Food For Thought

Child obesity has increased in rates so much in the past decade that I feel as future teachers it is part of our job to educate our students about healthy eating and exercise. Here is a great website that deals with actual fast food restaurants where there food items are listed with the calorie intake, fat intake, sugar intake, etc. This site deals with the subject matter of health at the grade two level which deals with nutrition and a healthy body. By allowing your students to search around this site they are learning about food choices they should make when visiting a restaurant. Also, one of the main questions on the site is to choose which meal is healthy, a Wendy's Grilled Chicken Sandwich or a McDonald's Garden Salad with ranch dressing.

To incorporate this site into my class through a lesson plan I would have my students read through the introduction page about nurition and healthy choices that you can make. Through this they would read about fats, carbohydrates, protein, calories etc. which are all areas you should look into when buying food at the grocery store or ordering a meal at a restaurant. I would then have them click on the link to "which meal is healthier" in the left hand column. Through the nutrition information they already know they would choose which one they feel is a healthier choice and why. When you click on the answer you choose between the grilled chicken sandwhich or garden salad with ranch dressing and it displays the calorie intake, total fat, saturated fats, carbohydrates and protein. The students would read through these facts, and learn more about why the grilled sandwich is healthier.

To wrap up the lesson I would have my students choose one out of the various choices of restuarants listed in the left hand corner. Through the list of foods displayed on the link for each restaurant, they would choose the ones they feel are the healthiest and make a "healthy choice" menu for the restaurant. They would return to their desks to complete this, where beside each food choice they would display a picture of the food product, what it contains and some nutrition facts about it... such as it only has 200 calories! They would list a maximum of three food items, and when completed would then present it to the class and share information about the foods they chose and why they feel they are healthy. The menu's would then be displayed on the bulletin board for other students from the school to view and learn about some healthy choices they too can make when visiting these restaurants!

I feel that this site would benefit my students learning about nutrition and healthy food choices because it is something they can relate to. Almost all children have been to some sort of fast food restaurant atleast once, and it is often difficult on choosing a healthy meal. By accessing this site and creating a healthy menu themselves; for further use they will be able to go to a restaurant and know what to look for in a healthy meal. Also, through this website they learn about calorie intake, fats, carbohydrates, protein etc. and also about the food pyramid! By allowing the students to make a presentation to the class about a specific restaurant, the students have the ability to learn about not just one restaurant and what healthy choices they can make at it but they learn about a variety of healthy choices at resaurants! Child obesity is such a huge factor in today's society and fast food restaurants play a large role within this area. By educating our students about healthy choices and a proper meal intake we can benefit our students by allowing them to learn the facts and knowledge about these areas and guide them inmaking healthier food choices for the future!