Healthy Living Activities

Grades 5-8

ACTIVITY #1 Decoding Nutrition Facts This activity will help students learn how to effectively read food labels. Through 5 easy steps, students can begin to compare the nutritional value of foods by examining food labels, and begin to make healthier food choices. Expand this exercise to include examining food labels and taking into account various dietary needs, specifically in relation to such health concerns such as diabetes, high blood pressure, healthy weight management and high cholesterol.

ACTIVITY #2 Personal Healthy Eating Goal Plan This activity has students examine their personal eating habitats and set a healthy eating goal. This activity can be expanded to explore how social, emotional, medical and practical factors influence our food choices and our ability to change them.

ACTIVITY #3 Promoting Healthy Living Awareness Campaign This activity has students create a poster campaign to create awareness about healthy eating and healthy living habits and strategies.

ACTIVITY #4 Building Healthy Eating Habitats for Pre-teens/Teens Using real-life scenarios, students will create their own menus for healthy eating in a variety of situations.

GRADE 5

Activity #1: Decoding Nutrition Facts

Curriculum Connection Health and Physical Education, Grade 5, Healthy Living, Healthy Eating C2.1 Explain how to use and read food labels to make healthier personal food choices.

Learning Goals

Learn the 5 steps to reading a nutritional fact label.

Compare the nutrition facts of two or more foods.

Demonstrate an understanding of how to read and analyze a food label to make healthier eating choices.

Teaching Background to Label Reading

Use these 5 steps to help students learn to read the label. 1) Look at the serving size The serving size shown on the Nutrition Facts Table lists the amount of calories and nutrients contained in that serving size. If you eat more or less of the listed serving size, the amount of calories and nutrients will differ from what is listed on the label.

2) Look at the calories Calories tell you how much energy you get from one serving of a packaged food. 3) Look at the per cent Daily Value (% Daily Value) Nutrients are put on a scale of 0% to 100%. This tells you if there is a little or a lot of nutrient in one serving of a packaged food. This percentage will help you compare the nutrient content of different foods. IMPORTANT: • 5% DV or less is a little • 15% DV or more is a lot 4) Try to get more of these nutrients FIBRE, VITAMIN A, VITAMIN C, IRON, CALCIUM 5) Try to get less of these nutrients FAT, SATURATED FAT, TRANS FAT, SODIUM, CHOLESTEROL Use the Nutrition Facts to a) compare products more easily, b) find out the nutritional value of foods, c) better manage special food needs (for example, low fat or low sodium foods), d) increase or decrease you intake of a particular nutrient.

Nutrition Facts Per 4 crackers (20 g) Amount % Daily Value

Calories 90

Fat 2 g 3 %

Saturated 0.3 g

+ Trans 0 g 2 %

Cholesterol 0 mg

Sodium 90 mg 4 %

Carbohydrate 15 g 5 %

Fibre 1 g 4 %

Sugars 1 g

Protein 2 g

Vitamin A 0 % Vitamin C 0 %

Calcium 2 % Iron 8 %

This label’s serving size is for 4 crackers. If you eat 2 crackers, the nutritional facts have to be cut in half. If you eat 8 crackers, the nutritional facts have to be doubled.

Teaching and Learning Strategies Prior to the activity have students bring in a variety of food labels from packaged food. Use the food label samples as tools to help students learn how to read food labels.

Review the 5 steps in reading food labels with the class. Complete the class activity as a large group for students to gain experience and knowledge in reading food labels. Complete Reading and Understanding Nutritional Facts assignment to consolidate learning. _____________________________________________________________________________

CLASS ACTIVITY Use these two examples below and have the class compare the two foods.

Nutrition Facts Per 1 beef burger (130 g)

Amount % Daily Value

Calories 340

Fat 27 g 42 %

Saturated 12 g

+ Trans 2 g 70 %

Cholesterol 70 mg

Sodium 330 mg 14 %

Carbohydrate 3 g 1%

Fibre 0 g 0 %

Sugars 3 g

Protein 24 g

Vitamin A 0 % Vitamin C 0 %

Calcium 2 % Iron 30 %

Nutrition Facts Per 1 chicken burger (130g)

Amount % Daily Value

Calories 200

Fat 9 g 14 %

Saturated 2 g

+ Trans 1 g 15%

Cholesterol 70 mg

Sodium 800 mg 33 %

Carbohydrate 4 g 1 %

Fibre 0 g 0 %

Sugars 0 g

Protein 2 g

Vitamin A 0 % Vitamin C 0 %

Calcium 4 % Iron 2 %

Have the class scan the numbers for the % Daily Value, what do they see? Which burger is higher or lower in a particular nutrient? Which burger has more of the nutrients you want in food? Which burger has more of the nutrients you want less of in your food? Which burger would you choose if you were looking for an iron-rich food? Which burger would you choose if you were looking for a lower in fat item? Which burger would you choose if you needed a low sodium option? High in fibre means: If food contains 2 grams of fibre it is considered a source of fibre. 4 grams of fibre is considered a ‘high source of fibre’ and 6 grams of fibre is considered a ‘very high source of fibre’. Low Fat means: "Low fat" means that the food contains no more than 3 grams of fat in the amount of food specified in the Nutrition Facts table. Cholesterol-free means: The claim "Cholesterol-free" means that the product has a very small amount (less than 2 mg of cholesterol in the amount of food specified in the Nutrition Facts table) and it is also low in saturated fat and trans fat. Sodium-free means: A "sodium-free" claim means the amount of food specified in the Nutrition Facts table contains less than 5 mg of sodium.

GRADE 6

ACTIVTY #2

Personal Healthy Eating Goal Plan

Curriculum Connection

Health and Physical Education, Grade 6, Healthy Living, Healthy Eating

C2.1 apply their knowledge of medical, emotional, practical, and societal factors that influence eating habits and food choices (e.g., allergies and sensitivities, likes and dislikes, dental health, food availability, media influences, cultural influences, influence of family and friends, school food and beverage policies, environmental impact, cost) to develop personal guidelines for healthier eating

Lesson Goals

Identify factors which contribute to individual food choices

Understand factors that influence personal food choices

Develop an eating strategies to promote healthier personal food choices

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Have students brainstorm about how individuals make food choices: likes and dislikes, allergies, time and place (home versus school versus eating out), who in their family decides what foods to buy and what meals to eat, food availability and cost, cultural preferences, advertising, peer pressure.

Have students reflect on how much control or lack of control individuals have in making food choices. How does this factor into what individuals choose to eat?

Highlight how no individual makes perfect food choices all the time, and that the purpose of setting healthy eating goals is not to shame or judge anyone’s food choices but to take a step towards healthier eating habits when and where a student has control over those choices. Our food choices are not always in our control and it is okay to eat less than optimal foods on occasion or when we have no control over those choices. Going hungry is not a food choice.

Use the assignment template below to have students record their food choices for one week and set their own personal healthy eating goal. This exercise is not meant to be shared as a class but to have students reflect on how they can make small changes to their eating habits in order to make healthier food choices. Some students may feel uncomfortable sharing their eating habits, this exercise can be modified so that the food journal is already filled out and students analyze the eating habits of a fictitious student and create a healthy eating goal for that character.

PERSONAL HEALTHY EATING GOAL PLAN

In this assignment you will record your personal eating habits for one week. Write down everything you eat.

Think about how you feel after you have eaten a recorded food item and record where you ate the food item (at school, at home, in front of the TV, on the way to soccer practice, at the hockey arena, in the car).

At the end of the week, analyze your eating habits. Do certain foods make you feel better than others? Do you eat certain foods depending on where you are eating them? Use the guiding questions to help you analyze your eating habits. At the end of the assignment, develop one goal for personal healthier eating.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

1) Examine your recordings about how you felt about what you were eating. Which foods make you feel:

a) the most full or the least full

b) the most thirsty or the least thirsty

c) the most hungry or the least hungry

Think about why these foods might make you feel this way.

2) Examine your recordings about how you were feeling before you ate the food item. Think about whether you were feeling hungry or thirsty and why? (just finished playing sports, it was lunch time, you were mad about something, you were bored)

3) Examine where you are when you eat. Do you eat healthier foods in certain places and not others? Examine why or why not.

4) Think of one eating habit goal you want to try and achieve. Explain it in detail.

DAILY FOOD DIARY

DATE FOOD ITEMS PLACE HOW YOU FEEL BEFORE AND

AFTER EATING

breakfast

lunch

dinner

snacks

PERSONAL HEALTHY EATING GOAL

GOAL: __________________________________________________________________________

PLAN TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL:

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ACTIVITY #3

Healthy Living Awareness Campaign

Curriculum Connections

Health and Physical Education, Grade 6, Healthy Living, Healthy Eating

C3.1 explain how healthy eating and active living work together to improve a person’s general health and well-being (e.g., both provide more energy and contribute to improved self-concept, greater resistance to disease, and better overall health; both help a person to maintain a weight that is healthy for them) and how the benefits of both can be promoted to others

Learning Goals

Describe the benefits of healthy eating and active living

Demonstrate way to serve as a role-model for healthy living

Teaching and Learning Strategies Review some key points of healthy eating with students. What are some key benefits of healthy eating? Write the responses down on the board. See how many ideas students can come up with (gives you more energy, help build strong muscles, get the nutrients my body needs, feel more alert, feel less tired, can be more active). Now ask students to describe some of the benefits of active living. What are some key benefits of active living? Write the responses down on the board. See how many ideas students can come up with. (some answers might be the same – gives me more energy, feel more alert, my body feels stronger, do the things l like – sports, dance, play). Ask students to take out a piece of paper and brainstorm on their own about how they personally could promote healthy eating and healthy living at school. Have students work in groups to come up with a healthy eating/healthy living plan and poster campaign. Use the Health Promoter assignment below as a template.

PROMOTING HEALTHY EATING AND HEALTHY LIVING GROUP MEMBERS:______________________________________________________ List some ways to promote healthy eating at school:

List some way to promote healthy living at school:

Create a poster presentation with your group members to promote healthy eating and healthy living at school. Here are some tips:

1) Make it colourful! 2) Create a slogan. 3) Be Creative!

Grade 7 & 8 ACTIVTY #4 Building Healthy Eating Habitats for Pre-teens/Teens

Curriculum Connections

Health and Physical Education, Grade 7, Healthy Living, Making Connections for Healthy Living – Healthy Eating C3.1 demonstrate an understanding of personal and external factors that affect people’s food choices and eating routines, and identify ways of encouraging healthier eating practices.

Learning Goals

Develop a healthy eating plan

Utilize knowledge about serving sizes, nutrients, and number of servings to identify beneficial food choices

Demonstrate an understanding of the factors that affect an individual’s food choices

Teaching and Learning Strategies Discuss with your class the importance of making healthier food choices when they are able to control what they can eat. Re-examine the factors that influence how much control or lack of control individuals have over their eating choices: likes and dislikes, allergies, eating out, who in the family grocery shops and cooks the meals, cultural preferences, media influences, peer pressure. Have your class choose one of the two case studies and create a healthier eating plan based on their prior knowledge on healthy eating. Before beginning the assignment, read out each case study and have students evaluate the factors that influence Jack and Sabrina’s food choices. Write these responses down. List some of the ways that can help encourage healthier eating habits in either scenario.

Have students complete the case studies either individually or in a group. Have the students create a visual presentation of their menu plans and share it with the rest of the class. Discuss how healthier eating would benefit both Jack and Sabrina.

CASE STUDY #1

PROFILE: JACK

I like to eat. I mean, I’m a teenager. What do you expect?

The thing is when I get home from school I’m starving! My mom is at work when I get home so I usually just pop something into the microwave like popcorn or those frozen pizza pockets. Sometimes I eat a bunch because they really aren’t that big.

Sometimes my mom has to work late. She’s a nurse. That means sometimes I have to make my own dinner.

What I usually do is head for the freezer and find something like frozen pizza or other frozen food. I usually wash it down with pop or juice.

Later on I usually get the munchies so I grab a family size bag of chips or maybe the leftover cheesecake in the fridge. Lots of times I eat both! It really doesn’t seem like that much.

Before bed I usually watch some TV or play on my Xbox. When I go to bed I still feel hungry.

It gets boring eating the same food from the freezer.

The weird thing is I seem to be growing out of all my clothes. My pants are too short and my mom just got those for me a couple of months ago!

Any ideas? What kind of menu do you think would help?

(Adapted from http://kidshealth.org)

After creating your healthy dinner and snack menu for Jack, discuss the calories, fat, and carbs in the food choices Jack is presently making compared to the options you have suggested. Explain why Jack is always feeling hungry.

Use The Canada Food Guide and other sources to help you choose the number of servings, serving sizes and food choices that are appropriate for a growing teenager.

CASE STUDY #2

CHARACTER PROFILE: SABRINA

Okay first off I love sports. I play baseball, hockey, volleyball, and soccer. Right now, it’s basketball season. My high school team is in the semi-finals! I also play on a soccer team on the weekends. So I am either practicing for my next game or out playing. I’m really busy.

Here’s my problem. I know that to perform better I need to eat well. But, who’s got the time? With evening practices and weekend games, fast food has become my next best friend. We usually end up at a burger place. If I do eat at home, I am usually in a rush.

I’ve got to get my life in order. Take this food thing. What would you do in my shoes?

I need a fast food fix-up. The clock is ticking.

(Adapted from http://kidshealth.org)

After creating your healthy dinner and snack menu for Sabrina, discuss the calories, fat, and carbs in the food choices Sabrina is presently making compared to the options you have suggested. Explain how your menu choices will help Sabrina perform better.

Use The Canada Food Guide and other sources to help you choose the number of servings, serving sizes and food choices that are appropriate for an active teenager.