Lesson 4.1: Understanding Foods and Nutrients

Overview

This lesson focuses on learning about the nutrients in foods and how those nutrients can affect your health and well-being.

Learning Targets

  • LO1: Explain how nutrients affect your overall health.
  • LO2: Describe the importance of each nutrient category and provide examples of foods for each.
  • LO3: Identify and defend the benefits of drinking enough water each day.
  • LO4: Explain how sugary drinks and energy drinks might influence your health.
  • LO5: Use communication skills to increase water consumption.

Preparation

Chapter Opener: Use the chapter 4 Is My Diet Healthy? self-assessment as a reflective introductory activity to start the chapter. This activity will allow students to identify their own dietary decisions and food choices to determine how healthy their current diet is.

For the Warm-Up Activity: Write the Journal Question on the board or identify (and copy as needed) the worksheets you plan to use:

For the Content Focus: Make copies of the Lesson 4.1 Note-Taking Guide. Project the Lesson 4.1 PowerPoint slides.

For the Lesson Focus: Copy the Lesson 4.1 Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet: Communicating the Benefits of Drinking Water.

Warm-Up Activity

Select a warm-up activity to help get your class focused and on task.

  • Self-Assessment: Have students complete the Is My Diet Healthy? self-assessment.
  • Journal Question: What do you drink when you are thirst, and how do you decide what to drink? Explain your answer using three different circumstances and situations.
    • Option: Write or project the question and have students respond in their journal or on their “bell ringer” sheet as they enter class.
    • Option: Have students discuss the question with a partner or in a small group.
  • Vocabulary Review: Have students work individually, in pairs, or in small groups to complete the Lesson 4.1 Vocabulary Review Worksheet.
  • Quiz: Have students complete the Lesson 4.1 Quiz to assess their prior knowledge.
    • Option: Collect the quiz and use it alongside a posttest to demonstrate student learning.
    • Option: Have students share their answers with a partner and then go over the answers together as a class.

Lesson Content

Review the content from the textbook lesson.

Lesson Focus: Communicating the Benefits of Drinking Water

  1. Give each student a copy of the Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet: Communicating the Benefits of Drinking Water.
    Option 1: Have students work individually to complete the worksheet. Have students turn in the worksheet with their PSA attached to the worksheet at the end of the class period.
    Option 2: Put students into groups of two or three. Ask students to work together to complete the worksheet and create their PSAs. When students have completed that step, ask each group to share and present their PSA with the rest of the class.

Challenge Activity

Have students needing an additional challenge work on the following Thinking Critically task.

Your friend doesn’t like to eat any kind of vegetable except processed potatoes in chips and French fries, which they eat at least once a day. What could you tell your friend about the benefits of eating vegetables? What could you tell them about their habit of eating chips and fries? Identify three ways they might get more fresh vegetables into their diet. Write a two-paragraph persuasive response.

Reflection and Summary

Review the critical content from today’s lesson. Review the learning targets and ask students to answer each question posed.

Can you...

  • Explain how nutrients affect your overall health?

    The nutrients you consume each day keep you healthy, help you perform your best, and give you the energy you need to move.

  • Describe the importance of each nutrient category and provide examples of foods for each?

    Category of Nutrient Importance Foods
    Carbohydrates Main source of energy for your body Fruits, milk, bread, pasta, potatoes, rice
    Fats Another source of energy in food. Avocados, olive oil, bacon
    Proteins Substances found in food that provide calories and help build and repair tissues Eggs, meat, cheese, vegetables, beans, seeds, grains
    Vitamins Small substances found in foods that are essential for life Meats, meat products, vegetables, fruits
    Minerals Small substances found in foods that are essential for life Meats, meat products, vegetables, fruits
    Water Essential for life; makes up most of the human body Drinking water, fruits, vegetables

  • Identify and defend the benefits of drinking enough water each day?

    Without water you could not carry any of the other nutrients around in your body. In fact, your body is made up mostly of water. Students may also include answers from figure 4.7 in the text.

  • Explain how sugary drinks and energy drinks might influence your health?

    Sugar can cause cavities in your teeth, can add to health problems like type 2 diabetes, or can cause you to gain weight. Energy drinks can cause you to start feeling your heart beat fast or see your hands shake when you try to write. These are signs that your body is not handling the caffeine well. Energy drinks can also give you anxiety or cause you to sleep poorly.

  • Use communication skills to increase water consumption and improve the health of others?

    Water is an essential nutrient with important benefits such as keeping your eyes, brain, blood, and lungs healthy; keeping your skin looking healthy; and helping your muscles to function properly. It also helps with maintaining a healthy weight and carries important nutrients throughout your body. Many people don’t drink as much water as they need to on a daily basis. Persuading people to drink more water rather than coffee, drinks high in sugar, or energy drinks will help to improve health of yourself and others. The Skill-Building Challenge is where this learning target is met.

Assessment

Complete one or more of the following assessment tasks for this lesson.

Take It Home

Tell the people you live with that you are trying to promote drinking water instead of sugary drinks, and why. Write a benefit on at least six cards or sticky notes that you place in key locations in your home where they will serve as good reminders for your family. After three days, ask your family members whether the notes helped them to drink more water.

Option: Assign the Is My Diet Healthy? self-assessment as a homework task if it was not used at the start of this lesson.