Youth Club Activities - Healthy Eating
Friday, July 24, 2009
Vanessa Rogers shares her ideas on how to encourage young people to have a healthy and balanced diet without stigmatising them.
DESERT ISLAND MENU
Aim This quick, simple introductory exercise enables new groups to find out about each other and reach a consensus through discussion.
You will need
- Flipchart paper and markers
How to do it
Divide the young people into groups of up to five. They then have a couple of minutes to consider and decide three types of food that they would choose to live on for a year if stranded on a desert island with nothing else to eat or drink apart from water. You can decide on any specific rules that you want to impose, such as no alcohol or whether they are allowed only to choose food that can be eaten raw.
After considering their selection and reaching group agreement, ask the young people to write or draw their selection onto the flipchart paper. Finally, invite each group to share their choices and reasons for their selection, reminding them that there are no right or wrong answers.
Reflect on the process of choosing and ask them to share how they managed to reach consensus.
HEALTHY LUNCH RELAY
Aim This is a team game for large groups to help raise awareness about healthy lunch boxes.
You will need
- A small ball per team
- Copies of the Lunch Cards, copied and enlarged (if you have time find pictures to stick on too)
- A container to use as a lunch box for each team
How to do it
Divide the group into teams of approximately six young people. Ask each team to line up behind each other, as if they are in a queue for school lunch.
Place the empty container on the floor by the feet of the young person at the front. Explain that the task for each team is to win as many healthy pieces of food as they can to put into the container, which is now their lunch box.
To do this each team has to pass the ball between them, neck to neck without using their hands. Demonstrate by tucking the ball under your own chin and passing it to your colleague if you need to.
Once the ball gets to the last person in the team they should run up to you and choose a lunch card, throw it into the packed lunch box and stand at the front of the queue. They then start the process of passing the ball down the team again. If the ball gets dropped along the way then it needs to go back to start the round again.
Keep going until you run out of cards - then call "lunchtime" to stop play.
Each team then empties their lunch box to see what they have. Any healthy option cards gain the team a point - anything that isn't healthy doesn't.
Add up the points and the team with the healthiest lunch box wins.
Review the activity and ask the young people how they decided what was a healthy option and what wasn't. Then ask what they usually have for lunch, who decides on what they eat and who in their family usually makes it for them. To conclude, you can have a discussion about the importance of healthy lunches and snacks.
LUNCH CARDS
Crisps
Carrot sticks
Strawberries
Cup cake
Satsuma
Tomatoes
Rice and bean salad
Grapes
Cream cake
Fizzy drink
Fruit salad
Cottage cheese and salad pitta
Egg and cress wholemeal sandwich
Fruit fromage frais
Salad tortilla wrap
Cheese strings
Carton of semi-skimmed milk
Cucumber sticks
Fried chicken and mayo white roll
Apple
Unsalted nuts
Biscuits
Cereal bar
Water
Doughnut
Sweets
Lean ham salad
Pork pie
FOOD QUIZ
Aim To give basic and accurate information so young people can begin to make informed choices about the food they eat.
You will need
- Copies of the questionnaire
- Pens
- Support leaflets and information (in case the session raises questions you can't answer)
FOOD QUIZ QUESTIONNAIRE
1. There are two main types of food: "good" and "bad"
a) Vegetarian food is good food and by far the healthiest option; everyone would be far healthier if they just gave up eating meat
b) To be healthy you should give up eating bad food like chips and bread and eat good food like lentils and beans
c) No food is good or bad. The important bit is to balance food from the five food groups - including five portions of fruit and vegetables a day
2. Eating carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes and pasta will make you put on weight so you should avoid them
a) These foods help fill you up and give you energy. But avoid frying them or adding too much butter. It is the fat you add that increases the calories which could contribute to putting on weight
b) These foods should be avoided as they are high in calories and low in nutritional value
c) These foods are high in fat so should be limited to once a week
3. A 100g serving of French fries contains more fat than a jacket potato
a) A 100g serving of French fries contains 20g fat compared with 100g baked potato that contains less than 1g
b) A 100g serving of French fries contains 3g of fat compared with a 100g baked potato that contains 2g
c) A 100g serving of French fries contains 15g fat compared with a 100g jacket potato that contains less than 1g
4. There is no point in drinking skimmed milk because all the goodness has been taken out of it
a) Skimmed milk has less calcium and protein than whole milk as it is lost in the skimming process
b) All milk is a good source of calcium and protein. When milk is skimmed, it is only fat that is removed
c) During the skimming process, the milk is heated to boiling point before being cooled in huge coolers. It is during this process that protein is destroyed, although there is still calcium left in the milk
5. Frozen vegetables don't count towards the five portions of fruit and vegetables you should eat a day
a) Most of the vitamins are destroyed in the freezing process
b) Frozen vegetables all retain their vitamins and minerals when they are frozen
c) Freezing destroys the vitamins in some delicate vegetables. This means you would have to eat four times the amount of frozen peas to get the same amount of vitamins in a portion of fresh peas
6. Which of these are "oily" fish and a good source of unsaturated (Omega 3) fats that can help protect the heart and circulatory system?
a) Salmon
b) Cod
c) Tuna
7. It is best to be on the safe side and take vitamin supplements to make sure you get enough vitamins daily
a) No matter how well you eat, you can never have too many vitamins
b) It is a good way to avoid being ill by boosting the number of vitamins you take daily
c) If you eat a balanced and varied diet, you shouldn't need to take anything extra to keep you healthy
8. Very low calorie diets are an excellent way to lose weight fast
a) Eat three low calorie ready meals a day and you will be thinner and healthier
b) Very low calorie diets don't provide enough energy for healthy growth and ready meals can contain too much salt. You should eat a healthy balanced diet and increase exercise by regularly doing activities you enjoy like dancing, walking and playing sport
c) Low calorie ready meals are a cheaper way to lose weight
9. If the weather is hot you should add more salt to your food to make up for salt lost through sweating
a) Only if you like salt
b) Only rock sea salt as this is purer
c) Most UK diets include more salt than the body needs, so even in hot weather you don't need extra salt
10. Adding bran to food is a good way to get enough fibre
a) True. It is really good for your digestion
b) False. It is better to choose wholemeal pasta or bread and eat plenty of fruit, vegetables and pulses such as beans and lentils
c) True. You can't really have too much fibre in your diet
ANSWERS - 1c, 2a, 3c, 4b, 5b, 6a, 7c, 8b, 9c, 10b
- Vanessa Rogers is a youth work trainer, consultant and author. Her books are available from www.nya.org.uk. For training and consultancy, go to www.vanessarogers.co.uk