Grade 8 Health: NutritionYour Guide to Living a Healthy Lifestyle!

Nutrition Unit

Please ensure that you complete your work during the in-class time provided,

as there isn’t much time left in the school year. It is important to use the

class-time that I give you wisely!!! I will post the worksheets that we

complete in class on my website, so that if you miss a day, you can easily

access the missing work.

Nutrition: Eat Healthy Definition: “the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health

and growth.”

Based on this definition and your previous knowledge of nutrition, why do you

think it is important for teenagers to maintain a healthy diet? Why is it so

important during the teenage years that you get the right amount of nutrients?

(Roughly a paragraph response, that’s 8-10 sentences, guys!)

What Should I be Eating??

Apples, oranges, bananas,

potatoes, carrots, peppers,

onions, strawberries,

tomatoes, etc.

Bread, rice, cereal, bagels,

pasta, etc.

Milk, soy milk, yogurt,

cheese, etc.

Steak, chicken, eggs,

nuts (peanut butter

counts!), turkey, fish,

etc.

The Most Important Meal of the Day!! How many people here typically skip breakfast?

Breakfast is the most important meal of our day, and yet so many people tend to skip it!

Why is breakfast so important? Most of us sleep between 6-8 hours a night and so our bodies

go a long time without any nourishment during that time period.

Breakfast replenishes blood glucose, which is needed to fuel the brain and give the body energy to

function properly.

Going to school while hungry can impact your mood and ability to focus.

Most breakfast foods (cereal, fresh fruit, milk and fruit juice) are rich in nutrients like protein, fibre,

carbohydrates, iron, calcium, zinc, and vitamins A,C,D, B6, riboflavin, & folic acids that the body needs

to stay healthy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ3XNgoa8U8

Breakfast Continued

Many teens believe that skipping breakfast will help with weight loss, BUT THIS IS NOT

TRUE!!!

Skipping Breakfast does NOT help control weight because the person usually compensates

for the lack of energy with high fat or high calorie meals throughout the day.

Breakfast jump-starts the metabolism, helping with regular digestion of food.

Teens who skip breakfast are generally:

Less curious, less attentive, less physically active and less responsive socially.

More irritable, tired, and anxious.

Easily distracted, and often cannot concentrate during class time, usually resulting in disruptive

behaviour!

Keeping track!

You will be keeping track of your food in-take for 3 days. (We can start with

today!) You will record what you had for breakfast, morning snacks, lunch,

snacks in the afternoon, supper, and then any evening snacks.

If you skip a meal/don’t have snacks, just write ‘n/a’ for that day. (Please

don’t skip meals! It’s not good for you!!!)

Then we will record your average in-take for each of the food groups!

You will keep these in class, and just record them at the beginning of Health

class.

Understanding Nutrition Labels! We all see these labels on the back of everything we eat and drink, but what

do they really mean!?

*Girls should be taking in about

2,000 calories a day.

*Boys should be taking in between

2,000-2,500 calories a day.

Most food labels base their

percentages off of a 2,000 calorie

diet.

Remember: Ingredients are listed from

“most” to “least”, so if an ingredients label

starts with “sugar”, then that product has a

lot of sugar!

Lousy Labels Tips to avoid misleading food labels:

Watch out for terms such as “all natural!”, “Only 2 grams of fat per serving!” “No

trans fat!”, “Contains real fruit!”, “Prevents heart disease!” These terms can be

twisted, as we’ve seen with “Lousy Labels”, so be aware that these may not

always be the case!

Read the nutrition labels, AND the ingredients! Familiarize yourself with what is

actually in the product. If you’re unsure of what an ingredient is, Google it or ask

an adult!

Eat fresh food!

Be aware of what you’re putting in your body. Remember, you are responsible for

keeping your body healthy and fit, so pay attention to your food!

The Truth About Sugar (Documentary) Teens (and let’s be real, adults too) tend to eat a lot of sugar throughout the

day. Sugary foods are typically cheaper, more readily available, and often

taste better than healthy foods.

Sugar in moderation is fine, important actually, but too much can have very

negative affects on the body! Click this pic!

Physically Active Lifestyles!

The Benefits of an Active Lifestyle! Why is physical activity important??

It reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease (huh?)

Heart disease and stroke are two of the leading causes of death in America! Following the

guidelines of 150 minutes of physical activity a week (That’s only 2.5 hours a week!) will greatly

lower the risk for these diseases when you’re older! Present you has to start taking care of future

you, NOW!

Reduces risk of Type 2 Diabetes and forms of cancer!

A healthy diet and regular exercise can help reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes, which is when the

pancreas does not produce enough insulin to maintain a normal blood glucose level.

Some people are more at risk than others due to genetics, but a poor diet and lack of physical

activity can result in Type 2 Diabetes.

People with Type 2 Diabetes can live perfectly healthy lives if they watch what they eat and

maintain an active lifestyle!

Research shows that physically active lifestyles can lower your risk for certain types of cancer, such

as breast, colon and lung cancer!

It Strengthens your bones and muscles!

Active Lifestyle Continued! Exercising isn’t just about losing or maintaining weight!

An active lifestyle also has mental and emotional benefits!

Exercise and sports are great stress relievers!

Physical activity actually relaxes you! It helps you maintain focus on a task (*cough like

your school work cough*)

Exercise produces endorphins that make you feel really good! It gives you an emotional

boost!!

There’s no need for a rigorous work-out. Simply going for a walk or jog every day, going for a

bike ride, playing sports with friends… it all counts!!

Some things to remember:

When you do workout, be sure to warm up and cool down so that your

muscles are stretched and your body is prepared for the physical activity!

Warm up: This is the pre-work out task! It prepares your body for a workout and

protects against injury and muscle soreness. Warm ups increase blood flow to the

muscles and stretches them in preparation for a workout. It gradually speeds up

your heart, rather than putting it under sudden stress.

Cool Down: If you stop an activity suddenly, all the blood sent to the large muscles

of your legs can pool there, which can deprive your heart of blood and your brain

of oxygen. (Yikes!) You may shock the heart or become dizzy and faint due to lack

of oxygen to the brain! Cool downs can simply be a slower-paced workout or by

walking until your breathing and heart rate return to normal.

MENTAL HEALTH

Body Image and the Media

Everywhere we look we see things like ‘Get the

perfect body now!’ ’17 Day Abs!’ ‘Get Thin Fast!’

and other versions of the same thing.

The media (TV, magazines, movies, celebrities…)

has one view on how everyone should look: Skinny

and sculpted. According to the media, if you

don’t fit these categories, you’re unhealthy and

you should be unhappy with how you look.

Both men and women feel the pressure to look a

certain way, and many people don’t understand

the dangers of maintaining the ‘perfect body’,

especially in the teenage years.

Body Image: Reality

• Often times we hear talks about

obesity, and how it’s dangerous, and

while it is, maintaining the media’s

“perfect body’ is just as, if not more

dangerous.

• Many people (male and female) often

resort to extreme measures in order to

get what the media deems to be the

“perfect body”

TV Assignment

Take your assignment home and watch a TV show. Look for the different

stereotypes that are often portrayed in TV shows in regards to both men

and women.

Please bring it in for next class. I will be marking it.

Mental Health: Eating Disorders

Getting the right amount of nutrients is extremely important, especially at your age!!

Our bodies need fuel to function, and without it, our bodies begin to break down.

Some people, unfortunately, are not happy with their body image. While diet and

exercise are encouraged, starving yourself or throwing up your meals are not the way to

lose or maintain weight! Eating disorders are not just about food. They are often a way

to cope with difficult problems or regain a sense of control. They are considered a

mental illness and affect a person’s sense of identity, worth, and self esteem.

Anorexia Nervosa: People with anorexia will often not want to eat. Many people with

anorexia feel that if they eat, they will immediately gain weight, and so they starve their

bodies. A person’s self esteem is based entirely on how much he or she weighs, rather than

their personality and other traits that define who they are.

Bulimia Nervosa: People with bulimia will typically throw up the food they’ve eaten and

exercise excessively. Throwing up meals can result in a loss of potassium and other nutrients

that are essential for your body to function. Constant vomiting can erode your teeth.

Mental Health: Stress How many people here get “Stressed out?” Think about the fact that exams

are coming up… Are you stressed?

Stress can affect your body, as well as your mind, and if you do not know how to manage stress, it can have some negative effects on you!

Your body responds to stress in three different stages:

The Alarm Stage: The first response of the body to stress. The body prepares itself for sudden action and quick movement. Also known as the “fight or flight” stage. Adrenaline flows into the bloodstream and causes a number of body changes.

Resistance Stage: The body resists stress and attempts to return to a normal state internally no matter what stressors are present externally. This often causes a person to become exhausted

Exhaustion Stage: A person’s ability to cope with stress has been weakened, along with the body’s ability to ward of illness.

Managing Stress 1. Maintain a healthy body: Eating right and exercising helps diminish stress.

2. Learn to Relax: Try to relax by doing something you enjoy!

3. Anticipate Situations: Try to predict what will happen in a situation that you will find

stressful. This way you will find the event easier to deal with!

4. Plan your time: Learn you use your time effectively!!!

5. Maintain your sense of humour: Laughing is a great stress reliever. Laughing releases

your emotional tension and the physical effort of laughing will relax your muscles.

6. Express Your Feelings: If you’re upset, cry. Crying is a good way of relieving stress.

Sharing your feelings with someone else will also relieve stress and enable you to come

to a solution. Seek help from friends and family!