Teacher’s Talk: Day 5 Foods – Manipulating the Food Guide

Today, we examined the nutrient content of various food items while rotating through centers. We used the nutrition panels from drinks, cereals, and fast foods menus. Some students might not be drinking sodas for a while, as they actually measured the teaspoons of sugar in one bottle of soda. While we need both simple sugars (mono-saccharides) and complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides) they each help our bodies in different ways. Students are learning to make their own adjustments (or manipulations) to the food guide to meet their own needs and goals. We handled saturated fats in quantities that appear in specific foods items from popular places. We are learning that we can eat many things, but our own guide is becoming ‘moderation’. The students are really doing a great job with the content in this one!