All in a day's work
I had fun at work today. I usually do, but today I had an extra fun activity planned for the kids.
Remember the green and yellow foods from "The Chicken or the Egg?" I wanted the kids to think about food and its relation to the Earth. The more it's been transformed or processed, the further away it is, and the worse it is for you.
I made a poster with a mini-Earth in the center. The kids had to come up and pick a food from a bowl (I cut up grocery store flyers from the publi-sac and glued images of various foods onto purple cardstock squares to make it pretty). They then had to determine where on the poster it belonged, like a seeing-pin-the-tail type of thing. Inevitably the first ring of food was all green foods, or living foods. You know, they actually remembered the difference? The yellow foods, or foods to eat mindfully (kid-talk = think about where it comes from) also known as transformed or processed, made up the second ring. These turned out to be foods like whole wheat bread, yogourt, meat, etc. The last layer of foods were all on the outskirts, and as you probably guessed, were all junk foods. Foods like soft drinks, Oreos and hot dogs. Wow, spellcheck just caught me not capitalizing the "o" in Oreo. Startling.
I gave the kids some hints when they weren't sure how far the food belonged. I asked, "does it have a brand attached to it?" Kraft, Coca-Cola (or Cocrack-Cola as one kid called it), are all pretty good indications that it's a company out to make money. They likely add all kinds of artificial ingredients to their foods to make it cheap to make. Cheap means low quality, and eating low quality means empty calories. That's why we can't stop after just one Pringle.
Another hint was ingredients. I think generally speaking, the more ingredients a food has, the more processed and hence worse it is for you. The old "if you can't pronounce it, don't eat it" came up, and I encouraged them to be aware at the very least, and to look it up.
We also talked about how they list ingredients - by main to least used, right? I started quizzing the classes to see if they knew what they were consuming after a kid pulled "Ah Caramel" bars and didn't have a clue how they even make caramel. It's such an honest reality but then why do we still eat it?! Most kids didn't know where mayonnaise comes from. Margarine, mustard and bacon were all mysteries too. The best was when I asked them what the main ingredient in Nutella is. Of course the obvious answer would be hazelnuts, just like the commercial tells them, but it's in fact sugar. Sugar! That's what parents are feeding their kids for breakfast because it's a source of protein? Come on.. Kids sell it to their parents, like little chocolate husslers. And in case you're wondering, hazelnuts are the third main ingredient in Nutella, after sugar and palm oil. I personally prefer buying the little glass containers because it can be reused and I tell myself I'm being eco-friendly when I'm eating my third piece of Nutella covered toast on a Saturday morning. Oh Ferrero.
When I was investigating all of this last Friday at the grocery store, I had a gift of a glimpse into what an industry it really is. I couldn't have asked for a better anecdote to take back with me for work today.
I was in the breakfast-granola-spread isle at my local Provigo, where I was checking out main ingredients of things we commonly eat. I looked at the shelves in front of me and curiously admired how Cheez Whiz is on the shelf above Nutella and peanut butter. I guess I expected to see it closer to cheese, but then again that's probably why they spell it with a zed. Anyway, a man rolls by with his cart and his kid nearly walks into me. I look down and notice another pipsqueak trailing behind, no older than 3. She's stalling, staring at the shelf in front of her. Placed as if for her and her tiny reality, are boxes of Dora the Explorer fruit nibs, Dunkaroos and Fruit Rollups. Eye-level. She grabs a box of the nibs, it practically being as big as her head, and as she catches up to her dad, she asks if they can get it. So, being the kind and cool pop he is, this man picks up the box, does a 2 second once-over and goes, "ohh is this what you've been asking for?" Tosses it into the basket. Blam!
I asked my kids today, who is smarter? The 3 year old who was able to flawlessly swindle her dad into buying her fruit-camo'ed candy, or the companies who so cleverly requested a shelf near the floor. Crazy. Brilliant at the same time.
By the end of the day, the poster was covered with foods and my gimmicky game had worked. It got them thinking about their food and how they eat. As I was dismounting the poster in the last class of the day, a grade 5, a kid comes up to me and says, "If Ryan Seacrest were a food, he'd be close to Pluto." I laughed out loud, partially because I agree, but also because he was thinking in such a great way, just like the monkey kid. I asked him why he thought that, and he said because he's so fake. As an adult I can differentiate between t.v. personality and the man behind the curtain, but the little ones go for face-value, quite literally. I asked him what type of food he thought he would be, and he said he'd be on the second ring. "I'm not that pure." I like that. Honest.
I'm pretty sure I'd be a raspberry. On most days. At least I'd like to think so. Some days though, I certainly feel like Cheez Whiz. But there's always a reason. It's probably because I ate some.
What kind of food are you?
Pears and peaches,
Katie
Remember the green and yellow foods from "The Chicken or the Egg?" I wanted the kids to think about food and its relation to the Earth. The more it's been transformed or processed, the further away it is, and the worse it is for you.
I made a poster with a mini-Earth in the center. The kids had to come up and pick a food from a bowl (I cut up grocery store flyers from the publi-sac and glued images of various foods onto purple cardstock squares to make it pretty). They then had to determine where on the poster it belonged, like a seeing-pin-the-tail type of thing. Inevitably the first ring of food was all green foods, or living foods. You know, they actually remembered the difference? The yellow foods, or foods to eat mindfully (kid-talk = think about where it comes from) also known as transformed or processed, made up the second ring. These turned out to be foods like whole wheat bread, yogourt, meat, etc. The last layer of foods were all on the outskirts, and as you probably guessed, were all junk foods. Foods like soft drinks, Oreos and hot dogs. Wow, spellcheck just caught me not capitalizing the "o" in Oreo. Startling.
I gave the kids some hints when they weren't sure how far the food belonged. I asked, "does it have a brand attached to it?" Kraft, Coca-Cola (or Cocrack-Cola as one kid called it), are all pretty good indications that it's a company out to make money. They likely add all kinds of artificial ingredients to their foods to make it cheap to make. Cheap means low quality, and eating low quality means empty calories. That's why we can't stop after just one Pringle.
Another hint was ingredients. I think generally speaking, the more ingredients a food has, the more processed and hence worse it is for you. The old "if you can't pronounce it, don't eat it" came up, and I encouraged them to be aware at the very least, and to look it up.
We also talked about how they list ingredients - by main to least used, right? I started quizzing the classes to see if they knew what they were consuming after a kid pulled "Ah Caramel" bars and didn't have a clue how they even make caramel. It's such an honest reality but then why do we still eat it?! Most kids didn't know where mayonnaise comes from. Margarine, mustard and bacon were all mysteries too. The best was when I asked them what the main ingredient in Nutella is. Of course the obvious answer would be hazelnuts, just like the commercial tells them, but it's in fact sugar. Sugar! That's what parents are feeding their kids for breakfast because it's a source of protein? Come on.. Kids sell it to their parents, like little chocolate husslers. And in case you're wondering, hazelnuts are the third main ingredient in Nutella, after sugar and palm oil. I personally prefer buying the little glass containers because it can be reused and I tell myself I'm being eco-friendly when I'm eating my third piece of Nutella covered toast on a Saturday morning. Oh Ferrero.
When I was investigating all of this last Friday at the grocery store, I had a gift of a glimpse into what an industry it really is. I couldn't have asked for a better anecdote to take back with me for work today.
I was in the breakfast-granola-spread isle at my local Provigo, where I was checking out main ingredients of things we commonly eat. I looked at the shelves in front of me and curiously admired how Cheez Whiz is on the shelf above Nutella and peanut butter. I guess I expected to see it closer to cheese, but then again that's probably why they spell it with a zed. Anyway, a man rolls by with his cart and his kid nearly walks into me. I look down and notice another pipsqueak trailing behind, no older than 3. She's stalling, staring at the shelf in front of her. Placed as if for her and her tiny reality, are boxes of Dora the Explorer fruit nibs, Dunkaroos and Fruit Rollups. Eye-level. She grabs a box of the nibs, it practically being as big as her head, and as she catches up to her dad, she asks if they can get it. So, being the kind and cool pop he is, this man picks up the box, does a 2 second once-over and goes, "ohh is this what you've been asking for?" Tosses it into the basket. Blam!
I asked my kids today, who is smarter? The 3 year old who was able to flawlessly swindle her dad into buying her fruit-camo'ed candy, or the companies who so cleverly requested a shelf near the floor. Crazy. Brilliant at the same time.
By the end of the day, the poster was covered with foods and my gimmicky game had worked. It got them thinking about their food and how they eat. As I was dismounting the poster in the last class of the day, a grade 5, a kid comes up to me and says, "If Ryan Seacrest were a food, he'd be close to Pluto." I laughed out loud, partially because I agree, but also because he was thinking in such a great way, just like the monkey kid. I asked him why he thought that, and he said because he's so fake. As an adult I can differentiate between t.v. personality and the man behind the curtain, but the little ones go for face-value, quite literally. I asked him what type of food he thought he would be, and he said he'd be on the second ring. "I'm not that pure." I like that. Honest.
I'm pretty sure I'd be a raspberry. On most days. At least I'd like to think so. Some days though, I certainly feel like Cheez Whiz. But there's always a reason. It's probably because I ate some.
What kind of food are you?
Pears and peaches,
Katie
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