Fat in Fast Foods

Susan, the nutritionist from the from the University of Minnesota Simply Good Eating program, returned to our class today, much to the delight of the learners.

Students took a survey about how often they ate fast food. Most rarely ate fast food, though some reported eating it once or twice a week. Susan was impressed; she said one women in another class consumed fast food five times a week or more. Learners stated that price, convenience and flavor influenced them to eat fast food.

Students talked about how some of them had gained weight since coming to the U.S. They brainstormed the following reasons:
• cheap junk food
• eating fast foods
• drinking soda
• too much sitting at work
• driving everywhere instead of walking

The nutritionist told learners that a healthy adult needs about 60 grams of fat a day. She gave examples of foods and variable fat content depending on the method of preparation. For example, a baked potato alone contains zero grams of fat, mashed potatoes with butter have approximately 5 grams of fat, and French fries can have anywhere from 19-30 grams of fat, depending on the portion size.

Students completed a worksheet in which they circling the food in a pair that they believed contained the most fat. One pair tripped up nearly everyone; learners guessed that a taco salad would have less fat than a soft shell bean burrito. In fact, depending on the salad ingredients, taco salad can have anywhere from 600 – 900 calories, whereas a typical soft-shell burrito without cheese and other ingredients can have as few as 300. The nutritionist passed out a handout with healthier options at fast food restaurants with tips such as eating skinless chicken or taco salads without the shell.

Learners analyzed pictures of fast food meals with the nutritional information. Depicted meals were from fast food restaurants such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonalds, Taco Bell and Burger King and contained various combinations, such as two burgers and a large Coke or one taco with a small side salad. Students had to identify the collective calories and amount of fat in the meal, as well as how many minutes it would take to walk off the meal.

One of the more astounding meals consisted of a quarter-pounder with cheese, medium fries, coke and an apple pie from McDonalds. This combination contained over 1,250 calories and 59 grams of fat – a whole day’s worth. It would take approximately 307 minutes or over 5 hours to walk this meal off! All of the learners were blown away by these statistics. Amira commented, “It’s really very terrible. Thank you, teacher for telling us this information!”

Studying sugar

Today’s class period focused on healthy beverages and was led by Susan, from the University of Minnesota Simply Good Eating program. Throughout the lesson, the students were highly engaged and asked numerous questions. First, students surveyed their peers to find out the answers to the following questions:

1. What do you drink when you are really thirsty?
2. What is one healthy beverage?
3. Do you drink tap water?

The majority of students said they drank water when they were very thirsty. For question two, answers were varied but most were juices, milk and water. One student answered Sunny Delight and another mentioned coffee. Susan explained the negative effects of caffeine and taught the students how to check labels to discover how much juice beverages contained, the ideal being 100% vegetable or fruit juice.

Most students said that they drank tap water, though some said they didn’t. One student said she didn’t like the taste, and another said she heard that you could get depression from drinking tap water. Susan assured the learners that tap water in this area is good to drink. I’m always glad for these lessons after hearing some of the bizarre misconceptions learners hold.

For the final activity, the students each picked an empty beverage can of differing varieties – fruit cocktails, various sodas, fruit punches, fruit juices, coffee drinks, tomato juice, etc. Their task was to use the label to determine how many grams of sugar and subsequent tablespoons each contained.

Everyone presented their findings to the class. The healthiest drink was V8 tomato juice with only one teaspoon of sugar. The most shocking result was the energy drink AMP made by Mountain Dew – the 24 ounce can had about 87 grams of sugar – nearly 22 teaspoons! Learners were shocked to find out how much sugar was in beverages they regularly consumed.

Ali proudly stated at the end of class, “Well, Coca-Cola is going to be loosing one of its best
customers – me!” He said that he went through multiple cans a day but was planning to quit after learning about the sugar and caffeine content. He emphatically thanked the nutritionist, and everyone in the class said they wanted her to come every week.

Calcium - 3 a day!

Calcium was our class topic today. Students guessed how many bones were in Bob the model skeleton, who had the same number as a person. Guesses ranged from 10 to 360 bones as students debated what qualified as a bone. Arturo was declared the winner with his guess of 200 - closest to the correct answer of 206. He won a toothbrush to use on his teeth bones!

We learned that we all need at least three servings of calcium a day to keep our bones strong. Dairy and non-dairy, along with osteoporosis, were new vocabulary words. We discussed that dairy foods are products of cows and goats, and that cheese, milk and yogurt were dairy foods high in calcium.

Each student picked their favorite calcium food from a pile of glossy food pictures. They then had to determine their food's name and if it was a dairy food or not. One by one students came to the front to present.

We ended class by making a delicious, calcium filled treat. Each pair of students was given one line of recipe directions on a slip of paper. As the direction was called out, that pair came forward to perform their task. After a demonstration, we ate string cheese as well, which the students marveled over.

Here’s the recipe we followed for a refreshing Orange Julius. Enjoy!

Orange Julius
Combine in a blender:
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup ice cubes
- 6 ounces frozen orange juice (half a can, preferably calcium fortified)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup powdered milk
Blend until smooth, about one minute.