Influences On Our Food Choices

This teacher resource is designed to help students develop a healthy relationship with food. This unit is designed to be a comprehensive guide to making informed and nutritious food choices, empowering students with the knowledge and skills to make healthy decisions for their lifetime.

One of the key concepts of this lesson plan is the understanding that a nutritious diet is critical for optimal growth and development in children. Food habits developed in childhood have a lasting impact, shaping eating habits for life. With this in mind, this unit aims to help students make informed and healthy food choices, starting from a young age.

The unit covers a range of topics, including the various situational influences that affect food choices, such as peers, family, and media. Students will learn that they need to select from a variety of foods each day, over the week, and at different times of the year to ensure they are obtaining sufficient of all essential nutrients. This is a comprehensive approach to healthy eating that will help students form lifelong habits.

Throughout the unit, students will engage with a range of vocabulary and concepts, including legumes, tofu, saturated fat, sodium, diabetes, discretionary, influence, persuade, criteria, regulations, and access. This will help students understand the various elements that contribute to a healthy diet and how they can make informed decisions about their food choices.