Food Facts

Food Facts

• Each week during cooking crew, one member from each team works at the enrichment table to determine why the food being prepared that day is healthy.
• The goal of the nutrition label creation is for students to understand that foods are made up of calories nutrients, which are digested and used by the body. Different foods have different kids of nutrients, so it is important to eat a variety of different kinds of food.
• The end result of the nutrition label creation is a poster that visualizes a nutritional benefit of the foods being served. The student participating in the nutrition label creation is also responsible for teaching his/her peers about why the dish they are making is healthy.

​

​

​

Food Facts: Process

• Nutrition Label Discovery
• What is a nutrient?
• Calories (Fat, Protein, Carbs)
• Energy Balance
• Fiber, Sodium, Vitamins and Minerals
• Calculating Calories for team dish
• Poster/Presentation Creation

Food Facts: What do we know about these foods?

What does the information on the label mean?

​

Why is a nutrition label important?

Food Facts: What is a nutrient?

• Foods are made up of tiny things you can’t see called nutrients.
• When we eat foods our body breaks the whole foods down into nutrients.
• The nutrients are absorbed by our blood and used by our body.
• Our body needs many different nutrients for healthy hair, bones, muscles, nerves, and skin.
• Different foods contain different nutrients. This is why we need to eat a balanced diet to stay healthy, and also why we need to know what’s in our food.
• There are two categories of nutrients- macronutrients and micronutrients. Macro means big, micro means small. Our bodies need more of the macronutrients than micronutrients.
• Macro: fat, protein, carbohydrates
• Micro: fiber, vitamins, minerals

Food Facts: Calories

• Calories are energy. Our body takes in energy when we eat, and releases energy when we exercise.
• If we take in more calories than we burn, we gain weight. If we burn more calories than we take in, we lose weight. Taking in the same amount of calories as we burn is called energy balance.
• Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fat (the macronutrients) are the 3 nutrients that contain calories.
• Carbs = 4 cals/gram
• Protein = 4 cals/gram
• Fat = 8 cals/gram

Food Facts: Fiber, Sodium, Vitamins, and Minerals

• Fiber is found mostly in plant foods and helps cleans our body of toxins.
• Sodium, also known as salt, is important to eat in small quantities.
• There are lots of different Vitamins and Minerals and these are nutrients that help our body work properly.
• We need to eat a variety of different foods to get all the different nutrients our body needs.

Food Facts: Calculating Calories

• Take a look at your recipe. In order to calculate the total amount of energy in a serving of your dish, you need to know the following:
• A. How many calories are in each ingredient.
• B. How much of each ingredient is in the whole recipe.
• C. How many servings will be made once the recipe is complete.
• For each ingredient, multiply A times B, making sure you are using the same unit size.
• Then add up the total amount of calories in each ingredient, to find the total number of calories in the whole dish.
• Finally divide this number by C, to find out how many calories are in one serving.

Teams can earn points for more than just preparing the best dish. Calculating the nutrition facts for the recipe will earn your team points. The nutrition information is also integrated into the student led presentation of the dish.

Food Facts: Your Job- Educating the Community!

• It’s your job to make sure everyone on your team, as well as everyone eating knows the main nutrients in your food and why they are good for your body.
• To do this you will need to do some research, following the steps below.
1. Pick a few of the main ingredients in your recipe, and using a computer or phone type in the search bar the health information for the ingredient you are investigating.
2. For each ingredient, write down at least one fact about why a nutrient (or nutrients) in that ingredient is healthy for your body.

​

Food Facts: Ingredient/Nutrient Facts

Name: _____________ Team:___________ Date: ________

​

• Calories in one serving: ___________

​

• Ingredient 1:___________________________
• Nutrient fact: _____________________________

​

• Ingredient 2: ___________________________
• Nutrient fact: ______________________________

​

• Ingredient 3: ___________________________
• Nutrient fact: ______________________________

Food Facts: Example Ingredient/Nutrient Facts

• Ingredient 1: bananas
• Nutrient fact: Vitamin B6 is found in bananas and helps keep our brain and nervous system healthy.

​

• Ingredient 2: kale
• Nutrient fact: Kale has lots of vitamin K which helps keep our bones healthy.

​

• Ingredient 3: blueberries
• Nutrient fact: Blueberries have a mineral called manganese which helps keep our skin healthy.

Food Facts: Verbal Education

• Every member of your cooking crew team should know:
• how many calories are in a serving of your dish
• a little information about which nutrients are in the ingredients in your dish
• why those nutrients are important to keep your body health.
• As the Support Chefs rotate around the kitchen, your team can earn points for demonstrating the knowledge of the Food Facts you teach them.