The dietary guidelines recommend that we limit these three bad boys: fat, sugar and salt (oh my!) in our diet to reduce our risk of serious health effects. Sometimes this is easier said than done with teens! In order to make this more interesting and palatable for my students, I’ve turned it into a mini comic book project. That is, of course, after they’ve initially learned a little about these dietary villains!
Set
- Ask students what ingredients they think are villains in their diets.
- Explain that the American diet is high in fat, sugar and salt which if not controlled properly can lead to some very serious health effects such as heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity.
Materials
- iPads or Laptop
- Colored Pencils or Markers
- Copy Paper
Activities
- Provide students with a copy of “Fat, Sugar & Salt, Oh My!” viewing guide along with the link to the YouTube video by the same name (Fat, Sugar, Salt, Oh My) or show it to the whole class.
- In addition to answering the statements as true or false, students MUST correct false statements, making them true.
- Depending on your time, you can go over the answers or collect for a grade.
- Afterwards, I demonstrate how to make the mini-comic books (see attachments below) and then I pass out the project guidesheet “Beware of: Fat. Sugar, Salt…Oh My!” and explain the set up and criteria.
- Count students off by 3’s and assign each a dietary villain to learn more about as they create their mini-comic book.
- To help guide students, I also provide them with a resource titled “Sodium, Sugars and Saturated Fats—Oh My!” In addition, they may utilize reliable internent resources to help them fill in the research notes of their project before starting the actual mini-comic book.
Attachments
- Fat, Sugar, Salt…Oh My! Viewing Guide (PDF)
- Digital Copy of Fat, Sugar Salt…Oh My! Viewing Guide (please make a copy)
- Dietary Villain Mini-Comic Book (PDF)
- Mini-Comic Book Tutorial PPT
- Sodium, Sugar and Saturated Fats–Oh My! (Article)