurant's website. Alternatively, you can print out the nutritional tables if there are not enough computers or it seems easier. Students are to assume that the meal is representative of what they eat and so they multiply the nuttitional values by 3 and see  what their caloric and nutritional intake is per day compared to that recommended by the FDA. If the IDEAL MEAL worksheet is filled out online it will automatically calculate the sums and products. Otherwise use the hardcopy version of the IDEAL MEAL.

In groups or as a class, students will discuss the implications of what they have found. Students will be left with questions as to why the recommendations are what they are, and what the consequences of too much or too little  of any of the nutrients (or calories ) are.  Have students address the reality of multiplying one meal by three. Stress that this is done for simplicity. If you and they would like you can choose a more realistic menu for the whole day. It is easiest to stick to the fast food sites for this activity.but there are websites that give numbers of calories for many foods. (Interactive Menu Planner is one)

Trans fats are not addressed in this lesson and have gotten a lot of attention recently. The lesson can be modified to include trans fats in addition to saturated fats. There are websites listed in the resource section that explain the differences among the different types of fats.

Also note: the FDA recommendations are based on adults (primarily adult older women) Make the students aware of this: what should the recommendations be for teens? 2500 calories? possibly even 3000 for teenage boys? Stress to students as well that the quality of what is eaten is as important as the caloric value and that is what is addressed in the first part of tomorrow's lesson.

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Students will use the website to write down choices from a menu, and record the nutritional and caloric values of their choices.

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

Students will complete the IDEAL MEAL worksheet while using the website.

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Students will compare the results of their ideal meal with the recommendations from the FDA.: The absolute values are:calories:2000/day; fat 65g, saturated fat 20g,carbohydrate 300g (but somewhat variable) sodium 2400mg, fiber 25g, calcium 1000mg ; no recommendation for protein

It is quite a bit easier to use the %DV to do the comparisons.

See How to Use and Understand the Nutrition Facts Label for more complete information.

Activity 2 - Food Folk

Each group of students receives one of the FOOD FOLK MENUs.They will analyze the menu as they did their ideal meal, using an IDEAL MEAL worksheet. These menus are made from the McDonald's website (no hidden agenda here, it is an excellent and easy to use website). They will compare their FOOD FOLK to the FDA recommendations is the same way they did with their own meal.

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Students will record the nutritional and caloric values of their FOOD FOLK

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

Students will complete the IDEAL MEAL worksheet while viewing the website

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Students will compare the FOOD FOLK to the recoomended daily values (see activity 1). Is their food folk getting everything s/he needs? Is s/he getting too much of anything?

Wrap Up:

This lesson should leave the students asking why the recommendations were made by the FDA and what the advantages are of sticking close to them. They can brainstorm ideas, and start discussing what they know of the  roles of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins in the body, and what the consequences are of too much or too little of any of them. They can also begin to discuss what a calorie is and why you need calories, and the consequences of too few or too many.

Set-up Directions:

Computers with internet access for each group of students are the easiest way to conduct this lesson. Some of it can be done with print materials if each student group cannot have a computer. The online calculators can be done as a class using a projector if necessary.

Each group or student should receive:

WHAT DO THEY DO? organizer

CALORIES worksheet

BMI worksheet

FOOD FOLK PRESENTATION RUBRIC

Teacher Presentation & Motivation:

On this day students will investigate the whys of following the FDA recommendations--Why eat protein, carbohydrates and fats, but not too much? Why eat about 2000 calories and not too much more or less? What are the roles of fiber, sodium, and calcium in the body?What is body mass index?  What are the implications of being overweight? underweight? obese?

 In order to avoid personalizing the information and making students self conscious the food folk menus are used. The food folk menus were designed to highlight different issues. Students will undoubedly extrapolate to themselves without much encouragement. It is important to stress that being underweight as well as being deficient in essential nutrients also have many negative consequences.Make sure students are provided with the website addresses, especially of the online calculators, so they can  privately use them for themselves if they would like to.

In introducing these activities have the students brainstorm definitions for the vocabulary they will encounter: body mass index, resting metabolism, calories, overweight, etc. (see vocabulary section) Explain that they will learn not only the definitions, but the significance of these in the following activities.

Activity 1 - Nutrients

The students will investigate the role of the various nutrients in our bodies and the consequences of not having enough, or having too much of each. They will record their findings in the WHAT DO THEY DO? organizer. If your students are capable, use the website maintained by the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health; this site contains more informatin than students need so they will have to figure out what they should use. Guide them if necessary. The website How Food Works has good information and is a little more concise and accessible (and commercial). Neither has information about sodium. Information about sodium can be found on the websites of the Salt Institute and University of Illinois Extension..

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Using the internet sites recommended the students will determine what the roles of different nutrients are.

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

The students will be completing: WHAT DO THEY DO worksheet

.

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Students will have to assess their Food Folk's diet in terms of nutritional content. Determine if there is too much or too little of anything and what the consequences might be.

Activity 2 - Calories

In this activity the students will research what calories are and what they do.

Students will use online calculators to calculate the resting metabolism of their Food Folk (Use the calculators at http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.html click on BMR &RMR calculators at the bottom of the page. The site also contains definitions and further explanations 

They will  calculate how many calories are "left over" to use.

Students will next investigate the number of  calories used by various forms of physical activity for their Food Folk (at the same calories per hour site, click on activity calculator) .They will choose 2-4 activities reasonable to do in a day (carrying groceries, walking the dog...) and see how many calories the activities burn.Make students aware that every small activity burns calories so 4 activities don't tell the whole story. However, these numbers are to give a general idea of calories consumed vs. calories burned. SEe CALORIES answer sheet for more information. Students will calculate the difference between the number of calories their Food Folk eats and how many s/he burns. Finally, they will calculate the amount of weight lost or gained that day. (Use the figure that you have to burn 3500 calories to lose a  pound of fat, so you need to eat 3500 calories less than you burn to lose 1 pound!! (500 calories/day for a week...). More information is available at.  http://www.caloriesperhour.com/faqs_pound.html  

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Students will learn what calories are and how our body uses energy.

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

Students will fill out the CALORIES worksheet.

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Students should now have decided if their Food Folk would gain or lose weight on that day and why. They should be able to adjust the level activity for either possiblity, but understand what is reasonable to expect someone to do in a day.

Activity 3 - Body Mass Index

Students will research Body Mass Index (BMI) and the definitions of normal weight, overweight, underweight and obese. See resources for the appropriate websites--of which there are many! The kidshealth website is excellent source of information and should be accessible to all students. Use the other websites at your discretion.

Using an online calculator students will  calculate the BMI of their Food Folk.(They can choose between the caloriesperhour calculator, or the kidshealth calculator, or try both and see if the results are the same. ). Students will determine if their food folk is normal, underweight, overweight, or obese. This information will be recorded on the BMI worksheet

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Students will learn what BMI is and calculate the BMI of their Food Folk. They will learn how BMI is an indicator of if your weight is normal, or above or below what it should be. The risks of being overweight, underweight and obese should be noted.

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

Students will complete the BMI worksheet.

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Students will use the information they learned about BMI and body type to determine how their Food Folk's diet could be improved.

Activity 4 - Presenting...Food Folks

Using all the information gathered in previous activities, students will analyze their food folk menu with respect to BMI and FDA recommendations. Students will determine if the diet is appropriate and how it can be improved.

Each group will present its food folk to the other students, incorporating what they have learned about nutritional requirements, calories, etc. and emphasizing the particular issue their Food Folk faces. Each group will submit 3 general quiz questions that the other students should be able to answer after the presentation. The presentation can be graded according to the FOOD FOLK PRESENTATION RUBRIC. The quiz questions can be compiled and used as an assessment tool.

Wrap Up:

With the information from all the Folks the students should have a good idea of what can go wrong in a diet and the consequences of poor nutrition.  Ask them what they think the most common of these problems is today. Lead them to overweight/obesity which has reached epidemic proportions. Review the consequences of these for the individual, and discuss the societal implications. Brainstorm reasons that people may make poor nutrition choices (food, geography, media messages, etc.) Are there any realistic suggestions for improving the choices people make?