I feel this unit should be read by all teachers because it will heighten their awareness of the poor nutritional habits of most adolescents and it will show the need for all adults to encourage sound nutritional habits among adolescents in our different classes. The unit can be used in part, or in entirety, or simply as a conscious raising experience.
Food plays an important role in the lives of all living things. The American food scene represents a study in a variety of extremes. I am concerned with the malnutrition, faulty or poor nutrition, which can be due to inadequate intake of nutrients OR the over consumption of foods in improper amounts, that is being practiced by so many adolescents in our society today. Most teenagers are more particular about the clothes they wear on their bodies than the food they put in their bodies.
I present a wide spectrum of food issues that affect adolescents, such as fast and convenience food consumption, diets high in sugar, salt and fat, obesity, pregnancy, alcohol and drug use, the practice of not eating breakfast or school lunches, and anorexia nervosa, the increasing illness of the 80’s. I also look at the changing local food store patterns and the problems faced by the inner city poor in obtaining food. There are nine activities designed to draw student awareness to their own eating habits and to analyze these habits to see if they are developing poor or sound nutritional patterns.
(Recommended for grades 7 through 12, Biology, Health, and Social Issues classes)
Key Words
Nutrition American Adolescence Adolescent Needs Ingestion
