Food for Thought
Objectives
* To increase students' knowledge about good nutrition.
* To encourage students to make good food choices.
Presenting the Activity
Distribute a copy of Activity One to each student. Read the introduction as a class and ask students how much they feel they already know about food. Review the directions and give students time to complete the quiz individually. When all students have completed the quiz, go over each statement asking students to share their responses and discussing the answers.
Answers
1. Eating a variety of foods each day will provide you with the nutrients your body needs.
Agree. Choosing a variety of foods within and across food groups improves diet because different foods, even within the same food group, have different combinations of nutrients and other beneficial substances. For example, some vegetables and fruits might be good sources of vitamin C or vitamin A, while others are good sources of calcium or iron.
2. Foods from the grain group, along with fruits and vegetables, are the foundation of a healthy diet.
Agree. Grain products, vegetables and fruits are an important part of a varied diet. They provide vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates and other substances that are important to good health.
3. Olives can be used in a variety of ways.
Agree. California Black Ripe Olives are often enjoyed plain as a snack and are also used in salads, on pizza, in sandwiches and in main dishes.
4. The five-a-day rule means you should eat five times a day.
Disagree. This rule means you should eat five servings of vegetables or fruits each day. You can combine the two: three servings of vegetables and two of fruit, or four of fruit and one vegetable.
5. Strawberry-flavored gum counts as a fruit.
Disagree. Some gums and snacks have artificial flavorings added to them for taste. They do not contain the nutrients found in the real fruit.
6. Olives are a fruit.
Agree. Olives grow on trees. They are harvested in the fall as the fruits mature. When olives are picked from the tree they are green and very bitter tasting. They must go through a curing process before they can be eaten. The California Black Ripe Olive is processed in a curing solution that leaches the bitterness out, giving the olive its firm texture and smooth, mellow taste. The olives then go through several cold water rinses to remove all traces of the curing solution. During these rinses, a flow of air bubbling through the olives produces their natural, rich dark color.
7. Water is not a nutrient.
Disagree. Water is the most important nutrient. It is needed to carry out chemical processes within the body, to carry waste products away and to cool the body.
8. The body gets calories from carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
Agree. The body requires large quantities of these nutrients because they provide us with energy - the fuel to run our bodies.
9. Olives are low in calories.
Agree. The California Black Ripe Olive is low in calories. It ranges from 4 calories in small olives to 12 calories in the super colossal size.
10. Fats found in foods are all the same.
Disagree. Fats found in various foods are not all the same. Some fats are saturated, while others are unsaturated. Too much saturated fat can cause health problems, but unsaturated fat, in moderation, can be beneficial.
11. Some dietary fat is needed for good health and taste.
Agree. Dietary fat is needed to help absorb and use fat-soluble vitamins, nutrients and essential fatty acids. It also helps bring flavor to foods we enjoy.
12. Most American diets contain too much fat.
Agree. Fat often makes up about 40 percent of the total calories consumed each day by most people. Most doctors and experts recommend limiting fat to about 30 percent of daily calories.
Follow-Up Activities
1. With the class, tally the answers for each statement, make a table to show the number of correct and incorrect answers for each and then convert the information into a bar graph. Encourage students to share their observations. You might want them to repeat this quiz when you have completed the program and compare the results.
2. Have students meet in small groups to talk about the kinds of snacks they normally eat. They can make a list of the snacks and brainstorm about what the nutritional content might be. They should bring in the nutrition labels from some of these snacks for future reference.
