Nutrition and Fitness Unit Study

My 7th grader and 5th grader will be exploring nutrition this school year.  My first grader will also participate as appropriate.  The goal of this study is to help my children learn how to make and why to make nutritious food choices.  I am skimming over any weight loss issues presented and focusing on helping my kids achieve a healthy lifestyle.

Visualizing Nutrition is our spine.  I found it used for a good price.  Brand new, this book costs over $100.  It is chock full of images and has plenty of information as well.  If interested, click on the link above.  It will take you to Amazon where you can see inside the book.  I like choosing a book with lots of images and in depth information because this allows us to skim areas by focusing on the pictures and main headings or explore interest areas in depth.  When we go through the book we will all sit down with the book together and read/discuss the information.

Fitness is a minor portion of this study, but we will explore other exercise options that my kids can incorporate into their everyday life.

Documentaries are also a big part of this study.  I prewatched many different ones and chose these because I thought they conveyed concepts in a way that my children should find interesting.

Read Visualizing Nutrition: Everyday Choices pg 2-27

• Watch Super Size Me (skip portions 1:04:20 -1:07:50 and 1:30:45 – 1:31:15)

Read Visualizing Nutrition: Guidelines for a Healthy Diet pg 28-53

• Watch Hungry for Change
• Go to market to get a wide range of vegetables and fruit for juicing.

Read Visualizing Nutrition: Digestion: From Meals to Molecules pg 54-81

• Watch Bill Nye Digestion 

Read Visualizing Nutrition:  Carbohydrates: Sugars, Starches, and Fibers pg 86-117

• Watch Standard Deviants Nutrition Cells and Macronutrients

Read Visualizing Nutrition: Lipids:  Fats, Phospholipids, and Sterols pg 118-151

• Watch Supermarket Secrets and Deceptions Part 1
• Go to local butcher and choose meat.  Get the same kind of meat from the local supermarket and compare the quality and taste of the cooked meat.

Read Visualizing Nutrition:  Proteins and Amino Acids pg 152-183

• Watch Supermarket Secrets and Deceptions Part 2

Read Visualizing Nutrition: Vitamins pg 184-237

• Play http://www.nourishinteractive.com/kids/healthy-games/22-nutrient-machine-vitamins-minerals-game-children and complete this matching exercise http://www.feedingminds.org/fileadmin/templates/feedingminds/pdf_nu/EWell_05_01-04.pdf
• Keep a food and exercise journal for a week and enter data into Fitness app to determine intake of different vitamins from food.

Read Visualizing Nutrition: Water and Minerals pg 238-287

• Watch Cerebellum Corporation Nutrition – Micronutrients (Vitamins, Minerals, Water)
• Boys each have 2 liter bottles filled with water to be finished in a day and 1^st grader will have a 1 liter bottle of water to be finished in a day.

Read Visualizing Nutrition: Energy Balance and Weight Management pg 288-329

• Watch Burning Foods to Measure Calories 
• Watch This Is 200 Calories

Read Visualizing Nutrition:  Nutrition, Fitness, and Physical Activity pg 330-363

• Do Presidential Physical Fitness Test https://www.presidentschallenge.org/challenge/physical/activities/index.shtml to see areas of strength and weakness https://www.presidentschallenge.org/challenge/physical/award-benchmarks-low-vision-alt.shtml
• Try out different workout videos to find a few to use regularly (for preteens) https://www.youtube.com/user/FitnessBlender/videos  and (for 6 year old ) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5uIZ2KOZZeQDQo_Gsi_qbQ

Read Visualizing Nutrition: Nutrition from 1 to 100 pg 400-435

• Watch The Truth About Food Episode 3 
• Watch The Truth about Food Episode 5 
• Watch The Truth about Food Episode 6

Read Visualizing Nutrition: How Safe is Our Food Supply pg 436-473

• Watch Food Inc
• Visit Farmer’s Market and choose local produce

Read Visualizing Nutrition: Feeding the World pg 474-500

• Watch BBC The Future of Food Part 1
• Watch BBC The Future of Food Part 2
• Watch BBC The Future of Food Part 3 
• Explore the local resources and when local food is in season.  Post a calendar on the fridge showing when local food is available.

Design a healthy weekly menu on a budget and prepare one day’s worth of meals.