Healthy Foods - Balanced Meal

PHASE 1

Build-a-Meal Game 

This game is based on the USDA MyPyramid Guidelines. You will need to select your gender, age and activity level to play this game. The game will automatically compute the calories and number of servings from each foodgroup required for you to have a balanced diet.

Once you have entered in the required information, you will betaken to a meal-planning screen with squares designated for breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks.

You will then begin to select food items from three virtual scenes: a kitchen, a school cafeteria and a grocery store.

Using your mouse, you can click and drag food items onto your tray. As you do this, you will see a horizontal bar at the bottom your screen that represents the energy or calories your body needs for one full day. As you select your food items, the associated servings and calories will automatically be filled in for you. If you select too many high calorie foods and goes over your calorie needs, the bar will begin to turn red.

There are no calculations required to play this game. Food groups servings are color coded and each box represents one serving of that particular food group. By scrolling over selected food items shown at the bottom of the screen, you will learn the amount, food group(s) and calories of a particular food item.

The challenge is to find the right combination of foods that meets your calorie requirement and gives you enough servings from each of the food groups.

Once your have created your meal plan for the day, the game will evaluate your meal and give advice on how to make it a balanced healthy meal if needed. There are over 160 food choices for you to choose from. There is an optional “HELP” audio feature to guide you.

PHASE 2

Review / Revision

You will review the Interactive Food Pyramid or My Plate.

You will also review the following vocabulary words in the Nutrition Dictionary: Calorie, Serving Size, Daily Recommendations, Food Pyramid, Low Physical Activity, Medium Physical Activity, High Physical Activity

PHASE 3

Lesson Procedure:

1.    You will list your favorite meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack time.

2.    Working in your groups, you will select two meals and list allthe food groups found in those meals. You will list the number of food groups found in each meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks).

Graded Challenge:

Using the  Build-a-Meal Game you will design a two day healthy meal plan for yourself that is balanced with the right amount of servings from each of the food groups and within your caloric requirements. (Remember to consider your age, gender and activity level). 

Requirements

• The plan must include a breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 snacks per day.

• List details of what a meal contains including serving sizes (e.g. Chicken teriyaki -3 oz chicken, 1 cup mixed vegetables, 1 cup of rice).

• Use a wide variety of foods. (Different meals everyday).

• List healthy options not high fat or high sugar items.