Food for thought

Nutritionist Rita has been teaching us all about what is in our food, why we need it and how much we need to help our bodies function well.
(We also learnt she competed and represented New Zealand in the last Commonwealth Games as a cyclist. She road her bike 4 hours a day 6 days a week to train. Christchurch to Littleton, around to Diamond Harbour and then over the hill to Port Levy)

Session 1 The Occasional - Sometimes and Lots of Food Pyramid. We learnt what gives us certain nutrients, foods that help the body function at its best and why too much of certain high sugary, salty fatty foods eaten all the time can cause problems for our bodies.

Session 2 We learnt how to read the food labels to find out what amounts we were getting in a product. We read the 'Ingredients lists'. Learnt how to read the Nutritional Information table. We know using the 100g column will help us to compare products more accurately and what a recommended amounts are. Today we focused on Breakfast cereals and drinks. Tomorrow we look at other foods on the shelf in the supermarket. Student will also do their own reseach on pricing of foods for our Inquiry.

The supermarket  visit will be to to compare food labels and find a "Rainbow of Colours" in the vegie and fruit dept.  Big thank you to the parents who are coming in their own lunch hour to make this happen for us!  YOU ARE AWESOME! We are having lunch early in class at 12pm and will be leaving school at 12.15 for a 12.30 start. Back for 1.30pm. 

Inquiry: In class, the students will be designing, pricing, making and share a healthy lunch. All based on the information presented in the Unit. Rita is going to give us a voucher to spend.

Students can then draw on and use the knowledge we have gained to make healthy selections that give a balanced meal suitable for their age group. They will be able to say why they have included certain foods and what nutrient that is providing for our body.
This gives a great opportunity to learn how to stick to a budget too.  Practical costings for food items. I want them to minimise waste, so they need to work out sensible amounts needed for particular items. EG: If making sandwiches, they need to consider,  how many loaves of bread will minimise amount of left overs etc.
It will be a great learning experience to gather, connect, relate and extend themselves.
I will post the pictures.