Educating Children (in school)- What do you wish would be taught about nutrition?

I teach elementary students K-5, and I have the envious position of a little bit of freedom in what I choose to teach. I teach Integrated Technology, so the standards that I target to teach are all tech related. My district has provided me the freedom to develop the Tech program, and consequently I am able to integrate any content area into my instruction. Essentially, in a nutshell I chose to teach technology via writing persuasive pieces, research, applied projects like 3D printing, etc. In 5th grade I think I am ready to rotate out a persuasive unit on mental health issues, and replace it with nutrition. I am a little saddened with the idea of losing the rich integration the former topic provides (connects to bulllying, core democratic values, ELA, broaches a subject that is not typically discussed and builds awareness/compassion, etc.) but I think I can make an impact on kids and nutrition.

I will need to be very careful to not ride my soapbox on what my personal view points are on this topic obviously, which leads me to ask all of you. What do you wish your children would be educated on regarding nutrition? I am in the very beginning planning phase, so I am looking to build everything that I "wish" I had time to teach, and then narrow the focus down to the high impact areas. Tentatively, I am thinking that might be the idea of sugar in the diet and the ramifications to health- and then connected to the idea of big food influencing consumptiion in a way that warrents increased profits at the expense of our nation's health.  Anyway, I always like to poke around to look at different view points in the early planning phase so any of your thoughts would be much appreciated. 

What a big issue!  I have a 15 year old daughter, by the way, and this is near and dear to my heart. 

A small part of my job probes people's diets and there is so much flat-out ignorance.  I hate to use that word but I it makes me want to cry when people count something as "healthy" because of so many crazy reasons.  For example, a mom yesterday told me that her son's "snack" of a pack (12 oz --- the pack was supposed to be multiple portions) of microwave bacon every day after school was good for him because of "the protein."  He needed the whole pack because he is "a big kid"    BMI 38 and high cholesterol to boot in a 17 year old.   

Off the top of my head, I think the idea of big food deliberately creating markets for foods with little to no nutritional value.  They use science to manipulate our desire for their products  to the health detriment for both the individual and general public.  Truly a public health problem in my opinion.  Where is the counter marketing?

Also, empowering kiddos to know that they (and parents) CAN assemble/cook healthy food at home that can fit busy lifestyles.   As an IT person maybe you can point them to resources?  I'm not sure where those resources are.....

I have already planned on bringing in the Instant Pot and doing food demos to hammer home how you can rapidly cook real food that is tasty and fast. Fortunately, two of the tech standards I have to teach is how technology has changed and how tech can assist us in our daily lives. Spreadsheets will be used to track something yet to be determined... perhaps I will make them research their favorite fast food meal and put in the stats to see the damage. Kids love food- if I show them how a meal can be done in less than 1 class period with a little time to sample hopefully the tale will be retold at home and go from there. We will see. 

Yes, kids love food AND they are remarkable effective at getting the family to move in a different direction.  My daughter became the recycling police when just a wee one in elementary school. 

But, devil's advocate comment: these kid's don't control the household finances so hard to imagine them swaying their parents to buy an instant pot if it wasn't already firmly on the parent's radar to begin with.

However, I think there is lots of room for them to see what they can do with equipment that most families already have in the home.  But, maybe you were already planning on doing a non-IP demo as well. 

Again, love the whole concept!

It wouldn't be designed to be an Instant Pot commerical of sorts- rather just a demo on how you can put together a great meal using technology faster than getting in the car to pick up take out and get back home. 

perfecto!  I'm sure it will be delicious, too!

Here is my idea: teach calorie budgeting. Have them calculate how many calories they need based on a normal bmi for their height. Then, given them a bunch of foods to pick from (foods that you have the nutrition facts for) and have them plan a day's worth of eating without going over budget. You can make as complex as you like by including macro nutrients too. Make sure to include many healthy choices and things like Big macs, french fries, and sodas too. It would be more fun if you put each item on a card with the nutrition facts on the back of the card. This would give them a visual to really absorb the lesson, and they would learn how making certain food choices really screws up their entire day of eating. You can also show them how eating healthy allows room for the occasional treat. That is real practical education that I wish I had received as a child.

Hmmmm..... the card idea is good. There are sites I can use where the kids make trading cards. That might be kinda cool. I think I am going to shy away from the bmi thing though. Kids at this age can be very sensitive, and my heaiver cuties would quickly potentially feel shamed. I think it is important, but saved for when they are a bit older. What I could do though is model a bmi calculator and explain. Just not require kids to do it. Those that are interested will either do it during free choice time or at home. 

I did not mean to suggest using their actual bmi. I merely meant to use those guidelines to establish their individual calorie limit. All you need to present them is a chart with calorie limits based on height. They simply use their height and gender to get their calorie allowance, which you would base on what someone of that height should weigh according to the bmi chart. But you do not even need to broach weight necessarily. I just meant to use it as a reference point. My point was to give them a realistic idea of the total number of calories they should aim for without taking their current weight into consideration. I hope that makes more sense.

I get it- but the bigger kids would also trigger bigger calorie limits potentially. I will have to run the numbers to see, and I also need to research a bit on pediatric nutrition. I am not certian what the calorie targets are for a growing child and such. If it is a minimal difference then it would totally work. I completely agree that the pratical application of designing a day worth and seeing the impact of crap choices would be a real eye opener.