Nutrients in Action: Identifying Nutrients in Food Choices, Lecture notes of Spanish

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Lesson 1 – Nutrients in Action

unhealthy because they have been linked to a higher risk for heart disease. Foods with solid fats generally come from animal sources such as dairy or meat. Oils generally contain polyunsaturated fats that are considered healthier than saturated fats. Most foods with oils are plant-based such as nuts, seeds, olives and avocados. Our bodies need certain types of polyunsaturated fatty acids, called essential fatty acids , because we are not able to make them on our own. These include what are called omega-6 fatty acids, and omega- fatty acids. Examples of foods containing essential fatty acids include fish, flax seeds, and walnuts (omega-3s) or soy beans and corn oil (omega-6s). As mentioned previously, when the other macronutrients are consumed in excess they are converted to fat. This is because body fat is the main way our bodies store energy for later use.

In addition to macronutrients, our bodies also need a variety of micronutrients. They are called micronutrients because our bodies only need very small amounts of them. These include vitamins and minerals.

Vitamins are nutrients that exclusively serve regulatory roles in the body. There are two major types: fat-soluble and water-soluble. Vitamins A , D , E , and K are classified as fat-soluble vitamins. B vitamins , and vitamin C are classified as water-soluble vitamins. Fat-soluble vitamins serve more general regulatory roles in the body. For example, vitamin K is needed for blood clotting, while vitamin D is needed for bone health and immune function. Water-soluble vitamins mainly serve as co-factors or “helpers” in many metabolic functions. For example, B vitamins assist in supporting proper metabolism (See Activity Handout 1A for more detail on individual vitamins.)

Minerals are inorganic elements that come from water or soil and are absorbed by plants or eaten by animals. Our bodies need many different minerals, some of which are iron , calcium , magnesium , and zinc. Like vitamins, different minerals serve different purposes. For example, iron is important in our red blood cells for moving oxygen around our bodies, while zinc is important for wound healing and immune function. (See Activity Handout 1A for more detail on individual minerals.)

For most essential nutrients, our bodies are able to save an extra supply to get us through times when we aren’t consuming enough. These stores differ by nutrient; some stores can last a very long time, but some cannot. If we aren’t consuming enough nutrients, our bodies are not able to build up this extra supply.

A balanced diet provides our bodies with all of the nutrients we need. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has produced MyPlate as a tool for consumers to help guide their food choices. MyPlate recommendations are based on the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and Dietary References Intakes. The USDA also uses these guidelines to develop the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) required meal patterns. Schools participating in the NSLP and SBP are required to follow these meal patterns in order to be reimbursed for the meals served to participating children.

Concepts and Vocabulary

2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Dietary recommendations for Americans produced jointly by the USDA and the US Department of Health and Human Services.

B-vitamins: Vitamins that are important for helping our bodies turn food into energy.

Calcium: A mineral important for bone health and muscle function.

Calories: A measure of how much energy a food has. These are a unit of heat energy.

Carbohydrate: A macronutrient that primarily provides our bodies with energy.

Dietary fiber: A type of carbohydrate that can’t be digested, but is important for digestive health. It may help reduce blood cholesterol and lower risk of heart disease.

Essential nutrients: Nutrients our bodies can only get from food.

Essential fatty acids: Fatty acids that our bodies cannot make. These include omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids.

Energy: What our bodies use to power everything we do.

Fat: A macronutrient that provides energy, but also is important for cell structure and nerve function.

Fatty acids: A component of fat. These can be saturated or unsaturated.

Folate (Folic acid): A B-vitamin that helps the body form red blood cells and is needed for growth and repair. It is also important in pregnancy to help prevent birth defects.

Iron: A mineral that is important in red blood cells, and is used to move oxygen around in the blood.

Macronutrients: Nutrients we consume in large amounts, including carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

Magnesium: A mineral needed for bone health, and nerve and muscle function.

Meal Pattern (NSLP and SBP): The foods and amounts that are required to be served in meals that are part of the NSLP or SBP.

Micronutrients: Nutrients we consume in small amounts, including vitamins and minerals.

Minerals: Elements we get from foods, which are needed for functions in our bodies.

MyPlate: Governed by the United States Department of Agriculture, an illustration depicting the five food groups for a healthy diet, showing sections of a plate that should match how much of each food group goes on your plate.

National School Lunch Program (NSLP): A program administered by the USDA to provide reimbursement to schools for lunches served to children, provided they follow predetermined regulations and requirements.

Nutrients: Substances that provide energy and structure to the body along with supporting regulatory systems. There are six classes of nutrients including protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water.

Oils: Fats that are liquid at room temperature, including mono- and poly- unsaturated fats.

Protein: A macronutrient that is needed for muscle growth and maintenance, but also several other important functions in the body. Protein can also be used for energy.

1.1: Learning Activity

Overview

In this activity, participants will explore how different foods provide different nutrients, the importance of variety in the diet, and how different nutrients perform different functions in the body. To discover these concepts, each group receives a handout with a list of student meal choices for a week. Next, using a sheet with information on three nutrients, participants are asked to analyze the student meal choices. The groups then share which of these nutrients the students did or didn’t obtain using flip chart papers displayed around the room. This is followed by a class discussion of participant observations and patterns they noticed when analyzing the student’s nutrient intake using the menus provided.

Getting Ready

Time Required

55 minutes

If using all lesson components (Learning Activity, Expanding Knowledge, and Goal Setting), the entire lesson requires approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Materials Needed

( Materials provided in the curriculum )

For Each Group of 2-4 Participants

Flip chart paper

Markers, pens, or pencils

Student Lunch Choices (Activity Sheet 1-B)

Las Llamas Middle School Lunch Menu (Handout 1-C)

For the Facilitator

Student Lunch Choices KEY (Handout 1-E) Optional:

Lesson 1 (PowerPoint)

Computer

PowerPoint Projector

For the Class

Nutrient Labels (Lesson Material 1-D) (Printed on sheets of adhesive mailing labels, 1” x 2 5/8”, such as Avery 5160)

Prepared flip chart paper with student name and days of week. (See Facilitator Resource 1-F for instructions)

For Each Participant

Nutrients in Action (Handout 1-A), to be handed out at the end of the lesson. Optional:

Student Lunch Choices KEY (Handout 1-E)

Preparation

Handouts

1. Make copies of the following handouts:
   • Nutrients in Action (Handout 1-A) , one copy per participant. Facilitator Tip: To encourage group work, it is recommended that you provide one copy per group to use during the activity. It may help to verbally explain that they will only get one copy per group and that taking turns reading aloud is recommended. At the end of the activity, distribute the Nutrients in Action handout to each participant as a take-home resource.
   • Student Lunch Choices (Activity Sheet 1-B) , one set of students per group.
   • Las Llamas Middle School Lunch Menu (Handout 1-C) , one copy per group.
   • Optional: Student Lunch Choices KEY (Handout 1-E) , one copy per participant.

Other Materials

2. Print one or more copies of Nutrient Labels (Lesson Material 1-D) , enough that each group has a set. This should be printed either on adhesive mailing labels or on plain paper (refer to Lesson Material 1-D for additional instructions).
3. Prepare one flip chart for each of the students in Student Lunch Choices (Handout 1-B). Each flip chart should have the following information: - Student name across the top; - Days of the week listed on the left-hand side; and - “At the end of the week, what nutrients are missing?” written near the bottom. - Refer to Suggested Flip Chart Layout (Facilitator Resource 1-F).

Activity Set-up

4. Hang the prepared flip chart papers around the room. Spread them apart to reduce congestion during the activity.

Classroom Set-up

5. Organize the class into small groups of 2 to 4 participants.

Facilitator Tip: These groups can also be used in future lessons.

6. Provide each group with a sheet of flip chart paper and markers, pens, or pencils to answer opening questions/prompts.

Optional

7. Before participants arrive, connect laptop to projector. Load Focus on Food Lesson 1 (PowerPoint).

“What do you mean by…”; “Did anyone else write this?” At this stage, it is important that you do not correct misconceptions. Instead, make note of them, and if they are not corrected organically through the lesson, address them briefly at the end of the lesson.

Procedure (Experiencing)

Define “Nutrients”

5. Say: Before we get started with the activity, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page about the definition of a nutrient. Nutrients are substances found in food and beverages that provide energy and structure to the body. They are used for growth, maintenance, regulation, and repair. (Slide 7)

Small Group Work

6. Say: Now let’s move into this lesson’s activity. Each group will be provided with a few different handouts to use in the first part of this activity:

Each group will be assigned three different nutrients, which you will see on your handout.

Within your groups, use the information found in the Nutrients in Action and Las Llamas Middle School Lunch Menu handouts to determine whether or not the students on the Student Lunch Choices handout chose foods that contain your three assigned nutrients. (Slide 8 )

7. Do: Provide each group with:
   • One copy of Nutrients in Action (Handout 1-A).
   • One set of Student Lunch Choices (Activity Sheet 1-B).
   • One copy of Las Llamas Middle School Lunch Menu (Handout 1-C)
8. Do: Allow several minutes for participants to complete the handout.

Facilitator Tip: If some groups finish earlier than others, ask them to take a look at some of the other nutrients on the Nutrients in Action Handout, and identify if the students chose foods with those as well.

Slide 7

Slide 8

Completing Student Flip Charts

9. Say: For the next part of this activity, there is a different flip chart paper for each student around the room. - Your next task will use the Nutrient Labels. - If the student consumed one of your assigned nutrients, put a label for that nutrient next to the day of the week the student consumed it. (Slide 9) - For example, if a student consumed magnesium on Monday, you would put a label for magnesium in the space next to Monday for that student. - If, by the end of the week, they didn’t consume one of your nutrients at all, put a label for that nutrient at the bottom of the flip chart, where it says, “At the end of the week, what nutrients are missing?” - Do this for all three of your group’s nutrients. Facilitator Tip: Refer to Facilitator Resource 1-F for a reference photo of a completed flip chart. Facilitator Tip: To reduce congestion, have two to three groups at a time complete this step.
10. Do: Provide a set of Nutrient Labels (Lesson Material 1-D) to each group, matched to the Student Lunch Choices they received earlier. Allow a few minutes for groups to complete the flip charts.

Class Discussion

11. Say: As a class, let’s review the nutrients that the students consumed and did not consume. Who would like to volunteer to describe the nutrients found in the first student’s choices, and what nutrients they didn’t get over the course of the week?
12. Do: Allow a minute or two for the volunteer(s) to review the nutrients consumed and not consumed for each student. (Slide 10)

Slide 9

Slide 10

Concept and Term Discovery/Introduction

Over the course of the activity, participants should be able to identify the following concepts:

• Different foods provide different nutrients
• Variety is a key factor when planning a nutritious diet.
• Eating a variety of foods helps prevent nutrient deficiencies.
• Different nutrients perform different functions in our bodies.
• The purpose of including the different components in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program meal patterns is to provide students with a variety of nutrients. The following key vocabulary terms should be discovered by participants or introduced to them: nutrients, essential nutrients, energy, carbohydrates, fiber, protein, fat, oils, solid fats, minerals, calcium, iron, vitamins, B-vitamins, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin D.

Procedure

1. Do: Go through the Expanding Knowledge presentation slide by slide. The following script is available for use if you so choose.

Slide 13

Slide 14

Slide 15

Slide 14 What do we mean when we say nutrients? These are substances in food or beverages that support our body processes, by providing energy, structure, or supporting regulatory systems. Some nutrients are essential, which means our bodies are not able to make them, or our bodies can make a little but not enough to meet our needs.

Slide 15 We classify nutrients as either macronutrients, which are ones we need a lot of, or micronutrients, which are ones we only need in small amounts. Water, carbohydrates, protein, and fats are all macronutrients, while vitamins and minerals are micronutrients.

Slide 13 Now let’s review some of the concepts we learned during Lesson 1, Nutrients in Action.

Slide 18

Slide 17

Slide 16

Slide 16 Fun fact – Macro comes from the Greek word for “large”. Of the macronutrients, three provide us with calories. Would anyone like to share which ones these are? [Pause to allow responses from the class.] Carbohydrates, protein, and fats all have calories, while water does not.

Slide 17 What do you think about when you hear the word “calories”? [Pause to allow responses from the class.]

Slide 18 Calories are the way we talk about how much energy a food has. This energy is used by all our cells and organs in the body to move, to support health, to maintain life. They’re like gasoline to a car; with out energy we can’t run.

Slide 24

Slide 23

Slide 22

Slide 22 First, As mentioned earlier, fiber is a carbohydrate we can’t digest.

• It is important for digestive health.
• A high fiber diet may lower risk for heart disease and diabetes. Second, Carbohydrates provide us with energy and have 4 calories per gram. Third, In fact, our brains use mostly carbohydrates for energy.

Slide 23 Protein comes from both animal and plant sources. Animal sources include meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy. Plant sources include beans, dried peas, lentils, nuts, and seeds. While they are not listed on this slide, other vegetables also have small amounts of protein.

Slide 24 What does protein do for us? [Pause to allow responses from the class.]

Slide 26

Slide 25

Slide 25 First, protein provides structure in the body, by making up our

• Muscles
• Tendons
• And connective tissues, like collagen Second, It helps regulate processes. Some of the ways it does this are by:
• Aiding in the transport on nutrients in our blood
• Supporting DNA and immune function
• Providing the building blocks for many enzymes and hormones And third, it also serves as a source of energy
• Like carbohydrates, it has 4 calories per gram

Slide 26 We can break down fats as either solid or liquid. Solid fats are solid at room temperature, and include saturated fat and trans fat. Some examples are butter, lard, shortening, and coconut oil. Consuming a lot of saturated fat and trans fat may raise risk for heart disease. Liquid fats are unsaturated fats. There are two kinds: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Sources of liquid fats include oils, nuts, seeds, olives, and avocado.