Nutrition Activities – What the Teachers should Teach

Students of today are aware that nutrition value in any food is a very important aspect and should not be overlooked. Knowing this also, they go for junk food – well, this is another issue. Many activities like student interaction, listening about healthy food, learning about food choice, are there for the students to learn about nutrition. Moreover, the earlier they learn about nutrition, the better because they are the ones who decide daily what food they should eat.

Then, what are the nutrition activities for the children to learn?

1. Worksheets – the concerned teacher in the school needs to explain to the students the ‘food pyramid’, that is, the basic food groups and the portions they should eat at their age. Accordingly, they should be given worksheets and be asked to record the food they eat for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner for at least 7 days. These worksheets should be then compared by the teacher with the recommended diet for their age. Of course, in most cases the result will be that the food they eat are not at all healthy or has no health benefits!

1. Interaction – the teacher should ask the students to measure out a portion of rice, wheat, cereal, pasta, noodles, and the likes provided to them. After measuring out the required portion, the students should interact with the teacher about the portion sizes and compare them with the recommended size. It will be surprising to note that the sizes they have measured are double the calories actually recommended!

1. Reading food labels – the teacher should teach them how to read food labels when they go for shopping. This way, it will help them to stay away from food which has, more or less, no nutrition value. Accordingly, they should be given worksheets to record which food they find the best and which the worst, and why. Also, some food labels should be given to them to find out their best choice. Not only this, the teacher should explain to them the health benefits of every ingredient listed on the food labels.

The above are for the teachers to start with and go slowly into other nutrition activities.