Students gather data on the nutritional value of fast food restaurant menu items.
Students and healthy weight is a big concern in the 21st century. Some students are eating higher caloric foods and engaging in less exercise for an assortment of reasons. This health lesson plan is for junior, intermediate, and high school students to uncover the truth about fast foods and their role in their weight.
Introduction: What is a Calorie?
Students are to discuss the concept of a calorie. Students are to identify what a calorie is and how it relates to food and their bodies. Each group will write calorie in the center of a chart paper and write their ideas about calories. Students will do a 2-3 minute presentation to the class about calories and their roles for in the human body.
Calorie: Basically, it is a scientific way to measure energy. Every food item gives us energy and our bodies need energy to function. Our bodies need a certain amount of calories for the body to stay active, however excess calories will cause us to gain weight because the calories are stored as fat.
After students have done their presentations; the teacher will place the word calorie on chart paper and discuss with the class; what is a calorie? Teacher will write the important information that is related to calories and to dismiss any untrue data the students brainstormed.
Fast Food Restaurants: Why do we eat at fast food restaurants?
Teacher and students will have a discussion about fast food restaurants and the reasons we are visiting them more often than in the past. Why is there such a demand for fast food restaurants on every street corner?
Independent Activity: Students are to write a short paper on why there are thousands of fast food restaurants in Canada?
Fast Food and Nutrition
Each group will randomly pick a fast food restaurant in their community.
McDonalds, Wendy’s, Burger King, Subway, Tim Horton’s are a few fast food restaurants that provide the nutritional value of all their menu items. Each of these fast food restaurants provides the calories and most of them allow you to add to your order to calculate the total amount of calories for your meal on their websites. As well, many of the fast food restaurants have print information for the nutritional value of their menu items at the restaurant.
Group Activity: Student’s objective is to calculate the more common meals at the fast food restaurant for students in their age group. As well, they will identify the highest and lowest caloric meals. After students have identified these meals they are to change the meals only slightly to reduce the calories. It is important for students to make changes to their diet that they are willing to participate in. For example, a student may substitute the pop for water or chose a one patty burger.
Students are to display the information to educate others in school. As well, students need to report some shocking information that they observed or concluded after their data collection. Most of us seem to take notice if there is a ‘Wow’ factor.
Wow Factor Examples
Student calculates the amount of calories for everyone in Canada for only having one fast food meal in a year. That is a Wow factor because it makes people stop and think about the intake of calories.
Student calculates the amount of fat a student will produce in one year, eating fast foods once a week. (3500 calories= 1 pound of fat)
Conclusion of Lesson
Open forum about eating at fast foods and what they learned in this unit on fast foods and calories. It is important to discuss the information at the end of the lesson for students to bring all the information together.
