Think about the last time you at ate at your favorite fast food restaurant…mmm, tasty…now write down what you had to eat. Along with your meal, write down how many calories you think the meal was (remember a calorie is defined as a unit of heat that measures the energy available in foods). Your mission today is to create one meal from three different fast food restaurants, look at the nutritional values and see how those compare to your own Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) (remember to use your personalized chart from or go there to get your personalized RDA chart). After gathering that information, it will be your job to create a meal from one of those three previous fast food restaurants that is the healthiest by using the nutrition guide provided by that restaurant.

Use various websites from fast foods restaurants to create three meals that you (or an average person) would eat. Record total calorie and fat information on your paper. After you have created and recorded three meals (one from each fast food restaurant) you will then be asked to use the restaurants’ nutrition guides to create the healthiest meal possible – including an entrée (main item), a side, and a drink. After recording the new meal data, you will crate a graph comparing all three of the original meals and the three new healthier ones to how much an average male/female in your age bracket should use in a day.

You will need a pen/pencil, several sheets of paper, and access to a computer with an internet connection to begin.

STEP 1: Create one meal (that an average person would have – example might be a burger, fries, and drink/shake) from three different fast food restaurants of your choice. Many of these sites have menu builders that you can use to gather your information. Sites to use: –Burger King – –McDonald’s – –Jack-in-the-Box – –Wendy’s – –Subway – –Carl’s Jr. – –Taco Bell – –Chipotle - You may use other fast food restaurants if you want to!

STEP 1 Continued… After you find your meals, record the data on your paper. You need to make sure you have listed the type of main dish (a burger or type of sandwich), a side dish (like fries or onion rings), and a drink (could be a shake or soda pop). Next to each item write down their calories and fat. Total up the entire meal. Do this for each meal (remember you need to make one meal from three different fast food restaurants). Example: McDonald’s Restaurant – Typical Meal Food Item Calories fat (g) Entrée: Quarter Pounder w/ cheese (g) Side: Medium French Fries (g) Drink: Medium Coke 210 0(g) TOTAL: 1, (g)

STEP 2: Now create the healthiest meal possible (lower in total calories and calories from fat) from each site you used in step two, using the nutrition guides (or the meal builder) provided by the fast food restaurant’s sites. Record your data as well. Example: McDonald’s Restaurant – Healthy Meal Food Item Calories fat (g) Entrée: Healthier choice xxx xxx(g) Side: Healthier choice xxx xxx(g) Drink: Healthier choice xxx xxx(g) TOTAL: XXXX XXX(g)

STEP 3: Create a graph or chart that shows the difference in calories and fat for each meal (the typical meal and the healthier meal) for each of the three fast food restaurants. You can either draw your own graph or chart or use a program such as Microsoft Excel or Word. PRINT OUT YOUR GRAPHS!!!!!

STEP 4: Using the fast food nutrition chart you created, compare the typical meals and the healthier meals you created with your personalized food guide pyramid recommendations from Go to and enter your age, height, weight and activity level. Think about how your typical meal and healthier meal stack up against what you are suppose to have a day (calories and fat).

STEP 5: Answer the following questions. 1.What do you notice about the typical meal and the healthier meal? 2. How did you get one to be healthier than the other? 3. What can you do when you eat at fast food restaurants in the future that may help you eat healthier? 4. What did you learn from this WebQuest? 5. Write a reflection answering these questions.

Turn in your Reflection, Recordings, Chart, and Food guide pyramid Comparisons for assessment. STAPLE EVERYTHING TOGETHER & MAKE SURE YOU LOOK OVER THE RUBRIC ONE MORE TIME!!!

After finishing this WebQuest, you should be able to look at a nutrition guide (or a meal builder) and figure out how to eat healthier when going to fast food restaurants by looking at the total calories and fat that each meal (or food item has). You should also be able to see how much of your recommended daily allowances eating one fast food meal can take up if you are not making healthy decisions.

Restaurant Nutrition Information: Original WebQuest & Clipart: 8&p=supersize%20me&fr2=tab-web&fr=yfp-t-832