Chapter_9_Lesson_2_-_Textbook.pdf

What Influences Your Food Choices? MAIN IDEA​ A variety of factors influence food choices. Think about the last meal you ate. Why did you choose the foods you ate? Perhaps you were grabbing a quick breakfast food while rushing to school, and you needed something that was easy to carry. Maybe it was...

What Influences Your Food Choices? MAIN IDEA​ A variety of factors influence food choices. Think about the last meal you ate. Why did you choose the foods you ate? Perhaps you were grabbing a quick breakfast food while rushing to school, and you needed something that was easy to carry. Maybe it was lunchtime, and you had to choose a meal in the school cafeteria. Or maybe you just had a craving for a favorite snack, like popcorn. All kinds of factors can affect your food choices. One of the biggest factors is your own personal preferences. You may simply like the appearance, flavor, or texture of certain foods. These foods appeal to your appetite. Appetite is different from hunger.When you are hungry, your body needs fuel in the form of food. When you are hungry, you may feel weak or tired. Your body is telling you that it needs fuel. Certain foods may trigger your appetite because of their connections to your memories and feelings. This can happen even if you are not hungry. For some people, the smell of baking bread may remind them of spending time with family. A person who has fond memories of times with his or her family may feel like eating bread even if his or her body does not need fuel. Sometimes, seeing one of these foods in the media, or smelling a food as it is being cooked can make you want it. Other Influences on Food Choices When you make food choices based on appetite, you risk taking in more calories than you need. Consuming too many calories can lead to unhealthful weight gain. When you are making food choices, try to determine whether you are choosing certain foods based on your appetite or hunger. Other factors that can affect your food choices include: Your family and friends. ​At home, you might eat more vegetables because your parents encourage you to eat them. With your friends, on the other hand, you might choose fast food because that’s what the group likes. Your cultural background.​ Your culture influences your food choices. You may learn about these cultural influences from your family members. Among some cultural groups, people eat more fish than meat because fish is easily available while meat is not. Some cultures prefer eating large amounts of vegetables because these are easy foods to acquire. Different cultural groups may also choose different types of foods to eat during celebrations. Convenience.​ You might grab a snack from a vending machine because it is handy. If your family grows vegetables or you live near a farmers’ market, you may be more likely to eat fresh vegetables and fruits. Media.​ Advertisers use many techniques to make you want to buy their foods. For instance, you might want to try a new pizza place if the ad shows teens having a great time eating there. Economics.​ The amount of money that a family has to spend on food can influence what they eat. Families that have smaller food budget might need to choose foods that are less expensive. Also, foods that are shipped from other countries usually cost more. Fruits and vegetables that are not in their growing season might be shipped from other countries where they are in-season. Other foods, such as organically grown produce, also cost more because of the methods used to produce it. Geography.​ Geographic location also influences food choices. Living close to a grocery store and owning a car makes food easy to acquire and transport home. In neighborhoods with a grocery store, people are forced to travel longer distances to buy food. If the family does not have a car, they can only buy the amount of food that can be carried home easily. Finally, foods that are not in their growing season will not be available. READING CHECK Explain​ What is the benefit of buying foods that are currently in-season and grown locally? Using MyPlate MAIN IDEA​ MyPlate provides a visual guide to help consumers make more healthful food choices. When choosing foods, there are many different factors determining what foods you eat. A group of leading health and nutrition experts have worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop MyPlate to help you get the nutrients you need. MyPlate is based on research into healthy nutrition. The idea behind MyPlate is simple: Foods are placed into one of five food groups. Each group provides a different set of nutrients. For each meal, you should aim to choose foods from all five groups. This will provide your body with all the nutrients you need to stay healthy. The USDA web site also offers tools to help you design a healthy eating plan. When creating a meal plan, keep in mind that you may not eat something from every food group at every meal. For example, if you go out for a pizza lunch with friends, the pizza will provide grains, dairy, and fat. Pizza will probably offer very few vegetables and no fruit. However, your next meal may be a salad with plenty of vegetables and an apple as a snack. A meal plan will be easier to follow if you include some flexibility. It is also okay to have a treat now and then as long as you follow the MyPlate guidelines. The Five Food Groups MyPlate is a visual guide to help you make more healthful food choices. The MyPlate guide shows five food groups that should be part of each meal. The plan below is developed for 12-year-old males and females who are of average weight and height. The plan also assumes that the males and females get between 30 to 60-minutes of physical activity per day. Grains​ This group includes all grains such as rice, corn, wheat, oats, and barley. It also includes bread and pasta. About half of the grains should be whole grains. These are foods that contain the entire grain kernel, such as whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, brown rice, and popcorn. Twelve-year old females should eat 6 ounces of grains per day. Males should eat 7 ounces. Vegetables​ Choose from many vegetables to get a variety of nutrients. They can be fresh, frozen, or canned. Vegetables include leafy greens, such as spinach and lettuce. It also includes starchy vegetables such as potatoes. Twelve-year-old females should eat 2½ cups of vegetables per day. Males should eat 3 cups. Fruits​ Like vegetables, fruits can be fresh, frozen, or canned. A 12-year-old female should eat 2 cups of fruit per day. Males should also eat 2 cups. Dairy​ This group includes milk and many other products such as cheese and yogurt. Keep in mind that cream and butter contain little calcium and are not part of this group. Low-fat or fat-free dairy products are a healthy choice. A 12-year-old female should consume 3 cups of day per day. Males should also consume 3 cups. Protein​ This group includes meat, fish, beans and peas, eggs, and nuts. One ounce might be one egg or a tablespoon of peanut butter. A 12-year-old female should eat 5½ ounces of protein per day. Males should eat 6 ounces. Another food group is fats. Fats are not shown on MyPlate because they should be eaten only in small amounts. Fats include solid fats. These come from animal foods and also from vegetable oils that are hydrogenated. Foods that contain fats are butter, milk, beef fat, chicken fat, pork fat, cream, stick margarine, coconut oil, and palm or palm kernel oils. READING CHECK 4. ​Differentiate ​List two ways that MyPlate is different from other dietary information. Planning Healthful Meals MAIN IDEA​ Healthful eating is a positive behavior that can promote health and prevent disease. To put the five food groups together into healthy meals and snacks, remember these three words: ​variety, moderation, a ​ nd ​balance.​ Choosing a ​variety​ of foods from the different food groups will provide all the nutrients you need. It will also keep your meals and snacks interesting. ​Moderation​ means keeping your portions to a reasonable size. It also means limiting empty-calorie foods, such as sweets, and soda. You can do this by eating a piece of fruit or drinking water instead of sugary drinks. Finally, find the right ​balance​ between the amount of food you eat and your level of physical activity. This will help you maintain a healthy weight. Balancing Calories and Physical Activity Consume only as many calories as your body needs. When you think of food as energy, figuring out how many calories you consume through the foods you eat versus how many you burn through activity will help you maintain a healthy diet. For example, a moderately active teen will burn about 2,000 calories per day. If this teen consumes 2,500 calories per day and burns off only 2,000, he or she will gain weight. If this same teen wants to lose weight, he or she can try one of two methods: This teen should remain moderately activie while reducing the number of calories he or she consumes to under 2,000 per day. Another method this teen could choose is to continue to consume 2,500 calories per day while increasing his or her activity level. The second approach will help the teen burn more calories. Health experts recommend that teens aim for 60 minutes of physical activity per day. In addition to helping you maintain a healthy weight. Teens who are on sports or dance teams will likely need to consume more calories than teens who are not on a team. These teens are more active and will burn more calories. Even though these teens are more active and will burn more calories, they should still choose foods that are high in nutrients. Eating Right at Every Meal In your home, you may not be asked to help with the meal planning. However, you probably decide what to buy in the school lunch cafeteria. When you choose items at school, think about what you ate for breakfast and what you will eat later in the day. The MyPlate advice can help you select foods that will fit into a healthy eating plan. You have probably heard people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. After sleeping for eight to ten hours, your body needs fuel. Eating a healthful breakfast will boost your energy and help you concentrate in school. Good choices include foods with complex carbohydrates and protein, such as oatmeal with milk or eggs with whole-grain toast. If you are in a hurry, you can still choose a healthful breakfast. Foods such as fresh fruit, whole-grain bread, and string cheese are all easy to grab and go. At lunch and dinner, fill half your plate with vegetables and fruits. If you are packing your own lunch, consider a salad to go with—or instead of—your sandwich. Speaking of sandwiches, using whole-grain bread is a good way to get your daily servings of whole grains. Fresh fruits, such as apples and bananas, are easy to carry and make a healthful dessert. For growing teens, snacks are also an important part of a day’s meal plan. They help meet your nutrient needs and keep you going through the day. However, many popular snack foods, such as potato chips and cookies, contain a lot of fat, sugar, or sodium. More healthful choices are nutrient dense foods, such as fresh or dried fruit, air-popped popcorn, whole-grain crackers with cheese, or nuts. READING CHECK Identify​ What are some healthful breakfast foods? Getting the Nutrition Facts Some foods are easy to identify as healthful or less healthful choices. However, with foods that come in a package, it is not always easy to tell. Is a granola bar really better for you than a candy bar? Are pretzels a better choice than potato chips? One way to find out is to look at the Nutrition Facts label found on almost all packaged foods. Take a look at the Nutrition Facts label.​ ​It shows the number of calories and nutrients found in a single serving of the product. Keep in mind that some packages may contain more than one serving. That means that if you eat the whole package, you are consuming more calories and nutrients than are stated on the label. Keep Foods Safe to Eat When food is not handled, stored, or prepared properly, bacteria or other organisms can grow rapidly in the food. For example, food left out at a picnic can be the source of a foodborne illness after an hour or so. To keep food safe, follow these steps: 1. Keep your hands, utensils, and surfaces clean.​ Always wash hands and utensils before handling any food. Use warm, soapy water to wash your hands and to clean utensils, cutting boards, and kitchen surfaces. 2. Separate raw, cooked, and ready-to-eat foods.​ Keep raw, cooked, and ready-to-eat products separate when you are preparing or storing them. If prepared or stored with raw foods, cooked and ready-to-eat foods can pick up harmful organisms. Use separate cutting boards for vegetables and meats and for cooked and uncooked foods, or wash the cutting board with hot soapy water in between. 3. Cook foods thoroughly.​ Use a food thermometer to make sure that foods are cooked to the proper temperature: Fish and meats such as beef and lamb should be cooked to145 degrees. Ground beef should be cooked to 160 degrees. Poultry should be cooked to between 170 and 180 degrees. Leftovers should be reheated to at least 165 degrees. 4. Chill when necessary.​ Refrigerate foods that spoil easily such as meat, fish, chicken, and eggs. Frozen foods should be thawed out in the refrigerator rather than on a countertop. Put leftovers in the refrigerator right after a meal. 5. Serve safely.​ Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. 6. Follow directions.​ Read food labels and follow suggestions for cooking or refrigeration. 7. When in doubt, throw it out.​ Do not eat any food that you suspect has not been cooked, handled, or stored properly. READING CHECK Describe​ What is the proper way to clean up after preparing raw meat for cooking? Is a vegetarian diet right for me?​ People choose vegetarian diets for various reasons. Meat can be expensive in some parts of the world. Health issues or religious beliefs may restrict certain kinds of meat. Some people prefer not to eat meat, or they like other foods better. Some vegetarian diets limit all animal products. Others may include dairy products, eggs, or fish. Vegetarian teens must be sure to get enough key nutrients. Everyone should eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, and grains every day. Many cereals and breads also contain added vitamins and minerals. See the Dietary Guidelines for Americans​ for more information.