Food Choices Why do you eat the foods you eat? BEFORE THE BELL: 1. Get your journal. 2. Get a highlighter or marker that you can highlight with. 3. Get 5 coloring utensils…doesn’t matter the colors…just 5 different colors. 4. Turn in your I Am Awesome wkst.

Food Choices List

Many people create food rules in their head… Foods that are good or bad. Foods that will make them smart or dumb. Foods that make them cool or uncool. Foods that will create a perfect body. Foods that can only be eaten on certain days or at certain times. In your journal, list any food rules that you have floating around in your head. (examples: don’t eat after 5:00 pm; candy bars are bad…)

Cross out all of these rules.

Food is just fuel for the body. It’s not a magic substance that makes some people thin, others fat, some people cool, others uncool. Food is food. Enjoy it for what it is.

Our bodies were designed to be “intuitive eaters”. What’s an “intuitive eater” you ask? An “intuitive eater” is someone who: Listen to your body’s hunger signals…eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full. Listen to your taste buds…eat what tastes good! (Write this on your notes…)

Study A study done with preschoolers demonstrated to the medical community that our bodies can naturally regulate what we eat. Preschoolers were observed for a week and given access to all types of foods. Results: Children ate lots one day and the next day very little. Children picked different foods and food combinations for every meal. But… The conclusion of the study showed that the children met their nutritional needs (amount of energy, nutrients). And they were able to do this without any instruction! That means they listened to their body!

Remember healthy eating means listening to your body (intuitive eating).

Just like those little kids knew by listening to their body… Every single food has value for our body. Some foods just give our body fuel (calories = energy for our body), other foods give our body fuel and nutrients. THERE ARE NO BAD FOODS. Your body knows how to use the food you eat, if you let it. That means you need to listen to your body…listen to your hunger and fullness signals. Am I hungry right now? Or am I just bored? Am I full? Listen to your taste buds. Does this taste good to me?

There are actually only 3 “rules” to remember with food: Eat everything in moderation Eat something from every food group every day. Eat a variety of foods.

Back to your food choices list… 1. Highlight all the foods on your food choices list. Food is food! ALL FOOD IS GOOD FOR YOUR BODY!! 2. Put a checkmark by the foods YOU like.

In your journal: 1. List 10 foods you eat on a regular basis. (Almost every week.) 2. Put a dot by the foods you eat because of: (Make a color key for each dot.) Taste (YOU like this food.) Family Friends School Media (TV, magazines, movies, news) 3. How many of these foods are foods that YOU would choose?

List 5 of your all-time favorite foods. (If you have a food rule that is causing you to not write down a food, tell that food rule to “Shut up!”)

Spill It In your journal spill your brain… anything that’s going on in your life…anything you are thinking about…spill it on the page… Punctuation, spelling…who cares! Just spill it!