We Are What We Eat!

By Judy Jones and Kathie Fuller

Summary

This lesson is for students learning about nutrition. Nutrition is the study of the foods our bodies need to stay healthy. The lesson helps students understand why certain nutrients are so important for good health. Nutrients are the parts of food that give our bodies energy and help us grow, like vitamins and minerals.

Students will work in small groups to study sample diets. Some of these diets have too much of a nutrient, and some don't have enough. Students will also look at facts about how young people in the United States eat. Then they will share what they learned with the class by acting out a short skit.

What Students Will Learn

• Which foods give us certain nutrients
• What vitamin A, iron, calcium, and folic acid do for our bodies, and how they help keep us healthy
• Why it matters to eat the right amount of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins (these give our bodies calories, which are units of energy)
• What eating habits are common among teens across the country and in their own state

What You Will Need

1. Copies of a Pretest, a Nutrition Worksheet, an Epidemiology Worksheet (epidemiology means the study of health patterns in groups of people), a Case Study Summary Worksheet, an Epidemiology Summary Worksheet, and a Post-test for every student
2. One case study handout for each group
3. One scoring guide (rubric) for each group's skit
4. Space on the board or a big sheet of paper the whole class can see
5. A computer with internet access for each group

How Long It Takes

About 4 hours total

Steps to Follow

Getting Ready (Teacher)

Before starting, look over three websites: "Major Nutrients," "Dietary Supplements Fact Sheets," and "MyPyramid." Learn about the nutrients students will research and how they will gather their information.

Get ready to:

• Introduce the activity and review how to do the diet math
• Read the opening story, called "Billy's Dilemma," to the class
• Hand out copies of all the worksheets

Step 1: Getting Started (30 minutes)

Start by reading "Billy's Dilemma" out loud to the class. Then have students brainstorm — that means calling out ideas — about what extra information might explain why Billy doesn't feel like himself. Write their ideas on the board. Put ideas about food, nutrition, and weight at the top. Put other ideas at the bottom.

Point out that many things could affect Billy's health, but today the class will focus on the ideas about nutrition.

Next, have students take the "Nutrition Pretest."

Then ask the class these questions and write down their answers:

• What can you learn by looking at what someone eats?
• Why does this matter?
• What could happen to Billy, now or later, if he doesn't change what he eats?

Step 2: Researching Nutrients (30 minutes)

Now that students are thinking about food and health, have them research different nutrients. They will learn what each nutrient does for the body and what happens if someone gets too much or too little of it.

Split the class into groups of 3–5 students. Give each student a "Nutrient Worksheet." Have them use the "Major Nutrients" website and the "Dietary Supplement Fact Sheets" website to find their answers.

Step 3: Studying a Case (1 hour)

Show the class how to use the "MyPyramid" website, using "Billy's Dilemma" as an example. Then give each group one case study to read.

Students will use the "MyPyramid" website to check the nutrients in a sample daily menu from their case. They will figure out the percent difference — how much more or less — between the amount of each nutrient a healthy person needs and the amount the person in their case actually gets.

After doing the math, each group should talk about what their findings mean and answer the questions at the bottom of the worksheet.

Step 4: Looking at National Trends (30 minutes)

Next, students will fill out the "Epidemiology Worksheet." Give each group one nutrition-related habit to study. They will find out how common that habit is among young people in the United States and in their own state, using the "Youth Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey" (YRBSS) website.

Students should look at data from every year, both genders, and all grade levels available. This website also shows confidence intervals, which tell how sure we can be that the data is accurate. Explain this idea to students so they understand the numbers better.

Wrapping Up (1 hour, 30 minutes)

To finish the lesson, each group will act out a skit to share what they found. Encourage creativity — a skit could look like a TV interview, a soap opera scene, or a public announcement.

Each skit should explain the group's case, including which nutrients were too low or too high, what that means for health, and what the national YRBSS data showed.

While each group performs, the rest of the class should watch closely and fill out a "Case Study Summary Worksheet" and an "Epidemiology Summary Worksheet" about that group's case. The teacher will score each skit using the "Nutrition Activity Rubric."

After all the skits, lead a class discussion about the eating trends students found among teens. Brainstorm ideas for fixing habits that could hurt people's health.

Finally, give students the "Nutrition Post-test" to see what they learned.