Fit For Life Nutrition Facts; Making Informed Choices

Today’s Snack  Apples & Cheese  What are your favourite ways to eat apples and cheese?

Discussion  Who buys the groceries in your house?  When you go to the grocery store, how do you decide between two products that are roughly the same? i.e. 1% milk & 2% milk  How do we know if we are buying healthy food?  What are some ways we can be sure our food is healthy?

The Truth About What We Eat  A lot of the time, we watch TV ads that tell us food tastes good  When we buy food, companies use pictures and catch phrases to market their food  There are specific strategies companies use to get you to buy their products  BUT, This doesn’t mean that it’s the healthy choice to make  Why is being healthy so important?

So, Who said it? Can you catch the slogan? TThe next few slides have slogans and pictures of popular foods that we eat. These companies aim their ads and commercials specifically at your age group in hopes that you will have your parents buy it, therefore having the company make more money. However, this doesn’t mean that these foods are the healthiest choice for us. CCan you figure out “who said it?”

“I’m lovin’ it”

“Give me a break, give me a break; break me off a piece of that ___ ___ ___ ”

“M'm! M'm! Good! “

“Gotta have my pops!"

“They're grrreat!”

“They're Magically Delicious”

“Bet you can’t eat just one”

“It’s not delivery, it’s _______”

So how SHOULD we choose our food?  To make the healthiest choice, we should use the nutrition food facts panel on the back or sides of food boxes  These panels tell us how much fat, fibre, and sugar are in the foods that we eat  What is a nutrition facts panel useful for? Comparing two foods of the same type Looking to see how much food is one serving

Take out your nutrition label  Have you ever seen a nutrition label before?  Have you ever taken the time to read one?  Who here thinks that they can read one?  Do you think it is complicated? Today we’re going to work on learning how to read food labels.

Serving Size  On each nutrition label, a serving size is listed  This amount is important to know as it is what the nutrition facts is based on  Are these sizes the same as our food guide serving sizes?  For example: This label shows indicates that per bar (granola bar) there are 12 grams of protein

Caloric Value  Each nutrition label lists how many “calories” are in each serving  Calories represent how much energy the food will give us  The energy we receive is based on the amount of fat, carbohydrate and protein present in the product

Review  What do Carbohydrates, Fats and Proteins do for our body?  We need a variety of these in our diets  However, we typically get enough fat and sugar from our food, so it is important to keep this as low as possible  Our goal is to have high fibre and vitamins and low fat and sugars

Vitamins and Minerals  We need a variety of vitamins and minerals in our diet  Food labels list the amounts of vitamins and minerals along with a percentage value  This number indicates how much we are getting out of how much we need (per serving) per day

Ingredients List  This lists all of the ingredients in the food  Often times there are many foods on the list which we are unfamiliar with. Typically these foods are added to keep the food fresh for longer. These foods are known as preservatives. Try eating foods with minimal amounts

Other Information on the Label  What else do you see on the label?  Are there specific things you have questions about?  What about Cholesterol and Sodium?  To maintain a healthy life we should try to limit both of these intakes

Activity  At your table, use your nutrition labels to fill in the sheet provided. Here you will write down how much fat, fibre, and other items are in your food. Based on the two items at your table, which is likely the healthier choice?  Remember we want things that are lower in sugar and fat (preferably no saturated and trans fats); and high in fibre and vitamins.

Conclusion  What did you learn today about the way that food is presented to us?  What are some ways that we can choose foods to make sure we’re eating healthy?  Why is it so important that we continue to eat healthy?  Are you excited to try to read labels on your own?

See you next week!