READING FOOD LABELS: A GREAT TWO –MINUTE DRILL

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LESSON

OBJECTIVES: 1. Why are food labels important? 2. Parts of a food label: a. Serving size b. Servings per container c. Calories d. Sugar e. Fat

INDIANA STANDARDS(Grades 3-5).1.1 Identify the link between healthy choices and being healthy.(Grades 3-5).5.5 Identify a healthy choice when making a decision.(Grades 3-5).7.2 Identify a healthy practice to maintain personal health and wellness.

TEACHER TALKING POINTSWhy are food labels important? • Theycanhelpyoudecidewhattochooseaspartofyourhealthyeatingplan. • Labelstellyouwhattheingredientsinthefoodareandwherethefoodcamefrom. • Theingredientlistisanimportantpartofthelabel.Ingredientsarelistedinorder so you get an idea of how much of each ingredient is in the food. When something is listedfirst,secondorthird,youknowthatthisfoodprobablycontainsalotofit.The food will contain smaller amounts of the ingredients mentioned at the end of the list.

Parts of a food label: a. Serving size i. Alwaysstartwiththeservingsizeamount,whichisusuallyfoundatthetopofthe label.Therestoftheinformationonthelabelisbasedonthatamount. ii. Sometimes you’d be surprised that what you think is one serving (i.e. a bag of potato chips) is actually two servings. b. Servings per container i. Thelabelalsotellsyouhowmanyservingsarecontainedinthatpackageoffood.If thereare15servingsinaboxofcookiesandeachservingistwocookies,youhave enough for all 30 kids in your class to have one cookie each. c. Calories i. Acalorieisawaytomeasurehowmuchenergyafoodprovidestoyourbody.The number on the food label shows how many calories are in one serving of that food. ii.Thenumberofcaloriesapersonneedsvaries,dependingonthatperson’sgender, age,weightandactivitylevel.

d. Sugar i. Check the ingredient list to see where sugar appears and try to limit foods that mentionsugarinthefirstfewingredients.Thatmeansit’saverysugaryfood.Sugar hasdifferentnames,soitmightalsobecalledhighfructosecornsyrup,cornsyrup, sucrose,orglucose. e. Fat i. Totalfatshowshowmuchfatisinasingleservingoffood.Ourbodiesneedalittle fat every day because it is an important source of energy. ii.Unsaturatedfats,whicharefoundinvegetableoils,nutsandfish,areoftencalled “good fats” because they don’t raise cholesterol levels. iii. Saturated fats and trans fats are considered “bad” because they can increase a person’sriskfordevelopingheartdisease.Thesefatstypicallycomefromanimal products like cheese or meat. • WhenyoureadNutritionlabels,trytoselectfoodsthatarehighinfiber,vitaminsand mineralsandlowinsugar,sodium,fatandcholesterol.

STUDENT ACTIVITY – Food Ranking Activity

A food-ranking activity is a way for students to learn what’s important on a nutrition label when makinghealthyfoodchoices.Todothisactivity,bringinsixtoeightdifferentfoods with labels. Without looking at thelabels,askstudentstorankthefoods in order of what they think is the healthiest down to the least healthy.Oncetheydeterminetheorder,theycanthenanalyzethe nutrition labels to see if they correctly ranked them.

A variation on this activity is to rank the foods on a specificcomponentonthelabel,suchasmostcaloriestoleastcaloriesorthemostfibertothe least.

FAMILY INFORMATIONCreating opportunities to talk about healthy eating habits at home with your child can go a longwaytowarddevelopinglifelonghealthyeatinghabits.Mealtimesaregreatopportunities,but don’t limit yourself to discussing nutrition just at the table. Here are some tips for helping your child learn more about reading food labels: • Makethegroceryshoppinglisttogetherandcomparevariousbrandsofthesamefood atthegrocerystore. • Guesstheservingsize Asyourchildisgettingreadyforhis/hersnack,askthemtomeasureoutwhattheythink isoneserving.Thenhavethemmeasureoutwhattheactualservingsizeisaccordingto the food label. • PrepareIndividualservingsofsnackfoods Atthestartoftheweek,haveyourchildcheckthefoodlabelsofhis/herfavoritesnacks and measure out single servings that can be eaten after school. • HaveaSnackFoodScavengerHunt Eachfamilymemberfindsafavoritesnackfoodinthekitchen.Haveyourchildlead everyoneinfindingwhichfoodishighestorlowestinaparticularnutrient.Forexample, compare the number of calories in one serving of each food and select the nutritional “winner” with the lowest calories. Use different nutrients on different days.

LESSON PLAN EVALUATION

1. Foodlabelstellyouwhatingredientsareinaspecificfood.___True___False

2.Everypersonneedsthesameamountofcalorieseachday.___True___False

3.Foodsthatarehighinfiberaregenerallygoodforyou.___True___False

4.Foodsthatarehighinsugararegoodforyou.___True___False