By Mary Leursen
OUTCOME: To bring an awareness of the poor nutritional value of fast foods; to demonstrate how to read nutritional labels on popular packaged foods, and an appreciation of the risks of a diet high in fat and sodium versus a well balanced diet high in fiber.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITES:
I.) Teacher asks students to list in their writing journals:
· Favorite two fast food items
· How many times during a week do you eat fast food in restaurants such as Taco Bell, KFC, MacDonald's?
· List everything you ate and drank yesterday and so far today (include all snacks and gum)
II.) Teacher ask students to break into groups and discuss:
· Why they eat fast foods? List three reasons they go to a particular fast food restaurant?
· When do they eat fast foods?
· When do they eat fresh foods?
· How much frozen snacks and dinners do they eat at home?
Activity: Students make visual poster/drawings of the above information.
Teacher asks each group to show their work to class.
III.) Activity: Teacher asks students to identify how fast foods are marketed/advertised to people? Discussion and teacher writes answers on overhead projector/transparency.
· Discussion: How do MacDonald's and Burger King advertise?
· Responses: Near schools, in shopping malls, cheap prices i.e. Big Mac.
· Sports figures promote advertising campaigns
· Why do you eat packaged fast foods at home?
· Answers: easy to prepare, "nuke" in microwave, don't know how to cook fresh food, get coupons in newspaper for packaged foods, taste better than "real" fresh food
IV.) Project Activity: Students are to research family eating patterns for one week:
Home research - list all foods and drinks in refrigerator and freezer and kitchen cabinets. Break list down into fresh and packaged foods.
Questionnaire - ask parent or adult responsible for grocery shopping to give brief explanation for reason for purchasing three fast food items.
Food diary - write down what foods are served/available for breakfast, lunches, dinners and snacks.
Identify which family members responsible for preparing/cooking meals. Does student know how to shop? Select fresh produce? Cook meats, fish, pastas and potatoes, vegetables?
V.) Classroom Activity: Experiment with measuring fat. Teacher asks class to list four popular fast food items they buy in local fast foods restaurants. Items printed on large sheets of drawing paper and put up on board.Teacher now asks students to guess how much fat and salt in each food?
Amount written in green marker next to item. Teacher then writes in red pen the correct fat and sodium content.
Discussion: teacher asks students to work in pairs: A. give three reasons that explain high amount of fat and sodium in fast foods and B. list three reasons that fat and sodium amounts affect health.
Teacher lists students' responses next to food item papers on the board. Answers should include: Low quality meat has high fat content, fries require fat to cook, burgers usually have cheese which is high in fat, Health risks are heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure.
Activity/experiment: Teacher puts "grams of fat in a food item divided by 5 equals teaspoons of lard/shortening." Groups select four favorite food items and review fat content. Using teaspoons they measure the correct amount of lard/shortening to replicate the fat content. They put this amount into a microwave safe cup and turn on microwave. Students record how long it takes the microwave to break down this solid fat.
Follow-up Activity: For homework students are to review their food journals and add up the fat grams in foods they ate during one entire day. They should then replicate the experiment at home and record how many minutes it took to break down the solid fat.
Conclusion: Teacher asks class to think about the fat we ingest into our bodies on a daily basis. What happens to fat? Does it burn off? Turn into body fat? Get eliminated? Does it cause disease?
This lesson leads into lessons on Digestion, the food pyramid and five food groups.
CONDITION: This lesson requires at least two class periods.
MATERIALS: Overhead projector, packaged food boxes, food labels, advertisements from magazines, newsprint, Web sites, can of shortening, microwave, teaspoons, measuring cup, poster and drawing papers, markers, writing journals.
MODIFICATIONS: Pair lower performing student with high performer for writing journal review and experiments with fat.
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT: Academic and Life Skills Rubrics.
STANDARDS ADDRESSED: Health Framework for California Public Schools and English/Language Arts.