Nutrition for Good Health
By Debra Klar Johnson ~ Home Economics ~ Tom C. Clark High School ~ January 2000
INTRODUCTION/ACTIVITY ONE/ACTIVITY TWO/
ACTIVITY THREE/ACTIVITY FOUR/
ACTIVITY FIVE/ACTIVITY SIX/ACTIVITY SEVEN/ACTIVITY/EIGHT/
ACTIVITY NINE/GRADING

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INTRODUCTION

The first step to a healthy, happy and productive life is to maintain a well-balanced diet. This quest allows students to study the food pyramid and compare the suggested daily servings to their actual diet. Students will:

• Record their food intake for three days
• Gather information about the Food Guide Pyramid and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
• Design a three day menu full of great tasting, healthy foods using the Food Guide Pyramid and the Dietary Guidelines.

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Complete the Food Diary your teacher made available to you. You may also link to the the Food Diary. Record your food and beverage intake Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
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ACTIVITY TWO

Study The Food Pyramid. http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/ food/pyramid.html

1. Scroll to the bottom of the page
2. Look for the train
3. Click on Search
4. Click in the white box and type  Food Guide Pyramid
5. Press Enter
6. Scroll down to the Link that says Food Guide Pyramid and click on it
7. Click on each section of the pyramid and read the information

 

Complete the Food Pyramid chart in your Diary illustrating the number of servings required and typical foods from each group.

ACTIVITY THREE

Compare the recommended daily servings from the Food Guide Pyramid to each day of your three day eating records. Answer the following questions in your Diary.

• What healthy eating habits do you see in your food diary?
• Are you eating the recommended servings within each food group daily?
• How can you improve your diet?
• What foods are you eating too much of?
• What foods are you eating too little of?

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Review your three day eating diary and develop a sample diet of how you could improve your eating habits for these three days. Record your sample menu in your diary. The answer the following question at the completion of this task.

• Why do you think I asked you to record your eating habits on three different days instead of three days in a row?

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Create a chart listing the Dietary Guidelines in column one of the chart.  The dietary guidelines are listed at this sitehttp://www.nalusda.gov/fnic/dga/dguide95.html  Create two extra columns. Label one column "My Three Day Diet" and the other "My Sample Diet."  In the second column compare your diet to each of the guidelines and write the results of your comparison.  In the third column list how the sample diet you have created compares to the guidelines.  If you know how to use Excel, this chart could be completed on the computer using Excel.
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ACTIVITY SIX

Analyze your Three Day Diet against the Dietary Guidelines. Mark your findings on your chart in the column labeled "My Three Day Diet."
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ACTIVITY SEVEN

Now analyze your Sample Diet against the Dietary Guidelines. Mark your findings on your chart in the column labeled "My Sample Diet."
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ACTIVITY EIGHT

Review your findings and write in your diary three conclusions from the information on your Dietary Guidelines chart.
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ACTIVITY NINE

As you conclude these activities answer the following questions.

• What surprises did you discover?
• List three things you learned from these assignments.
• Comments and questions.

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Grading Procedure

1. All parts of the Food Diary are complete. 20 pts
2. Answers of fact are correct. 40 pts
3. Worked effectively in pairs. 10 pts
4. Good use of class time. 10 pt
5. Evidence of effort. 10 pts