Nutrition: A Balancing Act

Food Choices We have food choices every day. Do we pick the sandwich with fries or do we have the salad? Do we have a candy bar or a granola bar? Some choices are easy. But what about the decision between two “healthy” foods?

Or Sometimes what we think is healthy is actually not as good for us as we think. This McDonalds Southwestern Salad with Grilled Chicken and a package of ranch dressing has 490 calories. Four McNuggets and small fries has 420!

Of course that is only looking at calories. To decide between these two items we would want to take other things into account. Fat Content Salad/Dressing = 24 grams (37%) Nuggets/Fries = 23 grams (35%)

Sodium (Salt) Salad/Dressing = 1490 mg Nuggets/Fries = 590 mg Protein Salad/Dressing = 12 grams Nuggets/Fries = 31 grams Fiber Salad/Dressing = 6 grams Nuggets/Fries = 3 grams

Vitamin A Salad/Dressing = 130% Nuggets/Fries = 2% Carbohydrates Salad/Dressing = 40 grams (13%) Nuggets/Fries = 40 grams

How Do These Diets Measure Up? How would you rate the diets of some teens from California and Rhode Island? #1 Here's a typical day's food choices in the life of Ryan Shaw, 15, from Coventry (Rhode Island) High School: Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese Lunch: French fries, fruit juice Dinner: Kentucky Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, milk Ryan's diet is high in fat and lacks adequate dairy and protein --two major groups for supplying calcium, vitamin D, and protein necessary for building strong bones and body structure and boosting our immune system.

Rianne's diet is missing fresh fruits and vegetables-important groups for essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants. (Important for fighting off diseases) #2 Rianne Short, 14, from Gospel Light High School in San Diego, eats: Breakfast: Honey Nut Cheerios, 1% milk Lunch: Bologna sandwich, banana bread, olives, fruit yogurt, lollipop, apple juice Dinner: Homemade chicken and noodle soup, garlic bread, milk, small chocolate bar

Christine's diet: No breakfast. It's just too long for the brain and body to go without food from dinner until that snack at 11:00 the next day. The body “drags” without a “jump start” in the morning. #3 Christine Marsden, the 15-year-old from Thousand Oaks, typically eats: Breakfast: nothing 11:00 Snack: Pretzels Lunch: Popcorn, fruit yogurt, juice, apple 3:00 Snack: Cereal, 2% milk Dinner: Steak, mashed potatoes, salad with Italian dressing, fruit roll-up, juice

Ethan's diet is high in sugar and fat and low in fiber. Occasional treats are OK but a steady diet of them means skimping on important nutrients elsewhere. Ethan Bjork, 16, a junior at Newbury High School in Thousand Oaks, California, typically eats: Breakfast: Toast with butter and jelly, milk, Twinkles, coffee with sugar and creamer Lunch: Sandwich, chips, apple, cookies Dinner: Bean and cheese burrito, iced tea with sugar, chips