We Are What We Eat!

Judy Jones
Kathie Fuller
East Chapel Hill High School
Beekmantown High School
Chapel Hill, NC
West Chazy, NY

Summary

This lesson is written for high school students and can be used as part of a unit about nutrition (the study of how food affects health). It helps students understand how important certain nutrients are for a healthy body. Students will work in groups to study sample diets. Each diet has too much or too little of a certain nutrient. Students will also study how common certain eating habits are among young people in the United States. At the end, they will summarize their research and act out a skit to share what they learned with the class.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify which foods provide specific nutrients.
• Explain what vitamin A, iron, calcium, and folic acid do for the body, and why each one is important for health.
• Explain why it matters to eat the right amount of calories from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
• Identify nutrition trends among teenagers, both across the country and in their own state.

Materials

1. Photocopies for each student of the Pretest, Nutrition Worksheet, Epidemiology Worksheet (epidemiology is the study of patterns in health and disease), Case Study Summary Worksheet, Epidemiology Summary Worksheet, and the Post-test.
2. Photocopies of the Cases for Nutrition Activity (one case per group).
3. Photocopies of the Nutrition Activity Rubric (one per group) for grading the presentations.
4. Open space on the board or a large pad of paper that the whole class can see.
5. Computers with Internet access (one per group).

Total Time Needed

4 hours

Procedures

Teacher Preparation

Before the lesson, get familiar with these three websites: "Major Nutrients," "Dietary Supplements Fact Sheets," and "MyPyramid." Also review the nutrients students will research and how they will collect the information needed for the worksheets.

Prepare the following ahead of time:

• An introduction to the lesson, including a review of how to do the diet calculations students will need.
• A copy of the opening case study to read aloud to students ("Billy's Dilemma").
• Copies of all the worksheets listed above.

Web Resources

Title: Major Nutrients
Link: www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Resources/appendd.pdf
Description: This U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) website explains what each major nutrient does in the body and which foods contain it. Use this information to help complete the "Nutrient Worksheet."

Title: Dietary Supplement Fact Sheets
Link: http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/Health_Information/Information_About_Individual_Dietary_Supplements.aspx
Description: This National Institutes of Health website gives detailed information about specific micronutrients (nutrients the body needs only in small amounts, like vitamins and minerals). Use this to help complete the "Nutrient Worksheet."

Title: MyPyramid.gov – Steps to a Healthier You
Link: www.mypyramid.gov/
Description: Students will use the USDA's "My Pyramid Tracker" tool to check the nutritional quality of the sample diets in each case. To use it, click "my pyramid tracker," then "assess your food intake." One student per group should register as a new user. Then the group can enter the details from their case study.

Step 1: Introduction (30 minutes)

Start the lesson by reading the example case, "Billy's Dilemma," aloud to the class. Ask students to brainstorm what extra information might help explain why Billy isn't feeling like himself. As students share ideas, write them on the board or a large pad of paper. Write ideas related to diet, nutrition, and weight near the top. Write ideas that don't relate to diet, nutrition, or weight near the bottom.

At the end of this activity, point out that many different things could affect Billy's health — but today's lesson will focus on the ideas at the top of the list, the ones connected to nutrition.

After brainstorming, have students take the "Nutrition Pretest."

Then lead a class discussion using these questions, writing responses on the board or pad:

• What can you learn by looking at a person's diet?
• Why is this information important?
• What might happen to Billy in the short term and long term if he doesn't change his diet?

Supplemental Documents

Title: Billy's Dilemma
Description: This case, read aloud to the class, is meant to spark discussion among students.

Title: Nutrition Pretest/Post-test
Description: A 14-question test given to students after discussing "Billy's Dilemma."

Title: Nutrition Pretest/Post-test Answer Key
Description: Answers to the 14-question test.

Step 2 (30 minutes)

Now that students are thinking and talking about diet, nutrients, and health, have them research different nutrients. They should learn what each nutrient does in the body and how it affects health, as well as what health problems can occur when someone gets too much or too little of it.

Split the class into groups of 3–5 students. Hand out the "Nutrient Worksheet" to each student. Direct students to the USDA's "Major Nutrients" document and the National Institutes of Health's "Dietary Supplement Fact Sheets" website to help them complete the worksheet.

Web Resources

Title: Major Nutrients
Link: www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Resources/appendd.pdf
Description: This USDA website explains what each major nutrient does and which foods contain it. Use this to complete the "Nutrient Worksheet."

Title: Dietary Supplement Fact Sheets
Link: http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/Health_Information/Information_About_Individual_Dietary_Supplements.aspx
Description: This National Institutes of Health website has detailed information on specific micronutrients. Use this to complete the "Nutrient Worksheet."

Supplemental Document

Title: Nutrient Worksheet
Description: Students use this worksheet to record what they learn about the nutrients they research.

Step 3 (1 hour)

Once students have researched their assigned nutrients, show the class how to use the "MyPyramid" website, using "Billy's Dilemma" as the example. Then give each group one case study from the "Cases for Nutrition Activity" document.

Students will use the "MyPyramid" website to study the nutritional content of the sample daily menu in their case. They should calculate the percent difference between the recommended amount of each nutrient for good health and the amount the person in the case actually gets from their sample menu. Answers for each case are provided in the "Cases for Nutrition Activity Answer Key." Note: student answers may vary slightly, but the answer key offers a good estimate for grading.

After finishing the calculations, each group should discuss what their findings mean and answer the analysis questions at the bottom of the worksheet.

Web Resources

Title: MyPyramid.gov – Steps to a Healthier You
Link: www.mypyramid.gov/
Description: Students use the USDA's "My Pyramid Tracker" tool to check the nutritional quality of the sample diets in each case. Click "my pyramid tracker," then "assess your food intake." One student per group should register as a new user, then enter the information for their case study.

Supplemental Documents

Title: Cases for Nutrition Activity
Description: This document contains all the case studies and tables for recording nutrition data. Each group gets one case.

Title: Cases for Nutrition Activity Answer Key
Description: Use this to check students' worksheets. Numbers may vary slightly depending on which foods students choose on the MyPyramid website.

Step 4 (30 minutes)

After analyzing their cases, students will complete the "Epidemiology Worksheet." Assign each group a nutrition-related behavior and have them find out how common that behavior is among young people in the United States and in their own state. Students will use the "Healthy Youth! Youth Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (YRBSS)" website for this.

When looking at the data, students should check all the years, genders, and grade levels available. (The YRBSS website includes confidence intervals with its data — a way of showing how reliable a result is. Explain this idea to students so they better understand what the data shows.)

Web Resources

Title: Healthy Youth! YRBSS
Link: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/yrbss/CategoryQuestions.asp?Cat=5&desc=Dietary%20Behaviors
Description: Students use this Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website to research eating habits among teenagers in the United States and in their own state.

Supplemental Document

Title: Epidemiology Worksheet
Description: Students use this worksheet to record what they find about nutrition and health habits among teens, and to note any patterns in the data.

Conclusion (1 hour, 30 minutes)

To wrap up the lesson, each group will prepare a skit to share their findings with the class. Encourage creativity — skits could be a TV interview, a soap opera scene, or a public service announcement. The skit should explain the group's case study and findings, including which nutrients were missing and which were in excess. It should also cover what these results mean, along with the national trends found through the YRBSS.

While each group performs, the rest of the class should pay close attention and complete the "Case Study Summary Worksheet" and "Epidemiology Summary Worksheet" for the other groups' cases. Grade the presentations using the "Nutrition Activity Rubric."

After all the skits, lead a class discussion about the nutrition trends students found among teenagers. Brainstorm ideas for addressing trends that could harm health.

Finally, give students the "Nutrition Pretest/Post-test" to complete.

Supplemental Documents

Title: Case Study Summary Worksheet
Description: Students use this worksheet to record each group's findings, so every student ends up with a complete set of notes from all the presentations.