nutrition label assignment high school

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20 Nutrition Activities for High School

May 30, 2023 //  by  Chelsea Long

Learning about how, why, and what to eat before graduation can set students up for a lifetime of healthy eating habits.

Students have more options than ever in what they consume to fuel their bodies. GMOs, vegetarian, organic… so many choices! The following thought-provoking, engaging activities, lesson plans, and variety of resources help every high school student learn about nutrition, a healthy diet, their own eating habits, and why some methods of eating may be better than others, both for themselves and for the environment.

1. Should High Schoolers Eat Breakfast? 

As an introductory class, take the time to read a recent article with your students from the LA Times. Discuss the main points of the article, and whether or not your students agree with it. Take a poll of your class and find out how many of your students actually eat breakfast.

Learn More: Los Angeles Times High School Insider

2. Breakfast Brawl

This activity from the 4H has students create a dream breakfast with a certain budget. After that, students will discuss the breakfast items and rank them from most nutritious to least. This eye-opening lesson on food costing encourages a discussion of healthy food choices students make every morning.

Learn More: University of Massachusetts Amherst

3. MyPlate Quiz

This quiz will teach your students (and yourself) about your views on nutrition using interactive resources. It is created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, using governmental resources on what we should be eating. Use these multi-media resources to learn about why you eat the way you do, and where to go from here.

Learn More: My Plate US Department of Agriculture

4. QR Stations Digital Activity 

Learn more about MyPlate and why it is a useful guideline for nutrition with these class activities. This activity includes QR stations (students love using their phones!), activity sheets, notes activity, video, information sheets, and more! This resource is all-in-one if you only have time for one of these great resources!

Learn More: Family Consumer Sciences

5. Nutrition Labels Deep Dive

Have students bring in their favorite foods and packaged food items- cookies, drinks, breakfast cereal, etc. Have them individually scrutinize the nutrition information, gain a better food label understanding, and discuss it as a class. Some students may be surprised by what their favorite snacks are hiding!

Learn More: Center For The Advancement Of Foodservice Education

6. Making Healthy Choices

Free printable booklet for students to learn about sodium, fiber, and sugar. This resource would make a great plan for a substitute, or for independent learning. This booklet succinctly highlights the pros and cons of each and how to eat healthfully.

Learn More: Deceptively Educational

7. Evaluating My Snacks

Compare different snack foods from the school cafeteria, food pictures, or items that students bring in. This worksheet is a great follow-up to the previous booklet where students learned about sodium, fiber, and sugar. Students can fill out their own information and compare it to a classmate.

Learn More: Deceptiveley Educational

8. Six Essential Nutrients 

Research the six essential nutrients we get from food. Have students create a poster to increase awareness about one of the six nutrients and post it for others to see. Create a nutrition campaign and promote healthy eating in your school!

Learn More: Mary Brown

9. Get Fooducated! 

This technology-based lesson uses iPads or phones and the Fooducate app. Scan snacks from the grocery store or cafeteria and find out what is really in your food. Weigh the pros and cons to decide if it is a healthy food or not.

Learn More: Hous View

10. Big Macromolecules

Use this chemistry lesson to determine what macromolecules can be found in a not-so-healthy meal, a Big Mac! Students will look for evidence of starch, glucose, proteins, and lipids. This activity is sure to be eye-popping – it begins with putting a Big Mac in a blender! These educational materials will help students decide on a more balanced diet.

Learn More: iTeachly

11. Hot Topics

Split your class into groups and have each group become the experts on a controversial hot topic about nutrition. This entire class discussion will help your students become the experts on healthy habits, organic vs. non-organic, superfoods, and plant-based diets.

Learn More: AFPA

12. From Farm to Fork

Here are 17 different lessons about how food travels from the factory to the consumer while preventing food poisoning. At the end of all of the links to teaching guides on the topics of the food system, farms, factories, food chains, and consumers, students are encouraged to create an action project utilizing what they have learned.

Learn More: Food Span

13. Wellness Week

Host a wellness week focused on healthier habits and nutrition at your school. Have students set up challenges such as who can try the newest fruits and vegetables, healthful foods, or who can eat the most locally, and give out healthy nutrition-themed prizes! Create a committee to come up with ideas!

Learn More: Real Mom Nutrition

14. Focus on 13 Essential Vitamins

Learn more about what vitamins are essential and where to find them. This will help students develop an idea of the foods they should be eating to make sure they are getting enough of them in their diet.

Learn More: Scholastic

15. Map Your Tongue! 

Use lemon juice, grapefruit juice, salt, and sugar to determine the layout of taste buds on your tongue with these hands-on activities. The tongue is the key to tasting foods and encouraging people to want to eat more of that food. Learning why you prefer certain flavors deepens your understanding of why you eat certain foods.

Learn More: Education

16. Examining Dietary Supplements

Learn about dietary supplements and their place in nutrition. Students will focus on caffeine, supplements, and energy products as students become more and more interested in consuming them. Determine if consuming these products is safe or risky.

Learn More: US Food and Drug Administration

17. Exploring Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering in the Food Supply 

This unit plan delves into the origin of agriculture and the genetic modification of a variety of foods. Included are activities such as extracting DNA from strawberries, managing pests, and changing the nutrients in food. Students will learn about past practices and how food evolved over time to what it is now.

18. Food Safety Guide

This unit plan teaches students about bacteria, and how it is managed in the farm, factory, store, and home. Included are activities about irradiation, heating, and using high pressure to make food safer to consume. This is a great way to increase knowledge of food and breaks down kid-friendly food safety.

19. You Are What You Drink

Identify different methods of making water safe to drink, and determine how individual communities treat their drinking water. Learn about how drinking water was purified over time, and how engineering has made drinking water safer than ever.

Learn More: Teach Engineering

20. Drink More Water! 

Read about why it is important to drink water during the school day and create a poster campaign to increase awareness in your school. Microlearning modules provide background information and steps students can take to drink more during the school day.

Learn More: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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7 Nutrition Lesson Plans and Activities for High School Students

Teens aren't exactly known for their healthy eating habits. Only about 7% of U.S. high school students meet the daily recommendations for fruit, and just 2% meet the recommendations for veggies, according to a 2017 CDC report . Another recent study found that two-thirds of teens’ calories come from “ultra-processed foods” like cookies, candy, chips, chicken nuggets, and pizza. The pandemic has only exacerbated bad eating habits. National Nutrition Month in March is a good time to hit reset.

This year’s theme—Personalize Your Plate—will appeal to teens’ individualist spirit. “There’s no universal way to eat healthy,” Su-Nui Escobar told Shaped . She’s a dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which started National Nutrition Month . "'Personalize Your Plate' is about respecting who we are and where we come from. Start with the way you like to eat, and then figure out how to make it healthy."

The trick is to add nutrition without removing the joy our favorite foods give us. "Young people should be encouraged to play with their food," Escobar says. "Keep it fun. Eating nutritiously doesn't have to feel like a diet." The ideas for nutrition lesson plans and activities for high school that follow will help students accomplish this goal.

Fresh and Fun Nutrition Lesson Plans for High School

Kick-start a commitment to healthy eating this National Nutrition Month with these nutrition lesson plan and activity ideas for high school students.

1. Meal Makeover

Dietitian Su-Nui Escobar told Shaped that she often turns traditional Mexican favorites into plant-based recipes for her family. She prepares tacos al pastor, which are traditionally made with pork, using jackfruit (a relative of figs), pineapple, and spices. To give pizza a healthy twist, teens might try topping it with plenty of veggies or simply pair it with a side salad jazzed up with roasted vegetables. To satisfy a sweet tooth, cut-up fruit with a drizzle of honey can do the trick. If potato chips and other salty snacks are their go-to, they can swap in air-popped popcorn or kale chips. Here's a list of fun and easy-to-make snacks for teens (and adults!).

Have students try their hand at transforming a not-so-healthy meal into a more wholesome option. They might choose a traditional family meal or a favorite breakfast, lunch, or snack item and come up with ideas for making it meatless, vegan, higher in fiber, or lower in fat or salt. They should present the revamped recipe along with a paragraph describing the change in ingredients and nutrients.

2. A Look at Labels

Tell students that the updated nutrition label can help them make informed choices and establish healthy eating habits for a lifetime. Have students explore the label independently using this interactive from the FDA. Or, you can share the image below to review the label changes with the entire class. Ask: Why do you think "calories" are in large, bold font? Why is it important to take note of the "serving size?" Do you think "added sugars" is a needed addition to the label? Why or why not?

Have students bring in nutrition labels from their favorite foods and drinks to analyze. Give them these tips for evaluating how healthy the foods are:

• 100 calories per serving is considered moderate, while 400 or more calories per serving is considered high in calories
• 5% Daily Value or less per serving of a nutrient is low; while 20% DV or more per serving of a nutrient is high
• Nutrients to get more of (strive for 100% DV every day): dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, potassium
• Nutrients to limit: saturated fat, sodium, added sugars, trans fat

3. Mindful Eating

Tell students that mindful eating means paying attention to the food we buy, prepare, and eat. Savoring each bite we take can put an end to mindless bingeing and lead to better health. Challenge students to give mindful eating a try using a small piece of chocolate, fruit, or vegetable. Have them follow these steps:

• Hold the chocolate in your hand. What does it feel like?
• Study the chocolate. How would you describe it?
• Smell the chocolate. What comes to mind?
• Let the chocolate sit on your tongue. What textures and flavors do you note?

Talk over the exercise with your students. Ask: Was the experience enjoyable? Why or why not? What did you discover about your eating habits? What do you think is the purpose behind eating mindfully? Will you continue to eat mindfully? Explain.

4. Got Fruits and Veggies?

Challenge students to design an ad for a vegetable or fruit of their choice. Tell them their goal is to convince teens to eat the avocado, arugula, asparagus, papaya, mango, pear, or other produce that they are promoting. The campaign should convey:

• Benefits of eating the vegetable or fruit
• Excitement for the product using a catchy tagline Example: Got Milk? (California Milk Processor Board), I’m Lovin' It (McDonald’s)

Tell students the trick is to create a campaign that appeals to teens and their values. They should also consider the best medium to reach their audience—maybe it’s a social media platform like Instagram or TikTok, or maybe it’s a billboard, print magazine, or TV ad. Allow time for students to present their campaigns to the class and get critical feedback.

5. Ready, Set, Cook!

Invite a local chef to do a super-simple healthy cooking demo over Zoom or another platform for your students. Give the guest some guidelines. The recipe should

• Use inexpensive and easy-to-find ingredients
• Require only common kitchen tools
• Include tips for making the recipe vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free
• Be made available to students before the demo

If you can’t book a local chef, you can show students how to make a healthy snack yourself or invite a student to take on the demo. You might give students the option of recording themselves making the snack and sharing the video with the class instead of doing a live demo.

Yet another option is to simply share one of the many cooking videos on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website . You'll find video how-to's for making no-bake chocolate cherry oat bars , pizza hummus , or healthy Alfredo bagel bites . Encourage students to make one of the recipes and write a review of the food that includes a photo of the final product.

6. The Dietitian Is In

Invite a local dietitian to answer students’ questions about nutrition over a Zoom call. Have students read up on the dietitian’s background and expertise beforehand. Brainstorm a list of questions that students would like to ask, keeping in mind the dietitian’s expertise. Encourage students to ask follow-up questions during the talk. For homework, have students write a paragraph explaining how they will incorporate one piece of nutrition advice that the dietitian shared into their daily routine.

7. Nutrition Know-How

Test students’ knowledge of nutrition with this quiz from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics . Read each statement aloud and have students determine if it’s “fact” or “fiction,” using an online polling tool like Kahoot.

Did students have trouble telling fact from fiction? Have them choose one statement they identified incorrectly. Then have them do research to determine why the statement is true or false. For an added challenge, have students choose a health trend they’re interested in, such as plant-based or low-carb diets, mindful eating, environmentally-friendly nutrition, the brain-gut connection, probiotics, organic foods, and the like. Then have them write a quiz (they can make it interactive using Kahoot or another online tool) using facts they find in their research. Remind them to include an answer key that explains why each statement is true or false.

More Nutrition Lesson Plans for High School Classrooms

There are many more nutrition lesson plan starters for high school available on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website . Among the resources that can serve as a jumping off point for a lesson on eating well: nutrition sudoku, video cooking demos, and healthy lifestyle tip sheets, including "Healthy Eating on the Run" and "Smart Snacking Tips for Adults and Teens."

Have more nutrition lesson plan and activity ideas for high school students? Email us at [email protected] or tweet us at @TheTeacherRoom .

Learn more about HMH Science Dimensions , enabling teachers to guide K–12 students in learning through exploration, analysis, application, and explanation.

Download our FREE 2022–2023 calendar of activities.

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Nutrition Lesson Plans For High School (With Downloadable PDF)

• Doug Curtin
• January 21, 2022

We try to encourage healthy eating with our students, but what does that actually look like? Nutrition lesson plans for high school students help to empower long-term healthy lifestyles that go past being able to recite the food pyramid for a test. Nutrition education is about the long-term benefits we can instill with our students. 

Struggling to find nutrition worksheets for high school?

Physical education aims to address the total health and wellness of students. Part of living a complete healthy lifestyle is understanding nutrition! Therefore, teachers seek to help students understand nutrition information so that they can make healthy food choices. 

You might find a worksheet or two, but you want more than a few printable posters to hang in your gymnasium! That’s where finding nutrition activities for high school students that put together the complete picture of nutrition can be challenging! 

Creating a high school nutrition curriculum is challenging! 

Nutrition curriculum for high school students is about balancing science and real-world application. At the high school level, students can begin to explore:

• Food chemistries like macronutrients and micronutrients
• Impact of food on future physical and mental health
• Impact of movement on physical and mental health health

We might be eager to jump right into food groups, dietary guidelines, and balanced diets, but we need to progress students through comprehensive nutrition lesson plans just like we do in any other topic or subject.

Intro To Nutrition EBook

This E-book comes fully loaded with written and video lessons covering calories, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. 

Four Nutrition Activities For high school students

Starting with chemistries can be an excellent place to begin for any high school student. We can take a three-part approach with nutrition activities for high school students.

1) Written & Visual Materials:  This is where students can get the more traditional nutrition education you might be familiar with. You can hand this portion out as a worksheet.

2) Video Resources:  There are many gray areas and questions that come up for high school students when we talk about nutrition. This portion allows students to hear a nutrition expert talk about it and answer frequently asked questions. 

3) Chapter Questions:  A great way to make nutrition education interactive! Paired discussion questions that support the written and video resources can be used in various ways. For example, you can assign these questions for small groups or class discussions or ask students to submit their answers. 

Here are four nutrition lesson plans for high school that introduce calories, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats that you could use with your students in class!

Lesson 1: Calories

Written lesson.

Calories are not evil, and they do not need to be avoided. In fact, calories are essential because they are what our bodies convert to energy. In our previous lesson, we talked about what happens when bodies don’t get enough energy. But where IS the energy in food?

There are four chemistries (or types) of calories, and they may sound familiar – carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and alcohol. The first three chemistries are necessary for human health, but the last (alcohol) is not.

These chemistries are not exactly the same as the food groups we were taught when we were younger. Any given food (and food group) can be a combination of energy chemistries.

Looking at food in terms of chemistry instead of food groups is a little complicated at first. But it helps us understand foods that don’t fit cleanly in a food group (e.g., pizza).

And it allows us to get past “good” or “bad” food. Instead, we can look at a food’s chemistry and better predict how it will impact performance and health. 

What our body sees when we eat? 

Bodies don’t recognize food groups. When we eat a banana, our body doesn’t say, “Ah-ha! A fruit!” 

Instead, it sees carbohydrates in the form of sugar, starch, and a little fiber. It also sees a little protein and fat, as well as a slew of vitamins and water.

Here are a few examples of the the energy in our food:

-Fruits: Water + carbohydrate (sugar, starch, fiber) -Vegetables: Water + carbohydrate (little starch, mostly fiber) -Beans / Lentils : Carbohydrate (starch, fiber) + protein + little fat -Meat / Eggs / Fish: Protein + fat -Grains: Carbohydrate (starch + some fiber) + some protein + little fat -Milk/Yogurt: Water + Carbohydrate (sugar) + protein + fat

How many calories do we need?

Now that we have an understanding of “what” calories are, how do we figure out how many to consume? The human body has a wide range of energy needs so it’s difficult to put an exact number on it.

There are formulas and general recommendations, but there can be huge variances based on sex, age, height, muscle mass, and physical activity intensity and duration. Even factors like what we eat, how often we eat, and our mental health can impact energy needs.

But in general, boys between the ages of 13-19 need at least an average of 2000-3000 calories per day, and girls ages 13-19 need at least an average of 1600-2400. But it’s not uncommon for active, growing bodies to need more, and there can be tremendous day-to-day swings in energy needs based on activity.

There’s also nothing magical about the number. Bodies are incredibly flexible, and can easily adapt to increased and decreased intake without changing the body itself.

How do we assess if we are eating too little or too much? How do we do this in an easy and straightforward way that we can apply to our daily lives? In our next lesson, we will explore ways to listen to the body to determine our energy needs.

Chapter Questions

1: What are the 2 major classifications of nutrients?

2: Name at least 5 things that influence a person’s energy needs?

3: On average, how many calories do people need?

4: Name at least 3 signs of not getting enough energy?

5: What’s the primary indicator of someone’s body size?

6: How much does a person’s body weight change on average between the beginning of the day and end of the day?

7: What are at least 3 of the behaviors that might drive someone to eat beyond what their body needs?

8: What are at 2 signs of mild to moderate hunger?

9: What are 2 signs of extreme hunger?

Lesson 2: Carbohydrates

Before we dive into the wide world of carbohydrates, let’s make sure we have a clear definition of what they are.

Popular culture refers to things like grains and sugars as carbs. However, carbohydrates refer to the chemistry that make up any plant-based food. Fruits, vegetables, grains, and sugars are all made of carbohydrates. 

When we talk about carbs, we are referring to the chemistry of the food (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen).

All carbs are created from sugar molecules (glucose, fructose, galactose). What changes between the types of carbohydrates (sugar, starch, and fiber) are the number of molecules, and the complexity of the bond between the molecules, making them easier or harder to break apart.

As those molecules bind together in various ways, they form compounds we are more familiar with. These include things such as starch (found in potato, grains, corn, etc.), fiber (something we can’t digest), sugars (found in milk, yogurt, fruits and sweeteners like honey, syrup, cane sugar).

What They Do For Us?

There is a lot of confusion and concern about carbohydrates these days. So before we get any further, let’s be clear: Carbohydrates are not evil!

Carbohydrates are the perfect package of nutrients for the body and provide many benefits such as:

1) Energy  – Our body can quickly break down and use energy from carbohydrates to think and move. Fat and protein take more time and effort, making them a lower quality fuel source. Our brain alone uses around 400 calories of carbohydrates per day (or approximately 120 grams).

2) Fiber – Found in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Fiber cannot be digested. It keeps us regular in the bathroom, prevents disease, and stabilizes energy. It also keeps us fuller longer. Beneficial for gastrointestinaI health, disease prevention, and feeling fuller longer. You cannot get fiber from animal-based foods. Fiber, by definition, is a type of carbohydrate.

3) Antioxidants – Prevent against free radicals that can cause disease. You won’t find antioxidants in animal-based foods.

4) Protein – Plant-based proteins can meet all of our protein needs without the need to eat meat, but have to be appropriately paired for good nutrition (more on this in the protein chapter)

5) Vitamins and minerals  – Carbohydrates provide a wide variety of nutrients, including b-vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin) used to convert food to energy and support our nervous system, calcium for our bones, iron to support oxygen transport in the blood, and folate to help us produce red blood cells.

Carbohydrates = Energy 

As you can see, at the top of the list is the energy we can get from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the preferred fuel source for the body. Ideally, people should have at least 50-75 percent of their daily energy needs from carbohydrates – a mixture of fruits, vegetables, and grains.

When we eat something with carbohydrates, whether it’s a fruit, grain, vegetable, or sweetener like sugar, our body can quickly break down the molecules of carbohydrates and turn them into blood glucose (aka blood sugar).

The blood glucose is then transported to the muscles, brain, and vital organs to convert to energy (or ATP). Any unused glucose gets stored for later, and when those storage spots are full, it can convert it to body fat for later use. In other words, energy now, and energy for later.

MYTH BUSTING: Before anyone panics when they see body fat, let’s dispel another myth. The myth that carbs convert to body fat more than other nutrients is not true. Our body is constantly putting nutrients in and out of storage. It never “throws” them away. This is a natural and normal part of human physiology and not something unique to carbs and blood glucose. They are NOT more likely to become body fat than any other nutrient.

Different Types of Energy: 

One of the benefits of carbohydrate-rich foods is that they can give you energy quickly. So if you’re trying to fuel up to train, study, or go about your day, carbohydrates should be the food of choice.

The downside is that because carbohydrates are digested and absorbed quickly when we eat a meal that is purely carbohydrates, we tend to feel hungry sooner. Conversely, when we eat foods with more protein and fat, we feel fuller longer, as these take longer to break down.

For example, a plate of pasta with salad is filling, but it likely won’t keep you full as long as a plate of pasta with chicken and salad.

Sugars provide energy the fastest. However, because sugar is broken down and absorbed quickly, it leaves us looking to replace energy faster than when we consume starch. If we add fiber to the equation, we get even more sustainable energy. Add protein and fat, and we get the most sustainable energy.

However, you don’t need chemistry to explain that to you. You can feel the difference when you drink a can of soda vs. eating a turkey sandwich. Both have the same carbohydrate content, but where those carbohydrates comes from, and what it’s paired with, makes all the difference.

What Comes Next? 

As you can see, there is a lot of overlap when it comes to talking about carbohydrates. Hopefully, you can see that carbs are good for us, and provide us energy to fuel our lives. The next question that almost inevitably follows, is how to decipher between “good” and “bad” carbs? 

So, let us be clear. Carbohydrates are not “good” or “bad” – they’re just different chemistries with different purposes. Instead of looking at carbohydrates as good and bad, you will notice that we have talked a lot about sugar, starch, and fiber. 

In our next chapter, we will break down the three types of carbohydrates in more detail. We will talk about where to find them, and what they do for us! Understanding the chemistry allows you to better plan and balance your meals for health and performance.

1:What are the main types of carbohydrates?

2: Which food groups contain carbohydrates?

3: What functions do carbohydrates serve in the body?

Lesson 3: Proteins

Protein is the second nutrient we’ll explore on our nutrition journey. Recall that we started by understanding the importance of nutrition for growing bodies and unpacked some of the ways our body communicates its needs. 

From there, we explored the idea of energy – what it is and where it comes from. We took a deep dive into the body’s primary energy source – carbohydrates. And now it’s time to figure out what’s up with protein. 

Does it live up to the media hype? Like the other macronutrients (carbohydrates and fat), our body uses protein as energy. But it’s valuable for other functions as well.  Additionally, depending on where you get your protein, there are some considerations for your daily routine.

Where It’s Found?

Remember that when we talk about “protein,” we’re not just talking about food groups. We are talking about the chemical compounds found within foods.

Protein can be found in animal-based foods like beef, chicken, pork, fish, eggs, yogurt, milk, and cheese.

Protein can also be found in plant-based foods like nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, peas, tempeh, and tofu. Lastly, grains like oatmeal, quinoa, wheat, and rice have protein as well, albeit smaller amounts.

What It Does?

Protein is a crucial nutrient for humans that goes beyond energy. Proteins are made of chains of amino acids. Amino acids are often called the building blocks of life – and for a good reason. 

Our bodies break down those chains and use the amino acids to support growth and development, biochemical reactions, the immune system, and neurological functions. Amino acids also transport nutrients, send biochemical messages, create structures, and repair muscles.

If we don’t get enough protein over time, humans can develop a serious condition called “protein-calorie malnutrition.” In our modern world, it’s not common unless someone is severely restricting their food or avoiding all protein sources. But in developing countries where food is scarce, it’s more common.

While protein is important, protein has been glorified beyond what’s needed for health and performance. Most people in the United States get more protein than they need each day.  

How Much We Need?

Protein needs are personally driven, and are typically based on weight, age, as well as the type, intensity, and duration of the training you do. 

For those who are inactive, the recommendation from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) is around .8 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram (.3 to .5 grams per pound). 

For those who are active, ISSN notes that needs often increase to 1.4 to 2 grams per kilogram (.6 to .9 grams per pound) to support repair.

Those who are more intensely active or doing intense power or strength training,  tend to be on the higher end of the scale. Needs also might fluctuate day to day, and season to season depending on training.

To put that in perspective, a 150-pound athlete would need between 90 and 150* grams of protein per day. It’s possible to get that from food depending on appetite needs and food availability. 

Let’s break that down further, meal by meal:

Breakfast – 1 cup greek yogurt (12 grams) Snack – 2 eggs (14 grams) Lunch – 1 cup beans (15 grams) with 4 oz chicken (28 grams) Snack – 1 cup greek yogurt (12 grams) Dinner – 4 oz chicken (28 grams)

= approximately 96 grams

Simply add three, 8 oz glasses of milk (7 grams of protein), and you’ve got another 21 grams of protein pretty easily.

Health Benefits Of Protein Rich Foods: 

There are 21 amino acids that are the building blocks of life. Nine of those amino acids are called “essential” because our bodies cannot make them and therefore they must come from our food. When we eat an animal source of protein, we get all of the essential amino acids within that food – no questions asked.

When we eat an animal source of protein, we get all of the essential amino acids within that food – no questions asked.

However, plants do not contain all of the essential amino acids in one package. Instead, different plants have different packages of amino acids. To get everything you need, you have to pair proteins for the full package. 

For example, when we eat beans along with a grain such as rice, we get two different subsets of amino acids. Similarly, peanut butter on bread would provide the right combination of different amino acids for your body.

However, amino acids are not the only benefit of protein-rich foods. There’s also a wealth of nutrients in protein-rich foods in varying amounts. These include: 

-Iron for oxygen transport -Vitamin B12 for our nervous system and red blood cell production -B-vitamins (niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and B6) provide a variety of functions in metabolism as well as our nervous system -Magnesium helps build bones and supports muscle function -Zinc can support your immune systems

In addition to vitamins and minerals, most animal sources of protein also contain fat, in the form of saturated fat. Fat is an essential nutrient for human health as it supports hormone development, and provides flavor and satisfaction. 

Saturated fat however, in large amounts, over a long period of time, is not great for heart health. That doesn’t mean animal proteins need to be avoided. It’s a matter of balancing higher fat protein options (bacon, sausage, ribs, hot dogs) with leaner options (chicken, turkey, fish, eggs).  We’ll learn more about the types of fat and how they support the body in the next module.

1: Which food groups contain protein?

2: How does protein support the body?

3: How much protein do we need?

4: What are the missing / limited nutrients in a plant based diet?

Lesson 4: Fats

People often misunderstand fat in our food. Just like the other macronutrients (carbohydrates and protein), our body uses dietary fat for energy, but it also supports our health in surprising ways. And just like the other nutrients, depending on where you get your fat, there are some important things to know.

What Is Fat?

Dietary fat is found in varying amounts in most foods – plants and animals. Just like carbohydrates, there are subcategories or types of dietary fats – unsaturated fats, saturated fats, and trans fats. 

Unsaturated fats can be further divided into more subcategories (see chart). What’s important to know is that the chemical structure of each is different and as a result, have varying impacts on the body.

Why Do We Need It?

Your body uses fat for a variety of functions – regardless of what type we eat. Dietary fats are a dense source of energy for the body – a small volume contains a large amount of energy. But fats are tough for the body to digest and turn to energy, so they’re not an ideal fuel source if you need energy quickly.

Beyond energy, fats of all types serve important functions such as: -Transport, absorb, and store vitamins A, D, E, and K​ -Contribute to sex hormone production and corticosteroids -Form the outer layer of every cell on our body (aka, the phospholipid bilayer) -Reduces inflammation in the body which helps recover from sport (Omega 3 fatty acids – a type of unsaturated fat) -Form much of the brain -Taste amazing and help us feel satisfied -Takes long to digest so we feel fuller, longer

Fats are found in plant and animal foods. In general, the fat found in any given food is not just one type. For example, food is rarely pure unsaturated fat. Instead, it’s a combination of saturated and unsaturated sources. 

Plant fats and fish fat tend to contain more unsaturated fats. Examples include nuts, seeds, olive oil, olives, avocado, salmon, tuna.

Animal fats and tropical plants tend to have more saturated fat. Examples include beef, pork, chicken, cheese, cream, coconut oil, palm oil.

Trans fats are unique. They are made of “partially hydrogenated” oils. They are not naturally found in foods.

Humans created them years ago to improve the texture and shelf life of processed foods like cookies, cakes, peanut butter, as well as some fried foods. Most trans fats have been removed from our food system, but here and there, you find a few companies still using partially hydrogenated oils.

What Do The Types Matter?

The human body needs dietary fat, but it prefers a balance of fat types for our overall health. When too much of our dietary fat comes from saturated and/or trans fat, it can impact our heart health in the future, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes for some people. 

In general, most of the fat we eat each day should come from plants and fish or “unsaturated” sources. It’s completely ok to have saturated fats, but it’s best to keep them a bit smaller part of what we eat. 

Trans fats have no benefit for the human body and have been shown to be harmful in large amounts. It’s best to avoid them when possible, but understand that a little now and again won’t harm you.

How Much Do I Need?

The amount of fat you need each day varies based on how much energy you need overall. As you recall from previous articles, daily energy needs change a lot depending on height, weight, age, physical activity, and so much more. Tracking and/or limiting what you eat based on precise numbers is not recommended, as it’s very difficult to predict changing needs. 

Our body (and health) care more about the average of what we eat over time – not daily perfection. It’s better to follow your personal cues (link to article about that).

But if you must have a number, in general, the guideline is that 25% of your daily energy comes from fat. For someone eating around 2000 calories per day, that’s approximately 55 grams of fat in total from unsaturated and saturated fats. Ideally, saturated fat is 5-6% of total energy or around 13 grams. 

Again, those are not hard and fast rules. That doesn’t mean if you’re above or below these numbers, something will happen to you. Instead, it’s a reference point.

But one way in which the numbers can be helpful is when you look at the food label. Often seemingly “healthy” foods can be very high in saturated fat depending on how it was made.

For example, you pick up a bag of chocolate-covered dried bananas – sounds amazing, right? You might assume it would give your body more nutrition than a cookie while still satisfying that sweet tooth. 

When you looked at the label though, you are shocked to see that a tiny serving had over 20 grams of saturated fat! That’s when you notice the bananas were fried with palm oil. So in that instance, you are better off enjoying a cookie than the deceptive health product. Tricky!

It’s much easier to think about fat in terms of food balance. In general, the goal is to try to choose plant or fish fats more often than animal fats while not relying too much on fried foods and processed foods for your energy each day.

Tips to add more unsaturated fats to your routine:

-Enjoy a handful of nuts/seeds between meals -Add nuts/seeds to meals (yogurt, salads) -Add avocado to sandwiches and salads -Add a side of guacamole to snack/meals -Use guacamole instead of mayo on sandwiches -Enjoy salmon occasionally -Enjoy tuna salad sandwiches

1: How does dietary fat support the body?

2: What are the different types of fat in the diet and where are they typically found?

3: Which type of fat may negatively impact heart health?

Download The Nutrition Lesson Plans High School PDF 

To use a nutrition joke, this was just a ‘taste’ of what can be in a robust nutrition curriculum. Download the first 6 full chapters of PLT4M’s Intro To Nutrition that have even high school nutrition lesson plans! This is full of excellent handouts that will help foster an interactive nutrition education experience! 

Final Points on Nutrition Lesson Plans For High School

Nutrition education matters! Because with students and all of us, it’s not about just what they achieve that day but it’s the relationship with food that they’re developing for the rest of their life. 

These lessons and modules provide a foundation of knowledge based on the chemistry of the food. Not good food, bad food, right food, wrong food, or any other fad in between.

But really helping people understand when you look at a food, what are you getting? And how do I shift that and apply it for who I am and what I need? So instead what we’re looking to be able to do is to empower the student with the knowledge, with the information, and the confidence to make the decision that is right for them.

What about nutrition lesson plans for middle school? 

Many of these activities could work intro nutrition lesson plans for middle school. Nutrition activities for middle school students begins to look closer to what we formally teach adults and high school students. This is the age where students begin the transition to formal operations. They begin to learn by logical use of symbols (eg, food groups) related to abstract concepts (eg, chemistry / biology). This age group is ready to expand on their nutrition foundation to….

• Learn which foods go in which food group and why
• Understand how to pair food / food groups to create satisfying meals
• Learn nutrients that come from various foods
• Avoid food / body comparisons

Do you have more than nutrition lesson plans for high school?

Yes, PLT4M is the leader in physical education content and provides a wide variety of  lesson plans for high school pe. 

The goal of all our lesson plans is to equip students with the skills to live a healthy lifestyle!  

What are the benefits of nutrition education in schools? 

There are both short and longterm benefits of nutrition education in schools . Nutrition education programs are not just about short term outcomes but instead about helping students establish a healthy relationship with food that supports them for the rest of their life. It starts with building a foundation.

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Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix

Lesson plan, grade levels, type of companion resource, content area standards, agricultural literacy outcomes, common core, what's on the nutrition facts label, grade level.

Students will be introduced to the Nutrition Facts label, navigate and decipher the Nutrition Facts label, use food labels to determine nutritive value of foods, and define terminology found on the label such as calories, nutrients, and servings.  Grades 9-12

Estimated Time

60-90 minutes

Materials Needed

• 8-10 food packages (a variety of food types)

Activity 1: Navigating the Nutrition Facts Label

• Navigating the Nutrition Facts Label PowerPoint  slides
• Navigating the Nutrition Facts Label handout , 1 per student
• Foldable Notes cutout page , 1 per student printed front to back
• Student access to scissors, glue/tape, and colored pencils
• Food Label Smarts  video

Activity 2: Ranking Food Labels

• Nutrition Facts Label Cards , 1 copy/set per group of 3-4 students (cut each sheet in half to make 10 cards)

Food and Drug Administration (FDA): a federal agency in the United States responsible for protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, and the safety of our nation's food supply

Nutrition Facts: a label required by law on food packages indicating the nutritional composition of the food

Did You Know?

• Food manufacturers determine the nutrient contents of their own products to indicate on the Nutrition Facts label. The FDA does not initially check for accuracy, but they collect samples to monitor accuracy of the information provided. 1
• In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the United States Department of Agriculture. Lincoln called the USDA “The People’s Department” because it touches the lives of every American, every day. The USDA still fulfills this mission overseeing the production of our food. 2
• The origin of the FDA traces back to the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. 3

Background Agricultural Connections

In the 1960s, most Americans were preparing their food at home from scratch. Within a few years, the demand and cultural preferences began shifting toward prepared and prepackaged foods. After outbreaks of food borne illness and growing allergy concerns, consumers wanted more information about the packaged food they were buying. The Nutrition Facts label was the solution. The Nutrition Facts label has been printed on retail foods since the 1960s. Nutrition labels are standardized and regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for consistency and accuracy.

The last major change to the Nutrition Facts label was initiated in 2016. Food companies have until January 2020 to implement the food label changes, so both label formats may be found until then.

Changes were developed based on new scientific research and an effort to help consumers connect their dietary choices with chronic disease. The new food label is designed to be easier for consumers to read and understand, allowing them to make more informed choices about the food they eat. Changes include the following:

• The type size has been increased and bolded for “calories,” “servings per container,” and “serving size.”
• The Daily Values (% DV) footnote has been updated to define what Daily Value means.
• The amount of sugars in the form of syrup, sugar, honey, or sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juice is included in a new section of the label called “Added Sugars.” This new addition to the label was added because research has shown it is difficult to stay under your calorie intake if you are consuming more than 10% of your diet in added sugar.
• Vitamin D, potassium, calcium, and iron are now required nutrients to be listed on the nutrition label. They are listed both in percent Daily Value (DV) and measured by weight (mg or mcg).
• “Calories from Fat” has been removed because it is more important to know the type of fat you are consuming.
• Serving sizes will be based on the amount people are actually eating. Typical serving sizes have increased over the years. For example, a serving of ice cream used to be 1/2 cup, but it will now be 2/3 cup.

Nutrition Facts labels are important tools to help consumers be aware of the contents of their foods in order to meet and not exceed their nutrition requirements. Food labels contain the following information:

• Servings Per Container:  Shows the total number of servings found in the entire package. 
• Serving Size : This quantity is based on the amount customarily eaten at one time, though typical serving sizes often exceed recommended serving sizes.
• Calories:  A unit of measurement used to define the amount of energy a food provides the body.
• Fat: A macronutrient that provides energy, stores energy, and helps digest fat-soluble vitamins. There are four types of fat; polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat, saturated fat, and trans fat.
• Sodium: Refers to the mineral table salt, or sodium chloride. Sodium helps in the function of nerves, muscles, and fluid balance in the body.
• Carbohydrate: A macronutrient which supplies energy to support bodily functions and physical activity. Carbohydrates include sugars, starches, celluloses, and gums.
• Fiber: The portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by digestive enzymes. Fiber improves digestive health and lowers risk of many chronic diseases.
• Sugar: The sum of naturally occurring sugars and added sugars in a food. Naturally occurring sugars would include fructose in fruit or lactose in dairy products. Added sugars are those added in the processing of food in the form of table sugar, honey, syrups, etc.
• Protein: A macronutrient needed to maintain bone, muscle, and skin health.
• Vitamins and Minerals: This section declares the amount of vitamins or minerals found in each serving of food. Vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium are required on the label because they have been found to be most at risk of being deficient in the United States.
• % Daily Value: The percent of each nutrient provided in one serving of the food based on recommendations for a 2,000 calorie diet.

• At the beginning of class, challenge the students to place the food in order from the greatest to the least amount of sugar per serving. You may choose to invite one or two students to categorize the food in front of the class or seek input from your entire class to accomplish the task together.
• Give student(s) 1-2 minutes to complete the challenge. After student(s) finish, ask how they came to their conclusion. If the students did not use the Nutrition Facts labels on the food packages, ask the class, “Is there a way to obtain this information about the food we eat? (Yes, the Nutrition Facts label.)
• Use the Nutrition Facts labels to check the accuracy of the food ranking. Show students where the nutrition labels can be found on the food packages. Ask students if any of the food surprised them by having more or less sugar than they imagined.
• Explain that nearly every packaged food sold in a grocery store is required to have a food label. Ask the students why they think it is important to have labels on the food we eat. (To know the amount of sugar/fat and other nutrients, for consumers to address specific health concerns impacted by their diet, or to avoid food they are allergic to.)

Explore and Explain

Activity 1: Navigating the Nutrition Facts Label

• Stimulate thinking about the Nutrition Facts labels by asking, “Besides raw, unpackaged produce and some fresh fish and meat cuts, what foods can you find at the grocery store that are NOT required to have a Nutrition Facts label?” (Foods that contain insignificant amounts [zero] of all required nutrients. Examples include tea, coffee, food coloring, and spices.) If students do not come up with the correct answer, offer an incentive to the person who comes to the next class with the answer.
• Give each student one copy of the Navigating the Nutrition Facts Label handout and one copy of the Foldable Notes cutout page (printed front to back).

• Ask students why it is important to be able to read and understand a Nutrition Facts label?  (To know the amount of nutrients we are putting into our bodies, to avoid under or over nourishment, and to help us be educated about the foods we are eating.)

Activity 2:  Ranking Food Labels

• Divide the class into groups of 3-4 students. Give each group one set of Nutrition Facts Label Cards . (They should have 10 cards per group.)
• Explain to the students that they will be evaluating each nutrition label and ranking the foods according to different parameters. Direct the activity with the entire class, or provide a task list for individual groups to work independently. 
• Number of calories
• Dietary Fiber
• Total sugars
• Added sugars
• Is there any correlation between total carbohydrates and total sugars? (Yes, sugars are a specific type of carbohydrate. Foods high in sugar are often also high in carbohydrates.)
• Which food provides a significant source (20% or greater) of one of the 4 vitamins/minerals (Vitamin D, potassium, calcium, and iron)? (Cheese pizza-calcium)
• What is unique or different about the Oats and Honey Clusters label?  (Explain to students the use of the dual column label. Certain food products that can be eaten in one sitting have a dual column label listing the calories and nutrients per serving as well as per package.)
• Ask follow up questions such as, "Did anything surprise you about these foods?" or "What questions do you have?"

Students have just learned about the Nutrition Facts label found on the side or back of food packages. Many food packages also have nutritional health claims that are often found on the front of food packages. Read  Health Claims on Food Labels to expand knowledge of the information found on the front of food packages. 

Have students construct their own food label for their favorite recipe. Use the  Creating a Nutrition Facts Label worksheet for guidance.

Watch the video clip,  What is a calorie?  

After conducting these activities, review and summarize the follow key concepts:

• Government organizations such as the FDA oversee the labeling of foods in the United States. They set standards for food processing companies to follow to communicate nutrition facts to consumers.
• Accurately reading a Nutrition Facts label and using the information to follow dietary recommendations can help lead to a healthier diet and lifestyle.
• A variety of foods can contribute to a healthy diet.
• All foods are required to have a Nutrition Facts label with the exception of raw produce, some fresh meat cuts, and foods with zero nutritional content such as coffee, tea, or spices.
• https://guidingstars.com/guiding-stars-news/10-surprisingly-unfamiliar-nutrition-facts-label-facts/
• https://www.usda.gov/our-agency/about-usda/history
• https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-basics/when-and-why-was-fda-formed

Recommended Companion Resources

• Food Models
• How to Read Food Labels, From Free-range to Fair Trade
• How to Read Nutrition Facts - Food Labels Made Easy video
• Labels Unwrapped
• Nutrition Ag Mag
• Nutrition Research Articles

Jessica Clark

Organization

National Center for Agricultural Literacy

Culture, Society, Economy & Geography

• Explain the role of government in the production and consumption of food (T5.9-12.i)

Food, Health, and Lifestyle

• Identify how various foods can contribute to a healthy diet (T3.9-12.g)
• Accurately read labels on processed food to determine nutrition content (T3.9-12.a)

Science, Technology, Engineering & Math

• Provide examples of how processing adds value to agricultural goods and fosters economic growth both locally and globally (T4.9-12.g)

Education Content Standards

Health/nutrition (health).

Health Standard 1: Comprehend functional health knowledge to enhance health.

• 1.12.2    Predict how healthy behaviors affect the health status of self and others.

Health Standard 2: Analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other determinants on health behaviors.

• 2.12.5    Analyze how laws, rules, policies, and regulations influence health promotion and disease prevention.

Health Standard 3: Demonstrate health literacy by accessing valid and reliable health information, products, and services to enhance health.

• 3.12.3    Access valid and reliable health information from print and electronic materials that are available from credible health organizations (e.g., federal, professional, voluntary).

Health Standard 5: Demonstrate effective decision-making skills to enhance health.

• 5.12.2    Discuss the consequences of being indecisive when making a healthy decision.

Health Standard 6: Demonstrate effective goal-setting skills to enhance health.

• 6.12.1    Assess personal health practices and behaviors.

Health Standard 7: Demonstrate observable health and safety practices.

• 7.12.2    Demonstrate a variety of healthy practices and behaviors that will maintain or improve the health of self and others.

Common Core Connections

Anchor standards: speaking and listening.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

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Teaching High School Nutrition: 13 Ideas

To instill life-long healthy eating habits, take a hands-on approach.

Prisma is the world’s most engaging virtual school that combines a fun, real-world curriculum with powerful mentorship from experienced coaches and a supportive peer community

Nutrition education doesn’t have to be an endless stream of worksheets and handouts, full of facts and figures about macronutrients, calories and additives.

Yes, there are building blocks you’ll want to teach your child: knowing how to read a nutrition facts label is an essential part of adulting. But, to be meaningful, nutrition can’t just be about calories-per-gram and lists of vitamins and minerals. Kids will be so much more likely to absorb the information — and incorporate it into their lives — if it’s rooted in personal meaning.

Nutrition is multifaceted, highly individual and our understanding of it, ever-shifting. But that’s the good news. Unless your child is training to be a dietitian, there’s no pressure to master every scientific element. All you need is an on-ramp, and you’ll be able to help them learn about nutrition in a way that positively impacts their everyday food choices.

How to design nutrition lesson plans for high school students

Start from their interests.

Eating a balanced diet is considered one of the pinnacles of wellness, but why should we care about nutrition? Your child needs to have an answer that motivates them.

What gets your child excited? Chances are there’s a connection back to food. Do they love cooking? Are they open to starting a veggie patch or herb garden? Do they (or a loved one) have some kind of dietary restriction? Are they passionate about giving their best on the athletic field? Are they intrigued by experimentation and research? Curious about different cultural norms around food or how to use food medicinally?

Once you figure out the most meaningful point of entry, start there. Whether it’s getting your child in the kitchen to bake their own delicious and healthy birthday cake, learning to eat to improve their sports performance, or understanding how different cultures prize different ingredients, they’ll be more committed — and more likely to make healthy food choices — if they know why they’re studying nutrition to begin with.

Make it interactive

Shopping, cooking, eating: Nutrition is one of the most interactive parts of our life. Get your kids involved with as many of those elements as possible (and, for the green-thumbed out there, growing food as well).

Inviting kids to the grocery store is a great start — so you can have a real-time discussion about what you buy for the family and why. Take it a step further, and design a scavenger hunt where they need to locate foods that fit a certain nutritional profile (cookies with no saturated fat, chips with no trans fats, five different colored vegetables and fruits etc.). Added bonus: it might help you expand your family’s weekly menu.

Learning to understand food labels is important, but to make it meaningful, let them translate the data into something they can chew on. Since most kids will be eager to snack in the name of science, you could design a taste test: Pick comparable products, but with some key difference (more/less whole grains, different serving sizes). Have your kids rate the foods and then see how that corresponds to the nutritional values.

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• Our personalized curriculum builds love of learning and prepares kids to thrive.
• Our middle school , high school , and parent-coach programs provide 1:1 coaching and supportive peer cohorts .

Build it slowly

We always recommend creating scaffolding around any new challenges. If you’re introducing them to the world of cooking and meal planning, they’ll be incorporating multiple new skills at once, including grocery shopping, navigating the kitchen and food safety.

In our weekly Prisma High School Life Skills course, we teach nutrition through hands-on challenges of increasing complexity. In the introductory challenges, learners explore their kitchens and grocery stores, until, over the course of weeks / months, they’re able to  meal plan on their own. This step-by-step approach allows learners to gain mastery and avoid that drinking-from-the-firehouse feeling.

Avoid “good food” / “bad food”

To the extent possible, avoid demonizing any food group. With the popularity of certain diets, kids may very well absorb the message that either fats or carbohydrates or protein (especially animal-based) are “bad” without knowing why, when all three are essential for sustaining physical activity from our brawn to our brains.

One way to shift from the black-and-white labeling of foods is to be more qualitative. If you try the comparative taste-test activity mentioned above, add on an additional element to  add nuance to the way we judge foods. Ask them to eat a certain snack, and then thirty minutes later reflect on how they feel: Are they immediately hungry again? Do they still feel satisfied? How energetic do they feel?

Have them write down their answers in a journal. Then, repeat the activity on successive days with different kinds of snacks or different quantities (low calorie, low fat, processed, fruits and veggies, carbohydrates versus protein, etc.), and see how their feelings change. Activities like these teach kids to reflect on the relationship between what they eat and how they feel.

Include emotions

Nutrition is not just about fuel. It is also deeply connected to our emotional well-being. All age groups can benefit from developing a more mindful relationship to what we put in our bodies. It could be as simple as observing: What feelings do I associate with certain food items? If that kind of exploration leads them to recognize an eating pattern that they want to change (for example “boredom equals chips”), use that as a starting point to brainstorm other ways to address the feeling, that may lead to a better outcome (call a friend when bored).

Ideas for project based nutrition activities

As a project-based school, we find that when learners can choose their own adventure and connect their exploration to real-world issues, they’re naturally willing to dive deep into complicated subjects — and nutrition is no exception. Our “Food Lab” cycle used kids’ love of baking and experimentation to reach a range of subjects that extended from nutrition to chemistry, data analysis and ethics.

Here are some of the many ways you can approach a nutrition project with your kids.

• A budding chef can plan and cook a healthy meal. (When we include cooking challenges in our curriculum, we recommend parents start by carefully supervising each step, until their child shows comfort in the kitchen.) A middle school or elementary school child could ease into this chef-mindset by assembling a healthy snack from a variety of foods.
• A science-minded student can take a look at how dietary guidelines have evolved over the years — and what evidence supports those shifts. A student with a political eye could address the same topic, looking for outside factors that may have also contributed to the shifts — major world events, discoveries, and the influence of specific industries.
• An aspiring anthropologist can compare typical diets of various cultures, looking at how the traditions, climate and geography shape the different foods that get put on the table — and how that might impact life-expectancy and certain diseases.
• A vegetarian, vegan, or plant-curious kid can research plant-based meats, comparing their nutritional profiles and environmental impact.
• A kid who is interested in media can look at how news outlets, social media and celebrity chefs create narratives that demonize things like added sugars or elevate certain veggies like kale. Or, they can turn their attention to food packaging to see how food products pitch themselves as “healthy” — and whether that depiction matches the ingredient list.
• A history-curious kiddo can trace the rise and fall of certain food groups, and how that relates to shifting ideas of wellness during a certain period.
• A student interested in social justice can explore the concept of food deserts and how access to healthy foods impacts community well-being.
• A budget-minded learner could create several different meal plans (one full of nutritious foods and one heavy in processed foods), compare the nutrition information and the respective costs, and reflect on why a healthy diet is so expensive.

More Resources

• Games from the FDA to make learning to read nutrition labels fun
• Project-based lesson plans on nutrition from the USDA
• A CDC-sponsored app to learn to make healthy food choices
• Myplate.gov - an interactive resource to learn how to eat the food pyramid
• Spoons Across America - a 9-lesson food exploration project (for kids 8-11)

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Topic-nutrition facts label.

By Priya Venkatesan

Purpose The nutrition labels are changing. But, even after all these decades, we have not yet mastered how to use them effectively and efficiently. This activity will help you see a few new tricks as you go shopping the next time. It is important to identify the ingredients that are present in the foods that you choose to eat. Use the interactive food label and fact sheets to get started. The interactive food label presents “4” quick pieces of information below. The fact sheet organizes all ingredients that are commonly seen in the grocery stores. It is important to be able to recognize the ingredients and what their function is in the product. https://www.fda.gov/food/new-nutrition-facts-label/how-understand-and-use-nutrition-facts-label

Food Allergies & Intolerances

NSLP & Taste Tests

Power Up with Plant Based Lunches

Building Flavors That Excite! Recipes

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Understanding Food Labels

The information on food labels is intended to help consumers become savvy about their food choices. The front, back, and sides of a package are filled with information to inform us what the food contains and to provide guidance in making healthier selections of processed foods. However, all the numbers, percentages, and sometimes complex-sounding ingredients can lead to more confusion than clarity.

This guide will help you to navigate the terminology and nutrition information on a food package to ensure that you know what you’re buying.

The Nutrition Facts Label

The Nutrition Facts label is overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was first mandated under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 to help consumers make quick, informed food choices. It has undergone revisions, with the latest update released in 2016 . Changes are generally based on updated scientific information and input from the public regarding ease of use.

Key features of the latest label

• A small bag of trail mix shows 100 calories per serving. One might assume the small bag to contain 1 serving, but it actually contains 3 servings so that eating the whole bag provides 300 calories. With the updated label, the same size bag would show 1 serving at 300 calories.
• Keep in mind that the serving size is not a recommendation for everyone about how much to eat, but rather a reference point.  
• Plain dairy milk will show 12 grams of Total Sugars (naturally occurring from lactose) per cup but zero Added Sugars.
• A cup of strawberry yogurt may show 20 grams of Total Sugars of which 10 grams are Added Sugars (10 grams are naturally occurring from lactose and the other 10 grams are from an added sweetener).
• Removal of vitamins A and C, and addition of vitamin D and potassium. Vitamins A and C had been included in previous labels when deficiencies of these nutrients were more common. They are rare today, so have been replaced with vitamin D and potassium, which can run low in the diets of some Americans.

How do I use the % Daily Value?

The percent Daily Value (%DV) shows how much of a nutrient in one serving of food contributes to one’s approximate daily requirement for the nutrient. To best use the %DV, remember these simple guidelines:

• 5% DV or less of a nutrient per serving is considered low. If you are trying to follow a heart-healthy diet, you might aim for this percentage amount for items like saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and added sugars.
• 20% DV or more of a nutrient per serving is high. Use this amount for nutrients you want more of. For example, if you are trying to eat more nutrients to support bone health, then you may aim for this percentage amount (or higher) for calcium and vitamin D.
• Use the %DV to quickly compare nutrients in similar products. For example, if you are looking for a salad dressing or pasta sauce with less salt and added sugar, you can compare two different brands and choose the product with the lower %DV for sodium and added sugars.

For more commentary on the updated Nutrition Facts label by Harvard nutrition experts, see the article, Updated Nutrition Facts Panel makes significant progress with “added sugars,” but there is room for improvement .

Front-of-Package

Front-of-package (fop) labels.

This is the section of a food label consumers see first, which within seconds can influence their purchase. This has made it a battleground between public health advocates and food manufacturers. Food manufacturers can choose to display FOP symbols or graphics that highlight nutritional aspects of the product if they are favorable to health, such as being lower in calories or added sugar, but may leave out less favorable information such as being high in sodium or saturated fat. These graphics promote a perception of healthfulness, which can be misleading if consumers rely only on these images without reading the Nutrition Facts panel for complete information. The FDA does not closely monitor these FOP graphics. Because research has shown that “positive” FOP labels like health stamps or checkmarks can overrate a food’s healthfulness, public health advocates have supported initiatives for FOP “warning” labels (e.g., traffic lights or stop signs) to highlight nutrients that are harmful to health in excess, such as sugars and fats in sweetened beverages and ultra-processed snacks . All FOP labels in the U.S. are voluntary, which allows food manufacturers to highlight or hide the nutrition information they choose to help promote or preserve sales. If warning labels became mandatory, as public health advocates propose, the pressure on manufacturers would increase to change certain products to improve their nutritional quality.

Health claims

These are statements reviewed by the FDA and supported by scientific evidence that suggest certain foods or diets may lower the risk of a disease or health-related condition. The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 regulates these health claims, which must undergo review by the FDA through a petition process. The FDA has approved 12 health claims on food labels such as the relationship between calcium and osteoporosis; sodium and hypertension; fiber-containing grains, fruits and vegetables and cancer; and folic acid and neural tube defects. However, just because a food contains a specific nutrient that is associated with a decreased risk of disease does not necessarily make the food healthy as a whole. An example would be a breakfast cereal high in soluble fiber for heart health but that is also high in added sugars. Research finds that consumers believe that a food carrying a health claim is healthier than a product that does not.

Nutrient content claims

These statements describe the nutrients in a food beyond what is listed on the Nutrition Facts label, intended to showcase a health benefit of the food. An example is “Contains 100% Vitamin C.” Most terms like “low sodium,” “high fiber,” “reduced fat,” and “good source of” are regulated by the FDA, and the nutrient amounts must meet specific guidelines to make these claims. Also regulated are comparative terms like “less sugar” or “fewer calories” comparing two similar products. However, these statements can mislead consumers about their overall healthfulness. For example, a bag of potato chips may advertise that it has 40% less fat and is cholesterol-free, suggesting it is a “healthy” food, when in reality even a “healthier” potato chip is still a high-calorie ultra-processed food offering little nutrition. Some terms are not yet regulated by the FDA such as “ natural ” or “multigrain.” As another example, see the pros and cons of health labeling for Whole Grains .

Chile: An Example of Effective FOP Warning Food Labels

Chile implemented the Law of Food Labeling and Advertising in 2016, comprised of mandatory front-of-package (FOP) warning labels, restrictions on child-directed marketing, and the banning of sales in schools of all foods and beverages containing added sugars, sodium, or saturated fats that exceeded set nutrient or calorie thresholds. [1] The FOP labels displayed a black stop sign that used warning words of “high in…” followed by sugar, sodium, saturated fat, or calories. Later analyses found that purchases of sweetened beverages significantly declined following the implementation of this multifaceted law that was more effective than prior single initiatives (i.e., sweetened beverages tax).

Opposition by food industries in other countries is strong toward warning labels such as these. [2] In the United States, in 2011 the FDA recommended a FOP graphic of stars or checkmarks that indicated a less healthful versus healthful food choice. [3] In response, the Grocery Manufacturers Association intercepted this project by introducing the FOP label “Facts Up Front,” which displays certain nutrient amounts of a processed food. There was criticism due to its voluntary nature so that manufacturers of less healthful foods could simply choose not to display it. Opposers also noted that simply listing the nutrient amounts would not necessarily help a consumer to know if it was a healthful choice if they were unsure what the amounts meant (as opposed to the FDA’s stars and checks system that provided straightforward guidance on a healthful versus less healthful choice). Regardless, soon after initiation of the Facts Up Front label, the FDA discontinued their labeling project while continuing to monitor the Facts Up Front system.

Side and Back-of-Package

Ingredients.

The FDA oversees the ingredients listed on food labels. A packaged food must list the ingredients in order of predominance by weight. In other words, the ingredients that weigh the most are listed first. The list may contain unfamiliar terms alongside the common ingredient names. These may be added preservatives or colors (e.g., sodium bisulfite, caramel color), thickeners or emulsifiers (e.g., guar gum, carrageenan), or the scientific names of vitamins and minerals (e.g., ascorbic acid, alpha tocopherol). Ingredients like added sugars may carry many alternative names but are essentially varying combinations of fructose and glucose: evaporated cane juice, high fructose corn syrup, agave nectar, honey, brown sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup, molasses, and turbinado sugar.

Allergy information

Under the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004, eight major food allergens—milk, fish, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, wheat, eggs, and soybeans—are required to be listed in a “contains” statement near the Ingredients list if present in a food. An example would be “contains wheat, milk, and soy.” Advisory statements addressing cross-contamination may also be listed such as “may contain wheat” or “produced in a facility that also uses peanuts.” On April 23, 2021, the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research (FASTER) Act became law, declaring sesame as the 9th major food allergen recognized in the US. Sesame will be a required allergen listing as of January 1, 2023.

Other potential allergens include gluten and color additives such as FD&C Yellow No. 5. The FDA mandates that a product containing FD&C Yellow No. 5 must identify it on the food label. The term “gluten-free” can be listed on a label if it meets a specific maximum amount of gluten as defined by the FDA.

Sell-by, Best-by, and Use-by dates

These dates found on food products inform both the seller and consumer about the shelf-life and optimal quality of the product. They are determined by the food manufacturer’s judgement for peak quality. Foods can still be eaten safely after these dates, with the exact amount of time dependent on the food product, but the flavor and texture may begin to deteriorate. These expiration dates are not required by federal law though some states may institute their own requirements.

• Sell-by date: The last date the seller should display the product on shelves for purchase.
• Best-by date: The last date recommended to use the product for best flavor and quality.
• Use-by date: The last date recommended to use the product for peak freshness; this date is important for highly perishable products like fresh meats, milk, poultry, and salad blends as their quality can quickly deteriorate beyond the use-by date.

Learn more about how to navigate these packaging dates to minimize food waste at home .

How do consumers respond to warning food labels?

Related resources from the fda.

Interactive Nutrition Facts Label What’s New with the Nutrition Facts Label How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label

Health professionals and educators The New Nutrition Facts Label Nutrition Education Resources & Materials

• Taillie LS, Reyes M, Colchero MA, Popkin B, Corvalán C. An evaluation of Chile’s Law of Food Labeling and Advertising on sugar-sweetened beverage purchases from 2015 to 2017: A before-and-after study. PLoS medicine . 2020 Feb 11;17(2):e1003015.
• Temple NJ. Front-of-package food labels: A narrative review. Appetite . 2020 Jan 1;144:104485.
• McGuire S. Institute of Medicine. 2012. Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols: Promoting Healthier Choices. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Advances in Nutrition . 2012 May;3(3):332-3.
• Nestle M. Public health implications of front-of-package labels. American journal of public health . 2018 Mar;108(3):320.
• Taillie LS, Hall MG, Popkin BM, Ng SW, Murukutla N. Experimental studies of front-of-package nutrient warning labels on sugar-sweetened beverages and ultra-processed foods: A scoping review. Nutrients . 2020 Feb;12(2):569.
• Miller LM, Cassady DL, Beckett LA, Applegate EA, Wilson MD, Gibson TN, Ellwood K. Misunderstanding of front-of-package nutrition information on US food products. PLoS One . 2015 Apr 29;10(4):e0125306.

Last reviewed June 2021

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View printable brochures and handouts with healthy eating tips based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 , including:

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• Cut Down on Added Sugars

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Want your kids to learn how to build a healthy meal? Use these clever activity sheets to find ideas and tips!

View this fact sheet with nutrition tips for breastfeeding moms. 

View printable materials about food safety, including guides, activity books, and tip sheets.

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Use this checklist to track healthy eating and exercise habits throughout your day!

View tips for building healthy eating habits in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. This fact sheet is available in 13 languages.

Printable fact sheets for living with and managing diabetes.

FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition developed “Everyday Food Safety” resources to increase food safety awareness among young adults ages 18 – 29. Check out the materials available to use in your classroom, health expo, waiting room, or website.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated the Nutrition Facts label on packaged foods and beverages with a new design, making it easier to make informed choices towards healthy eating habits. 

This one-page handout highlights the key changes being made to the new Nutrition Facts Label.

Share these tips to reduce food waste, save money, and protect the environment.

Browse handouts and recipes for the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet. Topics include getting more potassium, staying on track, and meal tracking for different calorie levels.

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View science-based fact sheets and handouts for health fairs and community events. 

The Sisters Together program encourages Black women ages 18 and older to reach and maintain a healthy weight. Learn how to bring the program to your community.

Download, print,or order a free copy of this brochure on eating disorders. Also available in Spanish.

Access vitamin and mineral supplement fact sheets for the consumer or health professional. Available in PDF format, and in Spanish.

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This hands-on research project is designed to make students aware of what they eat and how food companies use the media to market their products. Students begin by going on a scavenger hunt to learn what is in their favorite foods. From there, they learn about nutrition terminology through a Web-based research assignment. Equipped with information about the foods they eat, students analyze the food advertisements they see to learn how companies market their products to specific audiences. In the final section of this lesson, students choose healthful foods and work in cooperative groups to create advertisements for them.

Featured Resources

Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt : This printable sheet guides students in an inquiry activity searching for nutrition information in a grocery store.

Advertisement Analysis : Students can use this printable sheet to analyze a food advertisement.

From Theory to Practice

Multidisciplinary inquiry projects have the potential to engage and empower students in significant ways. As Jerome Harste notes in his Voices from the Middle article " What Do We Mean by Literacy Now? " the notion of distinct disciplines is important, "but only in relationship to the inquiry questions of learners" (11). As student inquiry moves outside the traditional bounds of a literacy and literature curriculum, so moves the range of texts being studied and produced in the classroom. Harste advocates that "'everyday texts' be an integral part of our language arts program as this is where literacy is occurring in the lives of students" (10). Making these kinds of texts, such as Websites and advertisements, part of the classroom allows students "to learn to examine the literacies that operate on them outside of school and how they might position and reposition themselves differently in the outside world" (10). This lesson heeds Harste's call by engaging students in learning about a personal, real-world issue: nutrition. Students build on information they already have about their favorite foods in order to create something new (an advertisement for a healthful food), while pursuing their own questions and analyzing various types of informational and persuasive media. Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
• 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Sample nutrition labels
• Several pieces of a butcher paper and markers
• Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt
• Nutrition Research Guide
• Advertisement Analysis
• Marketing Group Checklist

Preparation

• Collect several food labels that include nutrition facts. Before Session One, show students several food labels and explain that they will read the nutrition facts from similar labels to complete a scavenger hunt in a grocery store or at home. Send students home with the Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt guide, and give them several days to complete it.
• Prepare enough butcher paper and markers so students can work in groups of three or four to record their scavenger hunt information on charts. You might want to make the butcher paper look like big nutrition labels that include space for several foods. Keep one or two pieces of butcher paper blank for notes you will want to post in the classroom.
• Make copies of the Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt guide, the Advertisement Analysis , and the Marketing Group Checklist handouts for all students.
• Make one copy of the Nutrition Research Guide for each pair of students.
• Peruse the various Websites listed in the Nutrition and Advertising Websites list to familiarize yourself with them, to prepare for discussions about food marketing, and to learn how students will find information for their Nutrition Research Guides .
• Arrange for students to have Internet access for Sessions One, Two, and Three.
• Bookmark the Nutrition and Advertising Websites on all computers that students will be using.
• Test the Venn Diagram tool to familiarize yourself with the tool and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page .
• See other ReadWriteThink lesson plans on advertising ( Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising , Identifying and Understanding the Fallacies Used in Advertising , and Exploring Consumerism Where Ads and Art Intersect ) and consider adapting some of their instructional strategies into this lesson.

Student Objectives

Students will

• understand and evaluate their own food choices.
• use research to better understand the health effects of food.
• compare and contrast foods to understand what makes one more healthful than the other.
• analyze food advertisements to better understand how products are marketed.
• create their own advertisements using learned techniques to promote healthful foods.

Session One

• Explain to students that they will be doing some research about nutrition over the next few days in order to make their own advertisements for a food that is healthful and tasty. First they will research nutrition, and then they will study some Internet sites that advertise healthful and unhealthful foods before making their advertisements in cooperative groups.
• Ask students to get out their completed Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt guides.
• Explain that students will work in groups of three or four to record the information from their guides on the butcher paper. Allow students to ask questions before they move into their groups.
• As students work in groups, move from group to group to answer questions.
• When students finish, have a volunteer from each group talk about the group's nutrition charts. Volunteers should explain what kinds of foods they chose as their favorites and the kinds they thought were healthful.
• Discuss what surprised students about this assignment. Did they discover something about their favorite foods that they didn't know before? What did students notice about the packages the junk foods came in (colors, cartoons, prizes, etc.)?
• Ask students to talk about what they already know about nutrition, and record their responses on the board or on another piece of butcher paper. For example, were there terms on the nutrition labels or on their Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt Guides that they already understood? What do they know about terms such as saturated fat, calories, and protein? What do they understand about serving sizes and recommended values?
• Explain that in the next session students will work in pairs to do some Internet research about nutrition.

Session Two

• Direct students to the Nutrition and Advertising Websites resource list.
• Give each pair of students a Nutrition Research Guide , and go over it with the class. Allow students to ask questions before they get started.
• As students work, monitor their progress. Stop the class from time to time to ask volunteers to give you an answer to one of the questions on the guide that they've already answered.
• In the last five minutes of class, ask students to tell you how much of their Nutrition Research Guide they have completed. Collect the guides and tell students that there will be time to finish them in the next session.

Session Three

• Return the Nutrition Research Guides that students were working on in the previous session.
• Go over any problem areas you noticed when you collected the guides and allow students to ask questions before they start working in the same pairs to finish their guides.
• As soon as the first students finish their Nutrition Research Guides , stop the class to explain what they will do next.
• Show them the Venn Diagram tool, and explain that they will continue to work in pairs to complete this assignment. They are to choose an unhealthful food from the following categories: breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack food. Then they must choose a healthful food that is similar and fits into the same category. For example, they might choose chocolate chip pancakes with syrup as an unhealthy breakfast and whole wheat pancakes with fruit preserves as a healthy breakfast. Or, they might compare fried corn tortilla chips with nacho cheese to cucumber slices with cottage cheese as a topping. They also can choose to compare the fast food item from their research guide with a similar, healthier food. They will use the Venn Diagram to compare the two foods. Students should be able to find several similarities and differences between the two foods. They should use the NutritionData Website to look up nutrition information about each food.
• Allow students to ask questions. Have each pair show you their research guide when they finish before they go on to the Venn Diagrams . Remember: The Venn Diagram tool must be printed out to be saved. It cannot be saved on the computer so if students only have a few minutes left to start on one, they might want to take notes on paper that they will use to complete their Venn Diagrams during the next session.
• Explain that they will have time to work on the Venn Diagrams in the next session. Everyone should turn in their Nutrition Research Guide by the end of this session.

Session Four

• Give students time at the beginning of the session to finish their Venn Diagrams and print them out.
• Give each pair a chance to share with the class the foods they compared. Then, have students turn in their Venn Diagrams to you.
• Remind students about their final product: an advertisement to sell a healthy food. Ask students to talk about what kinds of advertisements might convince them to buy something. What kinds of advertisements do they remember? Are memorable advertisements successful at selling the product being advertised? Why or why not?
• Direct students to the Nutrition and Advertising Websites and have them go to the four food sites— Tropicana , Dole , Doritos , and Kool-Aid —one at a time. Ask students to describe what they see on each site. Record their answers on a piece of butcher paper to post back in the classroom. As students describe colors, people, and designs on each site, ask them to think about who the site is talking to. In other words, "Who is the audience?" For example, the Tropicana site tends to have pictures of families in bright colors happily surrounding a carton of Tropicana orange juice. This might suggest that Tropicana is good for you or that the advertisement is speaking to families. It also suggests-based on the smiling people and bright, natural colors-that Tropicana orange juice will make you happy. Do this sort of analysis with the other Websites.
• Homework: Give students the Advertisement Analysis , and ask them to use it to analyze a food advertisement from a magazine, newspaper, or an ad printed from the Internet. Ask students to bring the advertisement into class for the following session, along with the completed Advertisement Analysis .

Session Five

• Ask several volunteers to share the advertisements they brought. Go through some of the analysis questions to model for the class how they should think about advertisements as they are working on their own.
• Discuss different techniques that are used in advertising such as using cartoon characters or celebrities, product placement, color symbolism, slogans and jingles, and appetizing product information.
• Give each student a Marketing Group Checklist , and go over it with the class.
• Explain that students will be placed in groups of three or four. In their groups, they will discuss the different foods they have been studying and choose one for which they would all like to make an advertisement.
• Once in their groups, students should begin planning the advertisement by deciding what audience they would like to buy their food (i.e., the audience they are targeting when they sell the food). Then they should discuss different techniques that might work in their advertisement.
• Ask students to make a list of the supplies they are going to bring from home to complete their advertisements in the next session. They should copy the list in their notebooks and give a copy to you.
• For the next session, students should bring the supplies from their lists to class and do any other preparatory work at home so they will be ready to finish their advertisements during the next session.

Session Six

• Ask each group to give a brief explanation of the plan for their ad.
• Allow the rest of the class to ask clarifying questions to each group as a way of critiquing their advertisement ideas.
• Students should work on their advertisements in groups for the rest of the class session while you monitor their work and answer questions.

Session Seven

• Use this class session for students to present their advertisements.
• Ask the rest of the class to identify the advertising techniques each group used in their ads and to guess what audience the ads were advertising to.
• Each group should turn in its completed product advertisement along with a Marketing Group Checklist for each group member.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• Students should be assessed on the Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt guide according to whether they completed the guide correctly and with quality.
• While answers will vary for the Nutrition Research Guide , all answers should be similar and should come from the two Websites provided to students. Assess for completeness and accuracy.
• Assess the Venn Diagram for completion and thoroughness. Students should be able to find several similarities and differences between the foods they choose to compare.
• Students should submit the Advertisement Analysis with the advertisements they bring from home. It should be assessed according to whether they completed it accurately.
• Use the Marketing Group Checklist as a self-assessment for students. Each student should be able to explain the process of creating the product advertisement and evaluate the progress of his or her group. This also can be used as a final assessment tool for the product advertisement. Compare students’ answers on the checklist to the actual advertisement they created.
• Calendar Activities
• Student Interactives

This interactive tool allows students to create Venn diagrams that contain two or three overlapping circles, enabling them to organize their information logically.

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