How healthy is
“your” Fast Food?
An Online Database Exploration
for 6th Grade (Math & Health)
By: Mrs. Stacey Holmes
Roberts Middle School
[email protected]
Introduction
You’re in the drive-thru line at Burger King and you
ask your
mom to order you a Whopper
content
here
Junior with Cheese, small fries, and a small coke. Sounds good, right? But how healthy is that
meal you just ordered for yourself?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about 32% of children and
adolescents today—about 25 million kids—are overweight or obese (Hall & Hellmich 2010). Today
you will be using a database to investigate your favorite fast food items and then calculate the
percent of calories that come from fat. Then you are going to see if you could make healthier
choices based on what you learned.
Let’s Check It Out!
To go to the nutritional database go to http://www.foodfacts.com/. Before you begin searching
for your favorite fast food items, you must learn a little about food nutrition labels and how to
use the website.
First, click on the toolbar on the homepage (located in the middle of the page) that has the
clipboard and is titled “Nutrition Facts.” Once there, scroll down until you see the picture of
the nutrition label and click on “Learn More.” Take a couple of minutes to read and explore the
aspects of a food nutrition label. On the worksheet I have provided, answer the following
questions about a food nutrition label:
Let’s Check It Out (continued)
1.) Most adult females need about _________ calories per day, while most adult males need
approximately _________ calories per day.
2.) In the example, how many total calories are in the cereal? _________ How many of
those calories come from fat? _________
3.) When looking at the ingredients, which ingredient makes up most of the cereal?
_________
Next, click on the toolbar at the top of this page that has the picture of the scale that says
“FFHS.” This is the Foodfacts Health Score. This is a tool that rates how healthy a product
is on a scale from 0 to 100--the higher the score the better. Answer the following questions
about the FFHS rating:
4.) What category would a food item with a FFHS score of 55 be in?
a. Think again!
b. It’s OK
c.
Excellent
5.) The FFHS lets you know why a product may be good and bad. Circle: TRUE or FALSE
Now you are almost ready to begin your database search. First, let’s try one together.
Simply click on the tab on the top of the page that says “Products.” Then when looking at the
“Main Categories” select “Fast Food/Eating Out.” Select your favorite Fast Food Restaurant
that is on the list. Next you will select your food items, one at a time, and record the total
calories, the calories from fat, and the Foodfacts Health Score on your worksheet.
PRACTICE EXAMPLE:
 Select “Burger King”
 Next, select “Burgers”
 Then, select “Burger King’s Original Whopper Jr. Sandwich-with Cheese”
 Lastly, record the Total Calories (440 calories), Calories from Fat (230
calories), and the FFHS (24).
Now, go back to the “Fast Food/Eating Out” page by clicking on the breadcrumb at the top of
the page. Find your restaurant and start investigating your favorite fast foods!
Collecting Data
Fill out the information you find on the database on your worksheet (first 4 columns). You
should have at least 3 products from your favorite fast food restaurant—typically a meal
consisting of a main dish, side, and a drink.
Food Product
(meal)
Total Calories
Calories from Fat
Foodfacts Health
Score
% of Calories
from Fat
440
230
24
(calculated by
you later)
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
Example:
Burger King
Whopper Jr. with
Cheese
Totals:
Mean:
XXXXXX
Some Math Calculations!
In this section, you will also want to provide some suggestions or guidelines to students for
ways of recording the information they find. You might suggest that they
Now that you collected your data, you can begin making some calculations and analyze your
 Bookmark sites
information.
 Keep notes in a word processing document
 Save data in a spreadsheet
First,
the
help of
find the PERCENT of calories that come from fat and fill in
 with
Make
entries
toaa calculator,
blog or wiki
out on the
last column
of the chart.
Useprovide
the formula:
Complete
a worksheet
that you
Be sure to give them Calories
advice on
when
that they have searched enough for the
from
Fatto determine
x 100 = ________%
information they need.
They
will
need
to
know
when
to stop!
Total Calories
Secondly, add up the “Total Calories”, the “Calories from Fat”, and the “Foodfacts Health
Score” Columns. Next, find the overall PERCENT of total calories come from fat. Use the
formula:
TOTAL Calories from Fat
Overall TOTAL Calories
x 100 = ________%
Some Math Calculations! (continued)
After calculating your percents, you should calculate the MEAN (average) Foodfacts Health
Score.
Questions:
6.) What category does your “Mean Foodfacts Health Score” fall? ______________________
0-30 RED = Think again!
31-70 YELLOW = It’s OK
71-100 GREEN = Excellent
7.) Suppose a nutritionist recommends that, at most, 20-35% of the total number of calories
should come from fat.
Does the meal you chose meet those requirements? ___________
Let’s See What You Learned
Since you just figured out where your FFHS falls and the percent of overall calories from your
favorite fast food products, now let’s see if you can create a healthier fast food meal for
yourself.
When you make the decision to eat fast foods, many different food options are available for
you to choose. You may go to the same fast food restaurant or a different restaurant. Try to
create a healthier meal for yourself—one that has a higher FFHS and where, at most, 20-35%
of the total number of calories come from fat. You may have to search & try different options.
Complete the Revised Chart on your worksheet:
Food Product
Total Calories
Calories from Fat
(meal)
Foodfacts Health
Score
Example:
Chick-Fil-A
Chargrilled
Chicken Sandwich
% of Calories
from Fat
30/271 x 100=
270
30
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
21
11%
Totals:
Mean:
XXXXXX
Let’s See What You Learned (continued)
Then, go ahead and make the same calculations (totals and mean) as you completed on your
original chart.
Questions:
6.) What category does your “Mean Foodfacts Health Score” fall? ______________________
0-30 RED = Think again!
31-70 YELLOW = It’s OK
71-100 GREEN = Excellent
7.) Suppose a nutritionist recommends that, at most, 20-35% of the total number of calories
should come from fat.
Does the NEW meal you chose meet those requirements? ___________
8.) Overall, would you say that your new meal is healthier than your original meal? __________
Explain_______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
9.) What did you learn from completing this database activity on fast food nutrition?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
10.) Did this activity change the way you feel about fast food? Explain.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
11.) What changes do you foresee yourself making next time you choose to eat fast food?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Evaluation
Please be sure you completed the following requirements for this activity (25 Total Points):




Correctly filled out the 2 charts using the database provided. (6 points)
Accurately calculated the percent of calories that come from fat, the totals, and the
mean FFHS. (10 points)
Attempted to create a healthier meal from a fast food restaurant. (3 points)
Completed a thorough reflection on the concepts learned by completing this activity. (6
points)
What did you like about this activity? ______________________________________________
What did you dislike about this activity? ___________________________________________
Conclusion
By completing this database exploration, I hope you now have a greater understanding of the
health concerns associated with eating some fast food products. Not all fast food products are
bad for you, but you do have to make wise choices because some are definitely healthier than
others. Now you can apply your knowledge of what you learned to make better decisions when
you do go out to eat and you can take a look at nutrition labels to help you with those decisions
when they are available.
In addition, you should now have a greater understanding of how to find and apply percents to
real-world situations. Percents can be found and used for a variety of purposes, such as on a
food nutrition label. I hope you found that databases can be a wonderful resource and that
contain a wealth of information.
I encourage to learn about the “Let’s Move” nationwide campaign started by First Lady Michelle
Obama to tackle the challenge of childhood obesity. See what you can do to stay healthy and
fit and to help others do the same. Visit http://letsmove.gov/.
Credits
Resources:
The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. (2007) “Everyday Mathematics.”
(Volume 2, Grade 6). Chicago, Illinois: Wright Group/McGraw-Hill.
“Foodfacts.com—Find out what’s really in your food.” Retrieved on May 23, 2010 from
http://www.foodfacts.com/.
Hall, M. and Hellmich, N. (2010, February 9). “Michelle Obama aims to end childhood obesity
in a generation.” USA Today. Retrieved on May 23, 2010 from
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2010-02-09-1Afirstlady09_CV_N.htm.
“Let’s Move—America’s Move to Raise Healthier Generation of Kids.” Retrieved on May 23,
2010 from http://letsmove.gov/.
Credits (continued)
Images are from:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/02/all-aboard-for-michelle-obamaschildhood-obesity-campaign.html
http://wsjv.images.worldnow.com/images/9187302_SS.jpg
Other educators can use this lesson and are to give credit to Stacey A. Holmes for creating the
lesson.
Lesson created on May 23, 2010.