Introduction
Someone close to you has a lot of health concerns: type 2 diabetes (from too much sugar), obesity (from eating too much nutrient deficient food), hypertension (high blood pressure from too much sodium), heart disease (from too much saturated fat and little exercise). Even though they eat throughout the day, they still feel hungry and tired. Their poor health has them feeling stressed, depressed, and overwhelmed with what to do and where to start. Because you took a nutrition and foods class at school with the fabulous Ms. Z they have asked you to help them make healthier choices.
Your goal is to create a dietary plan to help your loved one and explain to them important nutrition guidelines so they can change their lifestyle.
Task
In this webquest you will look at dietary guidelines and recommendations from reputable sources. From your research your team will create a set of parameters you will use to construct an overall healthy eating pattern for your loved one.
You will analyze the food journal of your loved one and suggest healthier alternatives.
You will advise your loved one of important recommendations so that they may apply it to making healthy choices in the future.
Process
Step 1: Complete the MyPlate plan to find out calorie allowances for your loved one. https://www.myplate.gov/myplate-plan
Step 2: Each member will pick 2 days from the eating diary to look up nutrition information.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CiFDDFl_14-9_it9TgLukbknf0_7LuCB0ve3C81CbiQ/edit?usp=sharing
Record the important information for each meal and total the amounts for each day: Calories per serving, Fat, Added Sugars, Sodium.
Step 3: Use the resources provided to learn about guidelines individuals should follow for an overall healthy eating pattern. Discuss important points as a group. You will use this later in the assignment. Note general advice (example: eat a rainbow) vs. more specific advice (consume less than 10% of daily calories to added sugars. For me, that number is 40 grams or 160 calories equivalent to about 1 can of soda).
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This is the nutritional advice set forth by the USDA and what is taught in most schools. However, it is flawed in many ways because there are people other than doctors involved in creating it. For example, dairy should not be consumed at every meal. |
this is MyPlate info specific to teens. It is broken down a bit simpler than the general version. It can be a start to trying to learn how to eat a healthier balanced diet |
Harvard Healthy Eating plate vs. USDA MyPlate The Chan School of Public Health at Harvard is not influenced by lobbyists like the USDA. The Harvard Healthy Eating Plate SHOULD be the model most people follow, not MyPlate. |
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This model comes from a non-profit, however it is based on traditional ways of eating from cultures around the world. It is more inclusive and specific to regions around the world. |
Harvard Healthy Eating Pyramid This is a model that works with the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate. It breaks down servings of more specific food categories so people can see which types of foods to consume more of and which types of foods to limit |
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Dietary Guidelines food sources of select nutrients The categories listed are nutrients which are typically under-consumed by Americans. Each category lists nutrient dense examples of foods with portion sizes and calorie counts, which can help individuals meet recommended intake levels as part of their eating pattern. |
American Institute for Cancer Research- New American Plate This site is a good resource to learn about portions and proportions of foods we eat. Americans generally consume too much of nutrient deficient calories while not eating enough nutrient dense foods. The visuals illustrate how you can transition from a typical American meal to a healthier disease prevention one. |
Step 4: Analyze the food diary based on what you learned. Write a page or more summary about how your loved one's food diary compares to leading nutrition advice. What are your biggest concerns about their eating habits?
Step 5: Modify and make suggestions for healthier alternatives. Explain how the modifications you suggest will lead to better health and why the meals they selected could be detrimental to their health. This should be outlined in written form, but also used as the basis for your conversation with your loved one (surprise! Your favorite teacher will play the role of your "loved one". That's me.)
Step 6: the "Presentation". Your team will present your information to me and educate me. You will show me some example numbers of concern based on my dietary journal. Then you will inform me about why my diet is concerning, based on nutrition information you researched. Be ready to answer any questions I have. Continue with the modified plan your team assembled to explain to me how I can make healthier choices and why your recommendations are aligned with nutrition guidance.
Evaluation
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| analysis of food journal |
calculations completed; comparisons made |
some information missing; analysis not thorough | Missing major pieces of analysis and/or calculations | no evidence of analysis or calculations completed |
| group notes from research | students pulled important messages from at least 5 cited sources | recommendations cited based on a few sources | recommendations appeared from only 1 source | no evidence of group research |
| modified meal plan | modified meals suggested for all days; meals aligned with recommendations; meals showed creativity, variety, and palatability | Modifications made for 3-6 days; meals were basic but adequate with little suggestion of less commonly eaten foods | modifications made for less than 3 days; meals were boring and showed little effort in creativity | no modifications made |
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final discussion (individual grade) |
member contributed to final discussion; was knowledgable to answer questions, evident that student could interpret & apply research | member had a good understanding of topic, but some misinformation or lack of knowledge relating to topic; couldn't respond fully to questions | member contributed little; could not recall information; little evidence that student made effort to contribute | did not contribute |
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reflection (individual grade) |
thorough, thoughtful, personal reflection and analysis | some questions reflected upon. answers were basic and lacked understanding | reflection was rushed and lacked depth. answers were not original thoughts | no reflection |
Conclusion
Please respond to the following reflection and summary questions based on YOUR research (this is specific to you, not the group as a whole)
What are messages/guidelines pertaining to fruits and vegetables? How much should the average person come? Are there more specific types of fruits and vegetables people should try to consume?
What are messages pertaining to protein? What types should people eat more of or limit? How can people who do not consume animal products consume protein in their diet?
What should people know about carbohydrates? In what foods can carbs be found? Which types of carbohydrate foods are better than others?
How much added sugar is the upper limit for people to consume daily? Do most people stay under this limit? What are some foods or beverages that are consumed which are high in added sugar? How does too much sugar affect the body?
Will eating foods containing fat make someone fat? Is fat in food ever a good thing?
To maintain a healthy diet, does someone need to eat all organic? How can people apply nutrition guidelines when shopping for and eating food?
What have you learned about portion sizes and nutrition labels? How can you apply this in a meaningful way to your eating patterns?
What did you learn about nutrition from this webquest? What was surprising? How can you apply what you learned to your eating patterns?
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I hope you were able learn about nutritional information and apply it in some way to your choices. I hope you share what you learned with people you care about so they can have information to achieve optimum health and reduce chronic disease. If you are interested in learning more about nutrition, any of the resources provided have tons of information for further review. Other good sources of information are:
American Heart Association https://www.heart.org/en/
CDC Chronic Disease Resources https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/factsheets/nutrition.htm
This is a course I took at Stanford. It's free through Coursera https://www.coursera.org/learn/food-and-health#about
FDA How to Read and Understand the Nutrition Facts Label https://www.fda.gov/food/new-nutrition-facts-label/how-understand-and-use-nutrition-facts-label
Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics https://www.eatright.org/
Credits
Myplate.gov
USDA
Harvard Chan School of Public Health
Teacher Page
Standard: Nutrition
Objectives: SWBAT
Learn about nutrition guidelines
Assess foods/eating plans for nutritional content
Apply nutritional guidelines to create healthy, balanced meal plans