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.
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