Lesson 1 Nutrition

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Lesson 1 Nutrition
Materials food labels (students can bring
in their own) measuring devices (scale,
teaspoon, tablespoon,
measuring cup) sugar (or other food to
practice measuring) Objective the students will
interpret information provided on food
labels Vocabulary (review as lesson proceeds)
nutrients vitamins minerals
calories protein carbohydrates
(simple/complex) fiber fats
(saturated/ unsaturated/ transfats sodium
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Procedure/Activities Show powerpoint picture of
label. Let students refer to their
labels. Continue powerpoint program about labels
discussing each part of label. Question students
about their labels. Let them compare labels. Talk
about measurements and percentages. Let students
measure sugar (a gram, milligram, cupful, ounce
(liquid/solid), teaspoon, tablespoon). Let
students guestimate a quantity. Then measure to
test accuracy. Let students calculate percentages
and serving sizes.
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Understanding Food Labels
from www.kidshealth.org
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(No Transcript)
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• The Nutrition Facts food label gives you
  information about which nutrients (say
  nu-tree-ents) are in the food. Your body needs
  the right combination of nutrients, such as
  vitamins, to work properly and grow. The
  Nutrition Facts food label is printed somewhere
  on the outside of packaged food, and you usually
  don't have to look hard to find it.

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• Fresh food that doesn't come prepackaged
  sometimes has nutrition facts, too.Most nutrients
  are measured in grams, also written as g. Some
  nutrients are measured in milligrams, or mg.
  Milligrams are very tiny - there are one thousand
  milligrams in a gram. Other information on the
  label is given in percentages. These numbers are
  based on eating 2,000 calories in a day, the
  amount that many school-aged kids eat .

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• Serving Size
• The nutrition label always lists a serving
  size, which is an amount of food, such as 1 cup
  of cereal, two cookies, or five pretzels. The
  nutrition label tells you how many nutrients are
  in that amount of food. Serving sizes also help
  people understand how much they're eating. If you
  ate 10 pretzels, that would be two servings.

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• Servings per Container or Package The label also
  tells you how many servings are contained in that
  package of food. If there are 15 servings in a
  box of cookies and each serving is 2 cookies,
  then you have enough for all 30 kids in your
  class to have one cookie each. Math comes in
  handy with food labels!

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• Calories and Calories From Fat
• The number of calories in a single serving of the
  food is listed on the left of the label. This
  number tells you the amount of energy in the
  food. People pay attention to calories because if
  you eat more calories than your body uses, you
  might gain weight. Another important part of the
  label is the number of calories that come from
  fat. People check this because it's good to limit
  fat intake. The calories in a food can come from
  fat, protein, or carbohydrate.

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• Percent Daily Value
• You'll see percentages on food labels that are
  based on recommended daily allowances - meaning
  the amount of something a person should get each
  day. For instance, there's a recommended daily
  allowance for fat, so the food label might say
  that one serving of this food meets 10 of the
  daily value. The daily values are based on an
  adult's needs. Kids may need more or less of
  certain nutrients, depending on their age and
  size.

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• Some percent daily values are based on the amount
  of calories and energy a person needs. These
  include carbohydrates, proteins, and fat. Other
  percent daily values - like those for sodium,
  potassium, vitamins, and minerals - stay the same
  no matter how many calories a person eats.

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• Total Fat
• The total fat is the number of fat grams
  contained in one serving of the food. Fat is an
  important nutrient that your body uses for growth
  and development, but you don't want to eat too
  much. The different kinds of fat, such as
  saturated, unsaturated, and trans fat, will be
  listed separately on the label.

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• Cholesterol and Sodium
• These numbers tell you how much cholesterol and
  sodium (salt) are in a single serving of the
  food. They are included on the label because some
  people need to limit cholesterol or salt in their
  diets. Cholesterol and sodium are usually
  measured in milligrams.

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• Total Carbohydrate
• This number tells you how many carbohydrate
  grams are in one serving of food. Carbohydrates
  are your body's primary source of energy. This
  total is broken down into grams of sugar and
  grams of dietary fiber.

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• Protein
• This number tells you how much protein you get
  from a single serving of the food. Your body
  needs protein to build and repair essential parts
  of the body, such as muscles, blood, and organs.
  Protein is often measured in grams.

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• Vitamin A and Vitamin C
• These list the amounts of vitamin A and vitamin
  C, two especially important vitamins, in a
  serving of the food. Each amount is given as a
  percent daily value. If a food provides 20 of
  the RDA for vitamin A, that one serving of food
  gives an adult one fifth of the vitamin A needed
  for the day.

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• Calcium and Iron
• These list the percentages of calcium and iron,
  two especially important minerals, that are in a
  serving of the food. Again, each amount is given
  as a percent daily value. If a food has 4 of
  iron, you're getting 4 of the iron you need for
  the whole day from that serving.

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• Calories per Gram
• These numbers show how many calories are in one
  gram of fat, carbohydrate, and protein. This
  information is the same for every food and is
  printed on the food label for reference.

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Additional information

To see the USDA food guide see http//www.webmd.c
om/content/article/100/105752.html
To see estimated calorie requirements for
individual age and weight categories
see http//www.webmd.com/content/article/100/1057
36.html
To calculate calories burned for a given activity
see this website http//dftools.ivillage.com/h
ealthtools/calc_cb.cfm?ivNPA1skygglcaloriesdf
PPC1F38s
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To see nutritional values for various foods see
http//www-fp.mcs.anl.gov/otc/Guide/CaseStudies/di
et/complete_table.html
To see a list of vitamins and minerals including
minimal requirements and uses and/or
contributions see http//www.nassdb.org.uk/f
2/Vitamins_Minerals.htm
To see information about nutritionally-related
diseases see http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illnes
ses_related_to_poor_nutrition
The following sites are just a few from
kidshealth.org
To read a good explanation of vitamins
see http//www.kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/fo
od/vitamin.html
To read a good explanation of fats
see http//www.kidshealth.org/kid/nutrition/food/
fat.html
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• To read a good explanation of minerals see
• http//www.kidshealth.org/kid/nutrition/food/miner
  als.html

To read a good explanation of calories see
http//www.kidshealth.org/kid/nutrition/food/calo
rie.html
To read a good explanation of carbohydrates see
http//www.kidshealth.org/kid/nutrition/food/carb
.html
To read about fiber see http//www.kidshealth.or
g/kid/word/f/word_fiber.html
To read about cholesterol see http//www.kidsheal
th.org/kid/talk/qa/cholesterol.html
To see the new Food Guide Pyramid
see http//www.kidshealth.org/kid/nutrition/food/
pyramid.html
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Lesson 2 nutrition
Go over daily requirements for calories and other
nutritional contents for various
height/weight/age/activity levels. (Show
tables.) Have students determine theirs or
others needs.
Lesson 3 nutrition Go over the new Food Pyramid,
vitamin and mineral content of specific foods,
discuss fiber, cholesterol.
Lesson 4 nutrition Each student will design (one
days) 3 meals to meet a specific individuals
nutritional needs following the USDA food pyramid
and MDR guidelines.
Lesson 5 nutrition Nutritionally-related
diseases (see website)