Topic: Eating healthy is necessary to be healthy

Target group

7th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

4. The digestive system and nutrition. Student:

6) explains the role of fiber in the functioning of the digestive system and justifies the necessity of systematic consumption of fruits and vegetables;

7) justifies the need for a varied diet and adapted to the needs of the body (age, sex, health, physical activity, etc.), calculates the body mass index and presents and analyzes the health consequences of improper nutrition (obesity, overweight, anorexia, bulimia, diabetes).

General aim of education

Students explain the principles of proper nutrition

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• explains what healthy eating means and justifies the need to eat healthy;

• to count and to interpret the BMI;

• to analyze the energy balance of the body and the energy needs of the body;

• talks about eating disorders.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • metaplan technique.

• exposing

  • exposition.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Volunteers carry out the survey „Healthy eating habits” (attachment No. 1) among colleagues, and its results are developed in the form of a bar diagram.

Introduction

• The teacher explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

Realization

• Volunteers carry out the survey „Healthy eating habits” (attachment No. 1) among colleagues, and its results are developed in the form of a bar chart..

• Students, using the metaplan method, analyze the problem: „Why do not children eat the first breakfast?”.

• The teacher asks the pupils why it is important to eat sea fish and salads and why they should eat every four hours. Supplements or corrects students' statements.

• Students read the fragment „Energy requirements of the body” and discuss the concept of energy balance.

• The teacher explains what the body mass index (BMI) is. He asks students to calculate their index and check that it is correct. The teacher helps students interpret the results.

Summary

• The teacher divides the students into five‑person teams. He gives them cards (Attachment No. 2) and boards (Attachment No. 3) for the game of criterion poker. Explains its principles (Attachment No. 4) and invites children to play.

Homework

• Together with their parents and siblings, the students fill in the „Healthy eating habits” questionnaire and they are considering introducing possible changes in the home diet.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Eating healthy is necessary to be healthy

The way you eat decides about your health, influences your growth, physical development, and even your mental state. Knowledge of the norms of healthy eating and following them already at a young age increases the chances to live a long, healthy life, which is why creating healthy eating habits has a great significance in preventing illnesses. A balanced diet lowers the risk of obesity and its consequences, such as cardiovascular diseases, arteriosclerosis, gastrointestinal system disorders.
Everyday diet should be:

• diversified, that is a diet that includes various products, e.g. vegetables and sources of proteins (fish, various types of meats, cheeses and other diary products, legumes and pulses), and composed of meals prepared in various ways;

• wholesome, which means it should provide the body with energy components, building blocks and regulatory components; it should be composed of possibly least processed products which retain possibly highest amount of vitamins and minerals while they are prepared (when it comes to vegetable products - a lot of fiber);

• balanced, that is providing nutrients in the right proportions and amounts, suitable for the needs of the body.

A food pyramid is helpful in preparing a daily diet according to healthy eating guidelines. A food pyramid is a graphic representation on nutritional and physical activity guidelines of the Institute of Nutrition and Food. It divides products into groups. The base of the pyramid are cereals, which should provide half of the energy needed every day. At the top of the pyramid there are foods that should be eaten in small amounts. You have to remember that among the food you eat every day there should be at least one product from each group.

The most common eating mistakes are: eating not enough fish, vegetables and fruit, snacking between meals, irregular meals, lack of second breakfast or eating sweet foods for second breakfast, not eating breakfast.

Basic condition for eating healthy is balancing the energy used and the food eaten. If the amount of energy provided is equal to the amount of energy used, body mass will stay the same. While we’re growing up, the required amount of energy is high, because our bodies use it to sustain life functions, mainly aimed at our bodies' development and growth. Additional energy is consumed also by physical activity and the effort during studying. The amount of energy used is given in kilocalories [kcal] or kilojules[kJ]. The correct development and maintaining the correct weight is possible when the body receives as much energy as it can use. In that situation energy balance is even and equals zero. In order to have control over it, we must know how much energy is in what we eat and how much energy our body needs. Thanks to this we can prepare well balanced meals that will satisfy the energy needs of a body.

If food that we eat has too much energy than what we need, the energy balance is positive, which lead to overweight, and if such state is maintained for a longer period of time – to obesity. The consequences of such situation are illnesses resulting from extra kilos. If we use more energy than we consume, our bodies will have negative energy balance, which leads to us losing weight and, in consequence, to being underweight and our organisms to be weakened.

A meal eaten by a student during the day should provide him 100% of energy, including:

• 1st breakfast 25%,

• 2nd breakfast 10%,

• dinner 35%,

• afternoon tea 10%,

• supper 20%.

You can count how much energy the body needs. It depends mostly on the age, gender, physical activity, health and type of work we do.

In order to maintain consistent energy balance, you can regularly control your body weight using body mass index, BMI. It allows you to assess if the proportions between your weight and height are correct, see if you are overweight or obese, and if you are at risk of any diseases connected with it. It is counted when we divide our weight (in kg) by our height (in meters) squared (BMI = $\frac{\mathrm{weight}}{\left(\mathrm{height}\right){}^2}$). This index provides an adequate image of the proportion between the body mass and the height only in adults.

• What we eat, that is the amount and the quality of food, influences our health.

• Everyday diet should provide various nutrients.

• Dietary suggestions were elaborated in a form of a food pyramid.

• The meals should have as much energy as we can use.