Pathways To A Healthy Life

This curriculum unit intended for 6th – 8th grade science or health students will focus on how nutrition affects student academic performance and behavior. Students will discover solutions to poor nutrition by comparing and contrasting the effects of a diet high in fat, sugar, and sodium opposed to a diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and minimum fats. Students will examine the U.S. Food and Drug Administration information on how to understand and use the nutrition fact labels. As a result, students will identify how much they should eat and how to recover from poor nutrition habits. Students will collect data and create graphs on the type of nutritional food items that are available in neighborhood grocery stores. Students will analyze multi media such as television, radio, print, and technology to determine the subtle stimuli that are unconsciously absorbed and impact food choice and consumption. Students will review basic research data to learn that “eating your way to intelligence” starts with a healthy breakfast and a healthy snack. Students will create a healthy snack policy to present to parents and the school for school-wide implementation. Students will utilize the Internet to investigate a selected health quest for their favorite healthy food. Finally, the unit should take approximately six 50-minute lessons to introduce each lesson. Additional time is necessary to plan for student research and follow-up.