Lesson 3.5: Making Healthy Nutrition Decisions

Overview

This lesson focuses on developing the skills necessary to make healthy nutrition decisions and understanding why making healthy decisions are so important to our overall well-being.

Learning Targets

  • Understand what processed foods are and explain how they contribute to a food-toxic environment.
  • Explain how type 2 diabetes is related to food choices.
  • Identify four examples of how foods might contribute to overall health or disease.
  • Identify key differences between healthy and unhealthy fats.
  • Explain the benefits of eating a nutritious breakfast.
  • Use the decision-making process to demonstrate how to choose a healthy breakfast.
  • Compare and contrast grilling and broiling with frying, and describe how each relates to health.

Preparation

For the Warm-Up Activity: Write the journal question on the board, or identify (and copy as needed) the worksheets you plan to use:

For the Content Focus: Open the Lesson 3.5 PowerPoint slides, or make copies of the Lesson 3.5 Note-Taking Guide.

For the Lesson Focus: Copy the Lesson 3.5 Making a Healthy Food Decision Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet. Create a teacher sample of the worksheet to share with the class.

Challenge Worksheet: Create a teacher sample of the worksheet to share with the class.

Warm-Up Activity

Select a warm-up activity to help get your class focused and on task.

  • Journal Question: How often do you eat prepackaged and ready-to-eat food? Why do you eat these foods?
    • Option: Write or project the question, and have students respond in their journals as they enter class.
    • Option: Have students discuss the question with a partner or in a small group.
  • Vocabulary Review: Have students work individually, in partners, or in small groups to complete the Lesson 3.5 Vocabulary Review Worksheet.
  • Quiz: Have students complete the Lesson 3.5 Quiz to assess their prior knowledge.
    • Option: Collect the quizzes, and use them alongside posttests to demonstrate student learning.
    • Option: Have students share their answers with a partner and then go over the answers together as a class.

Lesson Content

Review the content from the textbook lesson.

Option: Use the Lesson 3.5 PowerPoint slides to review the chapter content.

Option: Have students use the Lesson 3.5 Note-Taking Guide to review chapter content. Ask students to work alone, in pairs, or in small groups. Review the questions as a class if time permits.

Lesson Focus: Making a Healthy Food Decision

  1. Provide each student with a copy of the Lesson 3.5 Making a Healthy Food Decision Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.
  2. Have students work individually on the Worksheet.
  3. Review the task directions with students.
  4. Direct students that this worksheet will be turned in tomorrow, after they evaluate the healthy decision they made.
  5. Provide a teacher sample of a healthy nutrition decision to guide students with their work.

Challenge Activity

Have students who need an additional challenge work on the following critical-thinking task.

Kateri is 14. She usually skips breakfast, but, when she does eat, she likes to have sugary cereal and an energy drink. When there is fresh fruit juice in the house, she will drink that, but most of the time there isn’t any. At school, she often hears her stomach growling before lunch, and she has a hard time concentrating. How can you help Kateri learn to make healthier breakfast decisions? What advice would you give her? Write your response as a letter to Kateri.

Reflection and Summary

Review the critical content from today’s lesson. Review the learning targets, and ask students to answer each question posed.

Can you…

  • Understand what processed foods are and explain how they contribute to a food-toxic environment?

    Processed foods are foods that have been changed before they are sold or eaten. Our society is often called a food-toxic environment. A food-toxic environment is one where there is easy access to cheap, unhealthy convenience foods. Most of these foods are processed.

  • Explain how type 2 diabetes is related to food choices?

    Sugars are hidden in many processed foods. Sugar is a preservative and helps to keep foods fresh for longer. Diets high in added sugar make it more likely that you may end up with type 2 diabetes.

  • Identify four examples of how foods might contribute to overall health or disease?

    Diets high in sugar can lead to type 2 diabetes, cancer, or heart disease. Sodium is needed to help muscles contract, but diets too high in salt can lead to hypertension (high blood pressure). For a person with diabetes, eating a healthy diet and being active can help keep blood sugar at a safe level.

  • Identify key differences between healthy and unhealthy fats?

    Saturated fat is a type of fat that can lead to heart disease and heart attack. Saturated fat is most often found in animal fat and is usually a solid (not a liquid) at room temperature. Unsaturated fats are found in plant foods. Fish and plant foods are examples of good fats.

  • Explain the benefits of eating a nutritious breakfast?

    Breakfast helps to replenish the nutrients your body has lost during sleep and prepares you for the day ahead.

  • Explain the benefits of eating a nutritious breakfast?
    • Step 1: Understand the problem.
    • Step 2: Gather information and know your options.
    • Step 3: Know the consequences.
    • Step 4: Make a decision.
    • Step 5: Think about your choice.
  • Compare and contrast grilling and broiling with frying and describe how each relates to health?

    Fried foods are cooked in large amounts of hot oil. They add more calories and fat to your diet. Over time, eating fried foods can increase your risk for heart disease. Grilled or broiled meat is cooked with direct heat, such as over a barbeque grill or in an oven. Grilled and broiled meats don’t need any extra fat to cook, and some of the fat in the meat will melt off.

Assessment

Complete one or more of the following assessment tasks for this lesson.

  • Quiz: Have students take the Lesson 3.5 Quiz.
  • Vocabulary Review: Collect the Lesson 3.5 Vocabulary Review Worksheets, and evaluate them for accuracy.
  • Note-Taking Guide: Collect the completed Lesson 3.5 Note-Taking Guides, and spot check one or more items for completion and accuracy.
  • Skill-Building Worksheet: Have students submit the Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet: Making a Healthy Food Decision, and evaluate the behavior selection for appropriateness.
  • Journal Question: Ask students to respond to the journal question again, adding information they learned from today’s class. Require a one-paragraph response that uses proper grammar.

Take It Home

Pick a meal that you and your family eat on a regular basis. Ask a parent or guardian for the recipe, or look it up in a cookbook or online. Write down all the ingredients, and then identify at least two ways to make the meal healthier. Share your modified recipe with a family member, and encourage your family to try the healthier version together.