Lesson Title: Healthy Snacking & Nutrition Labels Lesson Date: Length of time: 60 min Subject area being addressed: Nutrition Objective of the lesson (what is the point): Engage students in healthy snack making decisions, which includes a refresher on nutrition label reading. List of materials: o Enough snack-size bags of chips for half of your group o Enough snack-size bags of pretzels for the other half of your group o Chip/pretzel wrappers, after students finish the snack o Copies of Satisfy Cravings activity o Copies of FDA Read the Label on Snacks handouts o Copies of nutrition searches to accompany FDA handouts o Pieces of paper and pencils 1. Hook (5 min) (Something fun and cool to hook students interest): Once all of the students are present, let them choose one of the two snacks prepared Make sure students save their wrappers. They will need them for the nutrition label search activity. But ask them to hide them/put them away during the activating background knowledge activity. Snacks: Snack-size bag of chips Snack-size bag of pretzels 2. Get Background Knowledge (10 min). Indicate what questions you will ask. Choose a Questioning Strategy from the list called Questioning Strategies Line-ups o Pass out 3 small pieces of paper and pencils for students to write their estimates o Ask each question separately o After each question, ask students to write their answers and then go lineup in order from lowest to highest estimate, without talking (they can show their papers while lining up) o Comment on the range of estimates and then give the correct answer. Questions: o How many calories do you think are in a bag of chips? (without looking!) o How many grams of fat do you think are in a bag of pretzels? (without looking!) o What % daily value of sodium do you think is in a bag of potato chips? (without looking!)
3. Lesson/Extended Activity Lesson (5 min): During adolescence, the body needs more nutrients to grow, but of course we need to pay attention to what we eat. Snacking on healthy food can keep our energy levels high and our minds alert, and also help us focus on homework. It is actually very important to snack instead of skip meals or wait until you re too hungry o If we don t snack, we usually end up eating more than we actually need at meals Activity + Debrief (15 min): *Satisfy cravings with healthier approaches activity Split the group into partners or groups of three (SMALL groups!) Hand them the list of cravings and ask each group to think of an inexpensive, healthy alternative to each of the snacks. Ask a few groups to share their ideas after the activity Lesson (5-10 min): *Pass out FDA Read the Label on Snacks handouts Snacking is a good thing, but only if we are choosing healthy snacks throughout the day. How do we judge whether a food is healthy? By reading the ingredients and the nutrition information on the food label. The first thing we should look at is serving size. If we eat two servings, we need to multiply all of the other numbers on the nutrition label to find out how much we re actually consuming. Then, we look at calories, which comes from fat, carbohydrates and protein. o There are different types of fat: saturated fats and trans fats are bad fats. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are actually good, in moderation. But of course we still want to limit the portion of fat because they are high in calories. There are also different types of carbs, sugar is one of them and should be eaten in moderation. Dietary fiber is healthy and something we want plenty of. It helps with digestion. Protein is always good, especially as growing teens because it helps build our muscles, skin and hair. Sometimes vitamins and minerals are listed on the nutrition label. We should try to get at least 100% of each vitamin and mineral everyday. Along the right side of the nutrition label, you will see the percentages for each nutrient, also called the percent daily value. If the percentage is 5% or less, it means it s low. If it s 20% or more, it means it s high. o The nutrients that we want to be low are total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium. o The nutrients you want to be high are fiber and vitamins and minerals. o For your potato chips, was the percentage of sodium low or high? Activity + Debrief (15 min): *Pass out nutrition label searches have each group fill out one sheet, as opposed to all four. Let s compare products! Remember to check serving size. Work with your groups to answer a few questions and determine which snack is the best choice After all the groups have finished, ask a few groups to share some of the findings they found surprising.
Ice cream How would you satisfy these cravings? Potato chips Cake French fries Gummy bears Corn tortilla chips Milkshake Popsicles Candy Bar
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/food/ingredientspackaginglabeling/labelingnutrition/ucm410497.pdf Read the Label on Snacks FDA Handouts (Print from the link above) o For the popcorn vs. pretzels, students will instead use the nutrition labels from the snacks they had earlier (potato chips vs. pretzels) Nutrition Label Searches (Print the sheets below) o Have each group/partnership fill out one sheet, then we will all share a few interesting facts from our snack comparison at the end.
Popsicle vs. Ice Cream How many servings are in the bucket of ice cream? Calculate the total calories in the bucket of ice cream: Total Calories = Calories per serving X number of servings Which snack has more fat? Which has more cholesterol? o Do we want a lot of cholesterol in our diet? Why or why not? How much more sugar does the popsicle have vs. the ice cream? Which snack has more vitamins (in total)? Snacking is good for teenagers. If possible, it s better to snack throughout the day than overeat at a huge meal. Which snack would you choose: ice cream or popsicle? Why?
Potato chips vs. Pretzels How many servings are in the bad of potato chips? Calculate the total calories in the back of popcorn: Total Calories = Calories per serving X number of servings Which snack has more trans fat? Which snack has more sodium? o Do you think it s good to have more sodium? Which snack has the most fiber? o Do we want a lot of fiber in our diet? Snacking is good for teenagers. If possible, it s better to snack throughout the day than overeat at a huge meal. Which snack would you choose: popcorn or pretzels? Why?
Yogurt vs. Pudding The pudding has 3g of total fat, but only 2g of saturated fat. o What kind of fat is the other 1g? o How much more fat does the pudding have vs. the yogurt? Which snack has the most fiber? Does yogurt have more protein than pudding? o If so, how much more? Which snack has the most calcium? o Should we try to choose snacks with more calcium? Why or why not? Snacking is good for teenagers. If possible, it s better to snack throughout the day than overeat at a huge meal. Which snack would you choose: yogurt or pudding? Why?
Chocolate Graham Cookies vs. Chocolate Chip Cookies What is the serving size for the graham cookies? o How many servings are there per container? Calculate the total calories for the entire box of chocolate chip cookies: Total Calories = Calories per serving X number of servings Which cookie has the most sugar? Which has more cholesterol? o Do we want a lot of cholesterol in our diet? Why or why not? Snacking is good for teenagers. If possible, it s better to snack throughout the day than overeat at a huge meal. Which snack would you choose: graham cookies or chocolate chip cookies? Why?