nutrition education activities for high school students

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Nutrition Activities For High School: Digital Tasks, Snack Ideas, Investigation, And Worksheets

April 17, 2024 //  by  Chelsea Long

Learning about how, why, and what to eat before graduation can set students up for a lifetime of healthy eating habits.

Students have more options than ever in what they consume to fuel their bodies. GMOs, vegetarian, organic… so many choices! The following thought-provoking, engaging activities, lesson plans, and variety of resources help every high school student learn about nutrition, a healthy diet, their own eating habits, and why some methods of eating may be better than others, both for themselves and for the environment.

1. Should High Schoolers Eat Breakfast? 

As an introductory class, take the time to read a recent article with your students from the LA Times. Discuss the main points of the article, and whether or not your students agree with it. Take a poll of your class and find out how many of your students actually eat breakfast.

Learn More: Los Angeles Times High School Insider

2. Breakfast Brawl

This activity from the 4H has students create a dream breakfast with a certain budget. After that, students will discuss the breakfast items and rank them from most nutritious to least. This eye-opening lesson on food costing encourages a discussion of healthy food choices students make every morning.

Learn More: University of Massachusetts Amherst

3. MyPlate Quiz

This quiz will teach your students (and yourself) about your views on nutrition using interactive resources. It is created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, using governmental resources on what we should be eating. Use these multi-media resources to learn about why you eat the way you do, and where to go from here.

Learn More: My Plate US Department of Agriculture

4. QR Stations Digital Activity 

Learn more about MyPlate and why it is a useful guideline for nutrition with these class activities. This activity includes QR stations (students love using their phones!), activity sheets, notes activity, video, information sheets, and more! This resource is all-in-one if you only have time for one of these great resources!

Learn More: Family Consumer Sciences

5. Nutrition Labels Deep Dive

Have students bring in their favorite foods and packaged food items- cookies, drinks, breakfast cereal, etc. Have them individually scrutinize the nutrition information, gain a better food label understanding, and discuss it as a class. Some students may be surprised by what their favorite snacks are hiding!

Learn More: Center For The Advancement Of Foodservice Education

6. Making Healthy Choices

Free printable booklet for students to learn about sodium, fiber, and sugar. This resource would make a great plan for a substitute, or for independent learning. This booklet succinctly highlights the pros and cons of each and how to eat healthfully.

Learn More: Deceptively Educational

7. Evaluating My Snacks

Compare different snack foods from the school cafeteria, food pictures, or items that students bring in. This worksheet is a great follow-up to the previous booklet where students learned about sodium, fiber, and sugar. Students can fill out their own information and compare it to a classmate.

Learn More: Deceptiveley Educational

8. Six Essential Nutrients 

Research the six essential nutrients we get from food. Have students create a poster to increase awareness about one of the six nutrients and post it for others to see. Create a nutrition campaign and promote healthy eating in your school!

Learn More: Mary Brown

9. Get Fooducated! 

This technology-based lesson uses iPads or phones and the Fooducate app. Scan snacks from the grocery store or cafeteria and find out what is really in your food. Weigh the pros and cons to decide if it is a healthy food or not.

Learn More: Hous View

10. Big Macromolecules

Use this chemistry lesson to determine what macromolecules can be found in a not-so-healthy meal, a Big Mac! Students will look for evidence of starch, glucose, proteins, and lipids. This activity is sure to be eye-popping – it begins with putting a Big Mac in a blender! These educational materials will help students decide on a more balanced diet.

Learn More: iTeachly

11. Hot Topics

Split your class into groups and have each group become the experts on a controversial hot topic about nutrition. This entire class discussion will help your students become the experts on healthy habits, organic vs. non-organic, superfoods, and plant-based diets.

Learn More: AFPA

12. From Farm to Fork

Here are 17 different lessons about how food travels from the factory to the consumer while preventing food poisoning. At the end of all of the links to teaching guides on the topics of the food system, farms, factories, food chains, and consumers, students are encouraged to create an action project utilizing what they have learned.

Learn More: Food Span

13. Wellness Week

Host a wellness week focused on healthier habits and nutrition at your school. Have students set up challenges such as who can try the newest fruits and vegetables, healthful foods, or who can eat the most locally, and give out healthy nutrition-themed prizes! Create a committee to come up with ideas!

Learn More: Real Mom Nutrition

14. Focus on 13 Essential Vitamins

Learn more about what vitamins are essential and where to find them. This will help students develop an idea of the foods they should be eating to make sure they are getting enough of them in their diet.

Learn More: Scholastic

15. Map Your Tongue! 

Use lemon juice, grapefruit juice, salt, and sugar to determine the layout of taste buds on your tongue with these hands-on activities. The tongue is the key to tasting foods and encouraging people to want to eat more of that food. Learning why you prefer certain flavors deepens your understanding of why you eat certain foods.

Learn More: Education

16. Examining Dietary Supplements

Learn about dietary supplements and their place in nutrition. Students will focus on caffeine, supplements, and energy products as students become more and more interested in consuming them. Determine if consuming these products is safe or risky.

Learn More: US Food and Drug Administration

17. Exploring Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering in the Food Supply 

This unit plan delves into the origin of agriculture and the genetic modification of a variety of foods. Included are activities such as extracting DNA from strawberries, managing pests, and changing the nutrients in food. Students will learn about past practices and how food evolved over time to what it is now.

18. Food Safety Guide

This unit plan teaches students about bacteria, and how it is managed in the farm, factory, store, and home. Included are activities about irradiation, heating, and using high pressure to make food safer to consume. This is a great way to increase knowledge of food and breaks down kid-friendly food safety.

19. You Are What You Drink

Identify different methods of making water safe to drink, and determine how individual communities treat their drinking water. Learn about how drinking water was purified over time, and how engineering has made drinking water safer than ever.

Learn More: Teach Engineering

20. Drink More Water! 

Read about why it is important to drink water during the school day and create a poster campaign to increase awareness in your school. Microlearning modules provide background information and steps students can take to drink more during the school day.

Learn More: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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7 Nutrition Lesson Plans and Activities for High School Students

Teens aren't exactly known for their healthy eating habits. Only about 7% of U.S. high school students meet the daily recommendations for fruit, and just 2% meet the recommendations for veggies, according to a 2017 CDC report . Another recent study found that two-thirds of teens’ calories come from “ultra-processed foods” like cookies, candy, chips, chicken nuggets, and pizza. The pandemic has only exacerbated bad eating habits. National Nutrition Month in March is a good time to hit reset.

This year’s theme—Personalize Your Plate—will appeal to teens’ individualist spirit. “There’s no universal way to eat healthy,” Su-Nui Escobar told Shaped . She’s a dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which started National Nutrition Month . "'Personalize Your Plate' is about respecting who we are and where we come from. Start with the way you like to eat, and then figure out how to make it healthy."

The trick is to add nutrition without removing the joy our favorite foods give us. "Young people should be encouraged to play with their food," Escobar says. "Keep it fun. Eating nutritiously doesn't have to feel like a diet." The ideas for nutrition lesson plans and activities for high school that follow will help students accomplish this goal.

Fresh and Fun Nutrition Lesson Plans for High School

Kick-start a commitment to healthy eating this National Nutrition Month with these nutrition lesson plan and activity ideas for high school students.

1. Meal Makeover

Dietitian Su-Nui Escobar told Shaped that she often turns traditional Mexican favorites into plant-based recipes for her family. She prepares tacos al pastor, which are traditionally made with pork, using jackfruit (a relative of figs), pineapple, and spices. To give pizza a healthy twist, teens might try topping it with plenty of veggies or simply pair it with a side salad jazzed up with roasted vegetables. To satisfy a sweet tooth, cut-up fruit with a drizzle of honey can do the trick. If potato chips and other salty snacks are their go-to, they can swap in air-popped popcorn or kale chips. Here's a list of fun and easy-to-make snacks for teens (and adults!).

Have students try their hand at transforming a not-so-healthy meal into a more wholesome option. They might choose a traditional family meal or a favorite breakfast, lunch, or snack item and come up with ideas for making it meatless, vegan, higher in fiber, or lower in fat or salt. They should present the revamped recipe along with a paragraph describing the change in ingredients and nutrients.

2. A Look at Labels

Tell students that the updated nutrition label can help them make informed choices and establish healthy eating habits for a lifetime. Have students explore the label independently using this interactive from the FDA. Or, you can share the image below to review the label changes with the entire class. Ask: Why do you think "calories" are in large, bold font? Why is it important to take note of the "serving size?" Do you think "added sugars" is a needed addition to the label? Why or why not?

Have students bring in nutrition labels from their favorite foods and drinks to analyze. Give them these tips for evaluating how healthy the foods are:

• 100 calories per serving is considered moderate, while 400 or more calories per serving is considered high in calories
• 5% Daily Value or less per serving of a nutrient is low; while 20% DV or more per serving of a nutrient is high
• Nutrients to get more of (strive for 100% DV every day): dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, potassium
• Nutrients to limit: saturated fat, sodium, added sugars, trans fat

3. Mindful Eating

Tell students that mindful eating means paying attention to the food we buy, prepare, and eat. Savoring each bite we take can put an end to mindless bingeing and lead to better health. Challenge students to give mindful eating a try using a small piece of chocolate, fruit, or vegetable. Have them follow these steps:

• Hold the chocolate in your hand. What does it feel like?
• Study the chocolate. How would you describe it?
• Smell the chocolate. What comes to mind?
• Let the chocolate sit on your tongue. What textures and flavors do you note?

Talk over the exercise with your students. Ask: Was the experience enjoyable? Why or why not? What did you discover about your eating habits? What do you think is the purpose behind eating mindfully? Will you continue to eat mindfully? Explain.

4. Got Fruits and Veggies?

Challenge students to design an ad for a vegetable or fruit of their choice. Tell them their goal is to convince teens to eat the avocado, arugula, asparagus, papaya, mango, pear, or other produce that they are promoting. The campaign should convey:

• Benefits of eating the vegetable or fruit
• Excitement for the product using a catchy tagline Example: Got Milk? (California Milk Processor Board), I’m Lovin' It (McDonald’s)

Tell students the trick is to create a campaign that appeals to teens and their values. They should also consider the best medium to reach their audience—maybe it’s a social media platform like Instagram or TikTok, or maybe it’s a billboard, print magazine, or TV ad. Allow time for students to present their campaigns to the class and get critical feedback.

5. Ready, Set, Cook!

Invite a local chef to do a super-simple healthy cooking demo over Zoom or another platform for your students. Give the guest some guidelines. The recipe should

• Use inexpensive and easy-to-find ingredients
• Require only common kitchen tools
• Include tips for making the recipe vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free
• Be made available to students before the demo

If you can’t book a local chef, you can show students how to make a healthy snack yourself or invite a student to take on the demo. You might give students the option of recording themselves making the snack and sharing the video with the class instead of doing a live demo.

Yet another option is to simply share one of the many cooking videos on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website . You'll find video how-to's for making no-bake chocolate cherry oat bars , pizza hummus , or healthy Alfredo bagel bites . Encourage students to make one of the recipes and write a review of the food that includes a photo of the final product.

6. The Dietitian Is In

Invite a local dietitian to answer students’ questions about nutrition over a Zoom call. Have students read up on the dietitian’s background and expertise beforehand. Brainstorm a list of questions that students would like to ask, keeping in mind the dietitian’s expertise. Encourage students to ask follow-up questions during the talk. For homework, have students write a paragraph explaining how they will incorporate one piece of nutrition advice that the dietitian shared into their daily routine.

7. Nutrition Know-How

Test students’ knowledge of nutrition with this quiz from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics . Read each statement aloud and have students determine if it’s “fact” or “fiction,” using an online polling tool like Kahoot.

Did students have trouble telling fact from fiction? Have them choose one statement they identified incorrectly. Then have them do research to determine why the statement is true or false. For an added challenge, have students choose a health trend they’re interested in, such as plant-based or low-carb diets, mindful eating, environmentally-friendly nutrition, the brain-gut connection, probiotics, organic foods, and the like. Then have them write a quiz (they can make it interactive using Kahoot or another online tool) using facts they find in their research. Remind them to include an answer key that explains why each statement is true or false.

More Nutrition Lesson Plans for High School Classrooms

There are many more nutrition lesson plan starters for high school available on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website . Among the resources that can serve as a jumping off point for a lesson on eating well: nutrition sudoku, video cooking demos, and healthy lifestyle tip sheets, including "Healthy Eating on the Run" and "Smart Snacking Tips for Adults and Teens."

Have more nutrition lesson plan and activity ideas for high school students? Email us at [email protected] or tweet us at @TheTeacherRoom .

Learn more about HMH Science Dimensions , enabling teachers to guide K–12 students in learning through exploration, analysis, application, and explanation.

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Gaples Institute

A physician-led educational nonprofit

Nutrition Education for Teens and Young Adults

A graphic-novel-style learning program perfect as a pediatric resource and for classroom learning.

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Teachers: engage your classroom with award-winning nutrition education for students.

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Students can launch the course with any of the orange buttons on this page. And all they need is a device connected to the internet!

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This course received Gold — the highest honor — in the Digital Health Awards !

Are you a healthcare professional, click here for a downloadable handout to share this fun resource with your young patients and their families, nutrition lessons in this course for teens and young adults:.

Take a journey to learn how trillions of tiny special agents in the body are hard at work to help the brain…and how you can help them.

Find out which foods can help your mind stay sharp—both now and through adulthood—and which foods can get in the way of clear thinking.

Discover how healthy food choices can strengthen your game and elevate your athletic performance to heroic new heights.

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Why is Nutrition Education for Teens and Young Adults So Important?

Nutrition education for teens and young adults is essential to prepare them for the brightest future possible. However, most young people are subject to a barrage of unhelpful marketing messages and unreliable health information on social media. Teens and young adults need to be equipped with reliable nutrition information that is engaging, accurate, and addresses the topics that are important to them.

That’s why the nonprofit Gaples Institute—known for its award-winning educational programs for health professionals—has created this one-of-a-kind nutrition course for teens and young adults. Since this learning tool for young people is presented in a graphic-novel format, students have fun while learning life-changing principles of healthy eating. Not to mention the fact that the interactive lessons keep learners engaged and focused. Especially important: the course addresses issues of special concern to young adults: mood, academics, athletic performance, and sleep.

No enrollment fee and no login credentials required! What’s more, learners earn a customized certificate at the end. It’s perfect for individuals or entire classes!

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Get Started With Our Nutrition Course for Teens and Young Adults

While this short nutrition education program is open to ANYONE, we designed it especially with these audiences in mind:

✓ Middle school students

✓ High school students

✓ College students

✓ Learners in their twenties

✓ Educators who want to assign a fun, learner-driven nutrition education lesson to their entire classrooms

✓ Pediatricians and other health experts who want to empower teens and young adults with the lifelong benefits of nutrition knowledge

For general audiences, we also offer a more comprehensive nutrition education course for learners of all ages , available in both English and Spanish.

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"I enthusiastically endorse this engaging program that uses the power of graphic novels to educate young people about the vital role of healthy food. This Gaples Institute program equips young adults with the tools they need to make smart food choices, setting them up for a lifetime of wellness. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to empower the next generation with the superpowers of healthy eating."

Andrew Weil, MD

Professor of Public Health Clinical Professor of Medicine Director, University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine

"My students range from 12 to 18, and many of them struggle with the pressures of rigid tests and fact memorization. This resource was a fun, interactive experience for all of them."

Lucas Michaelson, Health & Phys Ed Teacher

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Residential Treatment and Educational Center

"I found this course very well put together with clear information and messages."

Alessio Fasano, MD

Professor of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Massachusetts General Hospital

“This delivers! Young adults don’t yet care about longevity or future health state, but sleeping better and running faster? That’s a winner. I’ll be recommending this in all of my adolescent physical exams and also sending to my kids’ team sports coaches.”

Jaclyn Albin, MD

Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, UT Southwestern Medical Center

"This kept me engaged. It didn’t make me want to do something else!"

(a student)

“I LOVED this Using Food as a Superpower . It was interesting, engaging, and clear.”

Lori Walsh, MD

Medical Director, Pediatric Integrative Medicine, Advocate Children’s Hospital

“It was interactive and fun to complete. As well as informative.”

Having a concise, entertaining, and educational resource like this from the Gaples Institute to share with my patients and their families will be so helpful.

Jay Somers, PA-C, DHSc

Nevada Family Psychiatry

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is the connection between food and mood.

Without a doubt, what you eat can significantly impact how you feel—and that’s especially true for young people. Developing healthy eating habits during adolescence and young adulthood can set the foundation for a positive outlook and emotional well-being into adulthood, middle age, and beyond. This fun and interactive online nutrition course for teens and young adults helps learners discover how nourishing the body can also nurture a more positive, resilient mood.

Do food choices affect grades and school performance?

There’s significant evidence linking healthy foods with better academic achievement—and there’s also a strong connection between unhealthy foods and poorer performance in school. In this nutrition education program for young people, learners discover which foods help the most, as well as which foods can cause problems.

How does healthy food help student athletes perform at their peak?

For student athletes, fueling their bodies with nutrient-dense foods is a powerful step to achieving peak physical performance. Nutrition research shows that athletic performance is closely tied to diet quality and food choices. This nutrition education program empowers student athletes with important knowledge to select foods that optimize their performance both on and off the field.

Can healthy eating help with sleep problems and low energy?

Quality sleep is crucial for all aspects of health. Teenagers and young adults with poor sleep quality may experience special challenges with academic achievement, mood, and relationships. This nutrition education course helps young adults understand the connection between healthy eating, sleep quality, and energy levels, so they can choose foods that best support sufficient high-quality rest.

How does gut health impact young people, and which foods support a healthy microbiome?

Gut health and brain health are intricately linked in a surprising way that influences, mood, mental clarity, and more. This interactive nutrition program highlights healthy foods that help nurture the profound connection between gut and mind—toward the goal of clearer thinking and a more resilient outlook.

Who made this nutrition education course for young people?

The course was developed by the Gaples Institute, a physician-led educational nonprofit supported by world-renowned experts in nutrition science, education, and public health. The Gaples Institute does not seek or accept corporate support. The course Using Food As a Superpower is made available to schools, educators, and students by our educational nonprofit as a public service.

Is this nutrition education course accessible to learners with disabilities?

Yes! This learning program includes keyboard-friendly interactivity, an option to display closed captions, and the on-screen content is optimized for learners who use screen readers.

How is this nutrition curriculum for students different from other learning programs?

This award-winning interactive nutrition course for students is presented in a graphic-novel format that is eye-opening, engaging, and fun. The course encourages active discovery through a playful, interactive platform. Using Food as a Superpower is intended for anyone, with special value for educators looking to incorporate an engaging, meaningful nutrition lesson into their lesson plans. The course author is a Harvard nutrition faculty member and preventive cardiologist with more than three decades of clinical experience.

Inquire about discounts for a group or class of 10+ learners

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20 Nutrition Activities for High School Students

• Health & Wellness

1. Food Journaling: Have students maintain a food journal for a week, keeping track of everything they eat and drink. This will help them become more aware of their daily food choices and intake.

2. Analyze Nutritional Labels: Teach students how to read and interpret nutritional labels on packaged foods, and then have them compare labels of different products to make healthier selections.

3. Nutrient Research Project: Assign each student a specific nutrient to research, such as carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins or minerals. They can then present the information to the class through posters or group discussions.

4. Menu Planning: Have students plan a week’s worth of balanced, healthy meals considering dietary restrictions, budget constraints, and cooking skills.

5. Recipe Makeover: Encourage students to choose a favorite recipe and modify the ingredients or preparation methods to make it healthier.

6. Cook Off: Organize a healthy cooking competition where students create nutrient-dense meals from predetermined ingredients within a certain timeframe.

7. Portion Control Game: Teach students about proper portion sizes using visual aids and hands-on activities like measuring out servings of different food items.

8. Cultural Cuisine Exploration: Have students research the traditional foods of various countries to understand the cultural influences on diets worldwide.

9. Sugar Shock: Calculate the amount of sugar in popular beverages/snacks and display as visuals – using sugar cubes or measuring spoons –to illustrate excess sugar amounts that can be present in these items.

10. Calorie Countdown: Organize an activity that illustrates how many calories are burned during everyday activities like walking or cycling versus sedentary behavior like watching television or sitting at a computer.

11. Power Snacking: Teach students about the benefits of healthy snacking by sampling different options like yogurt parfaits with fruit and granola or veggie sticks with hummus.

12. Food Swap Challenge: Organize an event where students bring in unhealthy snacks they typically eat and swap them for healthier alternatives.

13. Advertising Analysis: Have students critically analyze advertisements for food products, and discuss the strategies used to promote these items.

14. Food Safety Training: Teach students the basics of food handling and preparation, including proper hygiene, cooking procedures, and storage techniques.

15. Nutritional Debate Teams: Stage a debate on hot-button nutrition issues like organic vs. conventional produce or the benefits of vegetarian diets.

16. Fruit & Veggie Bingo: Create bingo cards with images of fruits and vegetables for a fun game to encourage healthy eating habits.

17. Smoothie Day: Host a smoothie-making workshop using a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other healthy ingredients, teaching students about balanced nutrition through delicious blended drinks.

18. Plant a School Garden: Cultivate student appreciation for healthy foods by growing fresh fruit and vegetable gardens on school grounds.

19. Farm-to-School Program: Invite local farmers or food producers to speak to the class about their operations and how they contribute to community health and sustainability.

20. Community Service Project: Organize an initiative where students volunteer at soup kitchens or participate in community health events to gain firsthand experience with food-related needs that affect their local area.

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Healthy Eating Learning Opportunities and Nutrition Education

Healthy eating learning opportunities includes nutrition education  and other activities integrated into the school day that can give children knowledge and skills to help choose and consume healthy foods and beverages. 1 Nutrition education is a vital part of a comprehensive health education program and empowers children with knowledge and skills to make healthy food and beverage choices. 2-8 

US students receive less than 8 hours of required nutrition education each school year, 9  far below the 40 to 50 hours that are needed to affect behavior change. 10,11  Additionally, the percentage of schools providing required instruction on nutrition and dietary behaviors decreased from 84.6% to 74.1% between 2000 and 2014. 9

Given the important role that diet plays in preventing chronic diseases and supporting good health, schools would ideally provide students with more hours of nutrition education instruction and engage teachers and parents in nutrition education activities. 5, 12  Research shows that nutrition education can teach students to recognize how healthy diet influences emotional well-being  and how emotions may influence eating habits. However, because schools face many demands, school staff can consider ways to add nutrition education into the existing schedule. 11

Nutrition education can be incorporated throughout the school day and in various locations within a school. This provides flexibility allowing schools to use strategies that work with their settings, daily schedule, and resources.

In the Classroom

Nutrition education can take place in the classroom, either through a stand-alone health education class or combined into other subjects including 2,5 :

• Counting with pictures of fruits and vegetables.
• Learning fractions by measuring ingredients for a recipe.
• Examining how plants grow.
• Learning about cultural food traditions.

Nutrition education should align with the National Health Education Standards and incorporate the characteristics of an effective health education curriculum .

Farm to School

Farm-to-school programs vary in each school or district, but often include one or more of the following strategies:

• Purchasing and serving local or regionally produced foods in the school meal programs.
• Educating students about agriculture, food, health, and nutrition.
• Engaging students in hands-on learning opportunities through gardening, cooking lessons, or farm field trips.

Students who participate in farm-to-school activities have increased knowledge about nutrition and agriculture, are more willing to try new foods, and consume more fruits and vegetables. 14-17

School Gardens

School garden programs can increase students’ nutrition knowledge, willingness to try fruit and vegetables, and positive attitudes about fruits and vegetables. 18-22 School gardens vary in size and purpose. Schools may have window sill gardens, raised beds, greenhouses, or planted fields.

Students can prepare the soil for the garden, plant seeds, harvest the fruits and vegetables, and taste the food from the garden. Produce from school gardens can be incorporated into school meals or taste tests. Classroom teachers can teach lessons in math, science, history, and language arts using the school garden.

In the Cafeteria

Cafeterias are learning labs where students are exposed to new foods through the school meal program, see what balanced meals look like, and may be encouraged to try new foods through verbal prompts from school nutrition staff, 23 or taste tests. 24-25 Cafeterias may also be decorated with nutrition promotion posters or student artwork promoting healthy eating. 24

Other Opportunities

Schools can add messages about nutrition and healthy eating into the following:

• Morning announcements.
• School assemblies.
• Materials sent home to parents and guardians. 24
• Staff meetings.
• Parent-teacher group meetings.

These strategies can help reinforce messages about good nutrition and help ensure that students see and hear consistent information about healthy eating across the school campus and at home. 2 

Shared use agreements can extend healthy eating learning opportunities. As an example, an after-school STEM club  could gain access to school gardens as learning labs.

CDC Parents for Healthy Schools: Ideas for Parents

Nutrition: Gardening Interventions | The Community Guide

Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025

Introduction to School Gardens

Learning Through the Garden

National Farm-to-School Network

National Farm to School Network Resource Database

National Health Education Standards

Team Nutrition Curricula

USDA Farm to School

USDA Team Nutrition

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School health guidelines to promote healthy eating and physical activity. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep . 2011;60(RR-5):1–76.
• Joint Committee on National Health Education Standards. National Health Education Standards: Achieving Excellence. 2nd ed. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society; 2007.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool, 2012, Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of Health and Human Services; 2012. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/hecat/index.htm. Accessed April 9, 2019.
• Price C, Cohen D, Pribis P, Cerami J. Nutrition education and body mass index in grades K–12: a systematic review. J Sch Health. 2017;87:715–720.
• Meiklejohn S, Ryan L, Palermo C. A systematic review of the impact of multi-strategy nutrition education programs on health and nutrition of adolescents. J Nutr Educ Behav . 2016;48:631–646.
• Silveira JA, Taddei JA, Guerra PH, Nobre MR. The effect of participation in school-based nutrition education interventions on body mass index: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled community trials. Prev Med . 2013;56:237–243.
• County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. School-based Nutrition Education Programs website. http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/take-action-to-improve-health/what-works-for-health/policies/school-based-nutrition-education-programs . Accessed on April 9, 2019.
• Results from the School Health Policies and Practices Study 2014 . Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2014.
• Connell DB, Turner RR, Mason EF. Results of the school health education evaluation: health promotion effectiveness, implementation, and costs . J Sch Health . 1985;55(8):316–321.
• Institute of Medicine. Nutrition Education in the K–12 Curriculum: The Role of National Standards: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2014.
• Murimi MW, Moyeda-Carabaza AF, Nguyen B, Saha S, Amin R, Njike V. Factors that contribute to effective nutrition education interventions in children: a systematic review. Nutr Rev . 2018;76(8):553–580.
• Hayes D, Contento IR, Weekly C. Position of the American Dietetic Association, School Nutrition Association, and Society for Nutrition Education: comprehensive school nutrition services. J Acad Nutr Diet . 2018; 118:913–919.
• Joshi A, Misako Azuma A, Feenstra G. Do farm-to-school programs make a difference? Findings and future research needs . J Hunger Environ Nutr . 2008;3:229–246.
• Moss A, Smith S, Null D, Long Roth S, Tragoudas U. Farm to school and nutrition education: Positively affecting elementary school-aged children’s nutrition knowledge and consumption behavior. Child Obes . 2013;9(1):51–6.
• Bontrager Yoder AB, Liebhart JL, McCarty DJ, Meinen A, Schoeller D, Vargas C, LaRowe T. Farm to elementary school programming increases access to fruits and vegetables and increases their consumption among those with low intake . J Nutr Educ Behav . 2014;46(5):341–9.
• The National Farm to School Network. The Benefits of Farm to School website. http://www.farmtoschool.org/Resources/BenefitsFactSheet.pdf . Accessed on June 14, 2019.
• Berezowitz CK, Bontrager Yoder AB, Schoeller DA. School gardens enhance academic performance and dietary outcomes in children. J Sch Health . 2015;85:508–518.
• Davis JN, Spaniol MR, Somerset S. Sustenance and sustainability: maximizing the impact of school gardens on health outcomes. Public Health Nutr . 2014;18(13):2358–2367.
• Langellotto GA, Gupta A. Gardening increases vegetable consumption in school-aged children: A meta-analytical synthesis. Horttechnology . 2012;22(4):430–445.
• Community Preventative Services Task Force. Nutrition: Gardening Interventions to Increase Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Children. Finding and Rationale Statement .. https://www.thecommunityguide.org/sites/default/files/assets/Nutrition-Gardening-Fruit-Vegetable-Consumption-Children-508.pdf . Accessed on May 16, 2019.
• Savoie-Roskos MR, Wengreen H, Durward C. Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Intake among Children and Youth through Gardening-Based Interventions: A Systematic Review. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 2017;11(2):240–50.
• Schwartz M. The influence of a verbal prompt on school lunch fruit consumption: a pilot study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2007;4:6.
• Fulkerson JA, French SA, Story M, Nelson H, Hannan PJ. Promotions to increase lower-fat food choices among students in secondary schools: description and outcomes of TACOS (Trying Alternative Cafeteria Options in Schools). Public Health Nutr. 2003 ;7(5):665–674.
• Action for Healthy Kids. Tips for Hosting a Successful Taste Test website. http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/tools-for-schools/find-challenges/classroom-challenges/701-tips-for-hosting-a-successful-taste-test . Accessed on May 19, 2019.

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Nutrition Lesson Plans For High School (With Downloadable PDF)

• Doug Curtin
• January 21, 2022

We try to encourage healthy eating with our students, but what does that actually look like? Nutrition lesson plans for high school students help to empower long-term healthy lifestyles that go past being able to recite the food pyramid for a test. Nutrition education is about the long-term benefits we can instill with our students. 

Struggling to find nutrition worksheets for high school?

Physical education aims to address the total health and wellness of students. Part of living a complete healthy lifestyle is understanding nutrition! Therefore, teachers seek to help students understand nutrition information so that they can make healthy food choices. 

You might find a worksheet or two, but you want more than a few printable posters to hang in your gymnasium! That’s where finding nutrition activities for high school students that put together the complete picture of nutrition can be challenging! 

Creating a high school nutrition curriculum is challenging! 

Nutrition curriculum for high school students is about balancing science and real-world application. At the high school level, students can begin to explore:

• Food chemistries like macronutrients and micronutrients
• Impact of food on future physical and mental health
• Impact of movement on physical and mental health health

We might be eager to jump right into food groups, dietary guidelines, and balanced diets, but we need to progress students through comprehensive nutrition lesson plans just like we do in any other topic or subject.

Intro To Nutrition EBook

This E-book comes fully loaded with written and video lessons covering calories, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. 

Four Nutrition Activities For high school students

Starting with chemistries can be an excellent place to begin for any high school student. We can take a three-part approach with nutrition activities for high school students.

1) Written & Visual Materials:  This is where students can get the more traditional nutrition education you might be familiar with. You can hand this portion out as a worksheet.

2) Video Resources:  There are many gray areas and questions that come up for high school students when we talk about nutrition. This portion allows students to hear a nutrition expert talk about it and answer frequently asked questions. 

3) Chapter Questions:  A great way to make nutrition education interactive! Paired discussion questions that support the written and video resources can be used in various ways. For example, you can assign these questions for small groups or class discussions or ask students to submit their answers. 

Here are four nutrition lesson plans for high school that introduce calories, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats that you could use with your students in class!

Lesson 1: Calories

Written lesson.

Calories are not evil, and they do not need to be avoided. In fact, calories are essential because they are what our bodies convert to energy. In our previous lesson, we talked about what happens when bodies don’t get enough energy. But where IS the energy in food?

There are four chemistries (or types) of calories, and they may sound familiar – carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and alcohol. The first three chemistries are necessary for human health, but the last (alcohol) is not.

These chemistries are not exactly the same as the food groups we were taught when we were younger. Any given food (and food group) can be a combination of energy chemistries.

Looking at food in terms of chemistry instead of food groups is a little complicated at first. But it helps us understand foods that don’t fit cleanly in a food group (e.g., pizza).

And it allows us to get past “good” or “bad” food. Instead, we can look at a food’s chemistry and better predict how it will impact performance and health. 

What our body sees when we eat? 

Bodies don’t recognize food groups. When we eat a banana, our body doesn’t say, “Ah-ha! A fruit!” 

Instead, it sees carbohydrates in the form of sugar, starch, and a little fiber. It also sees a little protein and fat, as well as a slew of vitamins and water.

Here are a few examples of the the energy in our food:

-Fruits: Water + carbohydrate (sugar, starch, fiber) -Vegetables: Water + carbohydrate (little starch, mostly fiber) -Beans / Lentils : Carbohydrate (starch, fiber) + protein + little fat -Meat / Eggs / Fish: Protein + fat -Grains: Carbohydrate (starch + some fiber) + some protein + little fat -Milk/Yogurt: Water + Carbohydrate (sugar) + protein + fat

How many calories do we need?

Now that we have an understanding of “what” calories are, how do we figure out how many to consume? The human body has a wide range of energy needs so it’s difficult to put an exact number on it.

There are formulas and general recommendations, but there can be huge variances based on sex, age, height, muscle mass, and physical activity intensity and duration. Even factors like what we eat, how often we eat, and our mental health can impact energy needs.

But in general, boys between the ages of 13-19 need at least an average of 2000-3000 calories per day, and girls ages 13-19 need at least an average of 1600-2400. But it’s not uncommon for active, growing bodies to need more, and there can be tremendous day-to-day swings in energy needs based on activity.

There’s also nothing magical about the number. Bodies are incredibly flexible, and can easily adapt to increased and decreased intake without changing the body itself.

How do we assess if we are eating too little or too much? How do we do this in an easy and straightforward way that we can apply to our daily lives? In our next lesson, we will explore ways to listen to the body to determine our energy needs.

Chapter Questions

1: What are the 2 major classifications of nutrients?

2: Name at least 5 things that influence a person’s energy needs?

3: On average, how many calories do people need?

4: Name at least 3 signs of not getting enough energy?

5: What’s the primary indicator of someone’s body size?

6: How much does a person’s body weight change on average between the beginning of the day and end of the day?

7: What are at least 3 of the behaviors that might drive someone to eat beyond what their body needs?

8: What are at 2 signs of mild to moderate hunger?

9: What are 2 signs of extreme hunger?

Lesson 2: Carbohydrates

Before we dive into the wide world of carbohydrates, let’s make sure we have a clear definition of what they are.

Popular culture refers to things like grains and sugars as carbs. However, carbohydrates refer to the chemistry that make up any plant-based food. Fruits, vegetables, grains, and sugars are all made of carbohydrates. 

When we talk about carbs, we are referring to the chemistry of the food (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen).

All carbs are created from sugar molecules (glucose, fructose, galactose). What changes between the types of carbohydrates (sugar, starch, and fiber) are the number of molecules, and the complexity of the bond between the molecules, making them easier or harder to break apart.

As those molecules bind together in various ways, they form compounds we are more familiar with. These include things such as starch (found in potato, grains, corn, etc.), fiber (something we can’t digest), sugars (found in milk, yogurt, fruits and sweeteners like honey, syrup, cane sugar).

What They Do For Us?

There is a lot of confusion and concern about carbohydrates these days. So before we get any further, let’s be clear: Carbohydrates are not evil!

Carbohydrates are the perfect package of nutrients for the body and provide many benefits such as:

1) Energy  – Our body can quickly break down and use energy from carbohydrates to think and move. Fat and protein take more time and effort, making them a lower quality fuel source. Our brain alone uses around 400 calories of carbohydrates per day (or approximately 120 grams).

2) Fiber – Found in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Fiber cannot be digested. It keeps us regular in the bathroom, prevents disease, and stabilizes energy. It also keeps us fuller longer. Beneficial for gastrointestinaI health, disease prevention, and feeling fuller longer. You cannot get fiber from animal-based foods. Fiber, by definition, is a type of carbohydrate.

3) Antioxidants – Prevent against free radicals that can cause disease. You won’t find antioxidants in animal-based foods.

4) Protein – Plant-based proteins can meet all of our protein needs without the need to eat meat, but have to be appropriately paired for good nutrition (more on this in the protein chapter)

5) Vitamins and minerals  – Carbohydrates provide a wide variety of nutrients, including b-vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin) used to convert food to energy and support our nervous system, calcium for our bones, iron to support oxygen transport in the blood, and folate to help us produce red blood cells.

Carbohydrates = Energy 

As you can see, at the top of the list is the energy we can get from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the preferred fuel source for the body. Ideally, people should have at least 50-75 percent of their daily energy needs from carbohydrates – a mixture of fruits, vegetables, and grains.

When we eat something with carbohydrates, whether it’s a fruit, grain, vegetable, or sweetener like sugar, our body can quickly break down the molecules of carbohydrates and turn them into blood glucose (aka blood sugar).

The blood glucose is then transported to the muscles, brain, and vital organs to convert to energy (or ATP). Any unused glucose gets stored for later, and when those storage spots are full, it can convert it to body fat for later use. In other words, energy now, and energy for later.

MYTH BUSTING: Before anyone panics when they see body fat, let’s dispel another myth. The myth that carbs convert to body fat more than other nutrients is not true. Our body is constantly putting nutrients in and out of storage. It never “throws” them away. This is a natural and normal part of human physiology and not something unique to carbs and blood glucose. They are NOT more likely to become body fat than any other nutrient.

Different Types of Energy: 

One of the benefits of carbohydrate-rich foods is that they can give you energy quickly. So if you’re trying to fuel up to train, study, or go about your day, carbohydrates should be the food of choice.

The downside is that because carbohydrates are digested and absorbed quickly when we eat a meal that is purely carbohydrates, we tend to feel hungry sooner. Conversely, when we eat foods with more protein and fat, we feel fuller longer, as these take longer to break down.

For example, a plate of pasta with salad is filling, but it likely won’t keep you full as long as a plate of pasta with chicken and salad.

Sugars provide energy the fastest. However, because sugar is broken down and absorbed quickly, it leaves us looking to replace energy faster than when we consume starch. If we add fiber to the equation, we get even more sustainable energy. Add protein and fat, and we get the most sustainable energy.

However, you don’t need chemistry to explain that to you. You can feel the difference when you drink a can of soda vs. eating a turkey sandwich. Both have the same carbohydrate content, but where those carbohydrates comes from, and what it’s paired with, makes all the difference.

What Comes Next? 

As you can see, there is a lot of overlap when it comes to talking about carbohydrates. Hopefully, you can see that carbs are good for us, and provide us energy to fuel our lives. The next question that almost inevitably follows, is how to decipher between “good” and “bad” carbs? 

So, let us be clear. Carbohydrates are not “good” or “bad” – they’re just different chemistries with different purposes. Instead of looking at carbohydrates as good and bad, you will notice that we have talked a lot about sugar, starch, and fiber. 

In our next chapter, we will break down the three types of carbohydrates in more detail. We will talk about where to find them, and what they do for us! Understanding the chemistry allows you to better plan and balance your meals for health and performance.

1:What are the main types of carbohydrates?

2: Which food groups contain carbohydrates?

3: What functions do carbohydrates serve in the body?

Lesson 3: Proteins

Protein is the second nutrient we’ll explore on our nutrition journey. Recall that we started by understanding the importance of nutrition for growing bodies and unpacked some of the ways our body communicates its needs. 

From there, we explored the idea of energy – what it is and where it comes from. We took a deep dive into the body’s primary energy source – carbohydrates. And now it’s time to figure out what’s up with protein. 

Does it live up to the media hype? Like the other macronutrients (carbohydrates and fat), our body uses protein as energy. But it’s valuable for other functions as well.  Additionally, depending on where you get your protein, there are some considerations for your daily routine.

Where It’s Found?

Remember that when we talk about “protein,” we’re not just talking about food groups. We are talking about the chemical compounds found within foods.

Protein can be found in animal-based foods like beef, chicken, pork, fish, eggs, yogurt, milk, and cheese.

Protein can also be found in plant-based foods like nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, peas, tempeh, and tofu. Lastly, grains like oatmeal, quinoa, wheat, and rice have protein as well, albeit smaller amounts.

What It Does?

Protein is a crucial nutrient for humans that goes beyond energy. Proteins are made of chains of amino acids. Amino acids are often called the building blocks of life – and for a good reason. 

Our bodies break down those chains and use the amino acids to support growth and development, biochemical reactions, the immune system, and neurological functions. Amino acids also transport nutrients, send biochemical messages, create structures, and repair muscles.

If we don’t get enough protein over time, humans can develop a serious condition called “protein-calorie malnutrition.” In our modern world, it’s not common unless someone is severely restricting their food or avoiding all protein sources. But in developing countries where food is scarce, it’s more common.

While protein is important, protein has been glorified beyond what’s needed for health and performance. Most people in the United States get more protein than they need each day.  

How Much We Need?

Protein needs are personally driven, and are typically based on weight, age, as well as the type, intensity, and duration of the training you do. 

For those who are inactive, the recommendation from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) is around .8 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram (.3 to .5 grams per pound). 

For those who are active, ISSN notes that needs often increase to 1.4 to 2 grams per kilogram (.6 to .9 grams per pound) to support repair.

Those who are more intensely active or doing intense power or strength training,  tend to be on the higher end of the scale. Needs also might fluctuate day to day, and season to season depending on training.

To put that in perspective, a 150-pound athlete would need between 90 and 150* grams of protein per day. It’s possible to get that from food depending on appetite needs and food availability. 

Let’s break that down further, meal by meal:

Breakfast – 1 cup greek yogurt (12 grams) Snack – 2 eggs (14 grams) Lunch – 1 cup beans (15 grams) with 4 oz chicken (28 grams) Snack – 1 cup greek yogurt (12 grams) Dinner – 4 oz chicken (28 grams)

= approximately 96 grams

Simply add three, 8 oz glasses of milk (7 grams of protein), and you’ve got another 21 grams of protein pretty easily.

Health Benefits Of Protein Rich Foods: 

There are 21 amino acids that are the building blocks of life. Nine of those amino acids are called “essential” because our bodies cannot make them and therefore they must come from our food. When we eat an animal source of protein, we get all of the essential amino acids within that food – no questions asked.

When we eat an animal source of protein, we get all of the essential amino acids within that food – no questions asked.

However, plants do not contain all of the essential amino acids in one package. Instead, different plants have different packages of amino acids. To get everything you need, you have to pair proteins for the full package. 

For example, when we eat beans along with a grain such as rice, we get two different subsets of amino acids. Similarly, peanut butter on bread would provide the right combination of different amino acids for your body.

However, amino acids are not the only benefit of protein-rich foods. There’s also a wealth of nutrients in protein-rich foods in varying amounts. These include: 

-Iron for oxygen transport -Vitamin B12 for our nervous system and red blood cell production -B-vitamins (niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and B6) provide a variety of functions in metabolism as well as our nervous system -Magnesium helps build bones and supports muscle function -Zinc can support your immune systems

In addition to vitamins and minerals, most animal sources of protein also contain fat, in the form of saturated fat. Fat is an essential nutrient for human health as it supports hormone development, and provides flavor and satisfaction. 

Saturated fat however, in large amounts, over a long period of time, is not great for heart health. That doesn’t mean animal proteins need to be avoided. It’s a matter of balancing higher fat protein options (bacon, sausage, ribs, hot dogs) with leaner options (chicken, turkey, fish, eggs).  We’ll learn more about the types of fat and how they support the body in the next module.

1: Which food groups contain protein?

2: How does protein support the body?

3: How much protein do we need?

4: What are the missing / limited nutrients in a plant based diet?

Lesson 4: Fats

People often misunderstand fat in our food. Just like the other macronutrients (carbohydrates and protein), our body uses dietary fat for energy, but it also supports our health in surprising ways. And just like the other nutrients, depending on where you get your fat, there are some important things to know.

What Is Fat?

Dietary fat is found in varying amounts in most foods – plants and animals. Just like carbohydrates, there are subcategories or types of dietary fats – unsaturated fats, saturated fats, and trans fats. 

Unsaturated fats can be further divided into more subcategories (see chart). What’s important to know is that the chemical structure of each is different and as a result, have varying impacts on the body.

Why Do We Need It?

Your body uses fat for a variety of functions – regardless of what type we eat. Dietary fats are a dense source of energy for the body – a small volume contains a large amount of energy. But fats are tough for the body to digest and turn to energy, so they’re not an ideal fuel source if you need energy quickly.

Beyond energy, fats of all types serve important functions such as: -Transport, absorb, and store vitamins A, D, E, and K​ -Contribute to sex hormone production and corticosteroids -Form the outer layer of every cell on our body (aka, the phospholipid bilayer) -Reduces inflammation in the body which helps recover from sport (Omega 3 fatty acids – a type of unsaturated fat) -Form much of the brain -Taste amazing and help us feel satisfied -Takes long to digest so we feel fuller, longer

Fats are found in plant and animal foods. In general, the fat found in any given food is not just one type. For example, food is rarely pure unsaturated fat. Instead, it’s a combination of saturated and unsaturated sources. 

Plant fats and fish fat tend to contain more unsaturated fats. Examples include nuts, seeds, olive oil, olives, avocado, salmon, tuna.

Animal fats and tropical plants tend to have more saturated fat. Examples include beef, pork, chicken, cheese, cream, coconut oil, palm oil.

Trans fats are unique. They are made of “partially hydrogenated” oils. They are not naturally found in foods.

Humans created them years ago to improve the texture and shelf life of processed foods like cookies, cakes, peanut butter, as well as some fried foods. Most trans fats have been removed from our food system, but here and there, you find a few companies still using partially hydrogenated oils.

What Do The Types Matter?

The human body needs dietary fat, but it prefers a balance of fat types for our overall health. When too much of our dietary fat comes from saturated and/or trans fat, it can impact our heart health in the future, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes for some people. 

In general, most of the fat we eat each day should come from plants and fish or “unsaturated” sources. It’s completely ok to have saturated fats, but it’s best to keep them a bit smaller part of what we eat. 

Trans fats have no benefit for the human body and have been shown to be harmful in large amounts. It’s best to avoid them when possible, but understand that a little now and again won’t harm you.

How Much Do I Need?

The amount of fat you need each day varies based on how much energy you need overall. As you recall from previous articles, daily energy needs change a lot depending on height, weight, age, physical activity, and so much more. Tracking and/or limiting what you eat based on precise numbers is not recommended, as it’s very difficult to predict changing needs. 

Our body (and health) care more about the average of what we eat over time – not daily perfection. It’s better to follow your personal cues (link to article about that).

But if you must have a number, in general, the guideline is that 25% of your daily energy comes from fat. For someone eating around 2000 calories per day, that’s approximately 55 grams of fat in total from unsaturated and saturated fats. Ideally, saturated fat is 5-6% of total energy or around 13 grams. 

Again, those are not hard and fast rules. That doesn’t mean if you’re above or below these numbers, something will happen to you. Instead, it’s a reference point.

But one way in which the numbers can be helpful is when you look at the food label. Often seemingly “healthy” foods can be very high in saturated fat depending on how it was made.

For example, you pick up a bag of chocolate-covered dried bananas – sounds amazing, right? You might assume it would give your body more nutrition than a cookie while still satisfying that sweet tooth. 

When you looked at the label though, you are shocked to see that a tiny serving had over 20 grams of saturated fat! That’s when you notice the bananas were fried with palm oil. So in that instance, you are better off enjoying a cookie than the deceptive health product. Tricky!

It’s much easier to think about fat in terms of food balance. In general, the goal is to try to choose plant or fish fats more often than animal fats while not relying too much on fried foods and processed foods for your energy each day.

Tips to add more unsaturated fats to your routine:

-Enjoy a handful of nuts/seeds between meals -Add nuts/seeds to meals (yogurt, salads) -Add avocado to sandwiches and salads -Add a side of guacamole to snack/meals -Use guacamole instead of mayo on sandwiches -Enjoy salmon occasionally -Enjoy tuna salad sandwiches

1: How does dietary fat support the body?

2: What are the different types of fat in the diet and where are they typically found?

3: Which type of fat may negatively impact heart health?

Download The Nutrition Lesson Plans High School PDF 

To use a nutrition joke, this was just a ‘taste’ of what can be in a robust nutrition curriculum. Download the first 6 full chapters of PLT4M’s Intro To Nutrition that have even high school nutrition lesson plans! This is full of excellent handouts that will help foster an interactive nutrition education experience! 

Final Points on Nutrition Lesson Plans For High School

Nutrition education matters! Because with students and all of us, it’s not about just what they achieve that day but it’s the relationship with food that they’re developing for the rest of their life. 

These lessons and modules provide a foundation of knowledge based on the chemistry of the food. Not good food, bad food, right food, wrong food, or any other fad in between.

But really helping people understand when you look at a food, what are you getting? And how do I shift that and apply it for who I am and what I need? So instead what we’re looking to be able to do is to empower the student with the knowledge, with the information, and the confidence to make the decision that is right for them.

What about nutrition lesson plans for middle school? 

Many of these activities could work intro nutrition lesson plans for middle school. Nutrition activities for middle school students begins to look closer to what we formally teach adults and high school students. This is the age where students begin the transition to formal operations. They begin to learn by logical use of symbols (eg, food groups) related to abstract concepts (eg, chemistry / biology). This age group is ready to expand on their nutrition foundation to….

• Learn which foods go in which food group and why
• Understand how to pair food / food groups to create satisfying meals
• Learn nutrients that come from various foods
• Avoid food / body comparisons

Do you have more than nutrition lesson plans for high school?

Yes, PLT4M is the leader in physical education content and provides a wide variety of  lesson plans for high school pe. 

The goal of all our lesson plans is to equip students with the skills to live a healthy lifestyle!  

What are the benefits of nutrition education in schools? 

There are both short and longterm benefits of nutrition education in schools . Nutrition education programs are not just about short term outcomes but instead about helping students establish a healthy relationship with food that supports them for the rest of their life. It starts with building a foundation.

What other health education topics does PLT4M have?

Check out more health education lesson plans from PLT4M here! Different topics include: 

• Drug and Substance Education
• Underage Drinking Prevention
• Digital Citizenship 
• Physical Literacy
• Personal Hygiene 
• Social Emotional Learning

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Teaching High School Nutrition: 13 Ideas

To instill life-long healthy eating habits, take a hands-on approach.

Prisma is the world’s most engaging virtual school that combines a fun, real-world curriculum with powerful mentorship from experienced coaches and a supportive peer community

Nutrition education doesn’t have to be an endless stream of worksheets and handouts, full of facts and figures about macronutrients, calories and additives.

Yes, there are building blocks you’ll want to teach your child: knowing how to read a nutrition facts label is an essential part of adulting. But, to be meaningful, nutrition can’t just be about calories-per-gram and lists of vitamins and minerals. Kids will be so much more likely to absorb the information — and incorporate it into their lives — if it’s rooted in personal meaning.

Nutrition is multifaceted, highly individual and our understanding of it, ever-shifting. But that’s the good news. Unless your child is training to be a dietitian, there’s no pressure to master every scientific element. All you need is an on-ramp, and you’ll be able to help them learn about nutrition in a way that positively impacts their everyday food choices.

How to design nutrition lesson plans for high school students

Start from their interests.

Eating a balanced diet is considered one of the pinnacles of wellness, but why should we care about nutrition? Your child needs to have an answer that motivates them.

What gets your child excited? Chances are there’s a connection back to food. Do they love cooking? Are they open to starting a veggie patch or herb garden? Do they (or a loved one) have some kind of dietary restriction? Are they passionate about giving their best on the athletic field? Are they intrigued by experimentation and research? Curious about different cultural norms around food or how to use food medicinally?

Once you figure out the most meaningful point of entry, start there. Whether it’s getting your child in the kitchen to bake their own delicious and healthy birthday cake, learning to eat to improve their sports performance, or understanding how different cultures prize different ingredients, they’ll be more committed — and more likely to make healthy food choices — if they know why they’re studying nutrition to begin with.

Make it interactive

Shopping, cooking, eating: Nutrition is one of the most interactive parts of our life. Get your kids involved with as many of those elements as possible (and, for the green-thumbed out there, growing food as well).

Inviting kids to the grocery store is a great start — so you can have a real-time discussion about what you buy for the family and why. Take it a step further, and design a scavenger hunt where they need to locate foods that fit a certain nutritional profile (cookies with no saturated fat, chips with no trans fats, five different colored vegetables and fruits etc.). Added bonus: it might help you expand your family’s weekly menu.

Learning to understand food labels is important, but to make it meaningful, let them translate the data into something they can chew on. Since most kids will be eager to snack in the name of science, you could design a taste test: Pick comparable products, but with some key difference (more/less whole grains, different serving sizes). Have your kids rate the foods and then see how that corresponds to the nutritional values.

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Build it slowly

We always recommend creating scaffolding around any new challenges. If you’re introducing them to the world of cooking and meal planning, they’ll be incorporating multiple new skills at once, including grocery shopping, navigating the kitchen and food safety.

In our weekly Prisma High School Life Skills course, we teach nutrition through hands-on challenges of increasing complexity. In the introductory challenges, learners explore their kitchens and grocery stores, until, over the course of weeks / months, they’re able to  meal plan on their own. This step-by-step approach allows learners to gain mastery and avoid that drinking-from-the-firehouse feeling.

Avoid “good food” / “bad food”

To the extent possible, avoid demonizing any food group. With the popularity of certain diets, kids may very well absorb the message that either fats or carbohydrates or protein (especially animal-based) are “bad” without knowing why, when all three are essential for sustaining physical activity from our brawn to our brains.

One way to shift from the black-and-white labeling of foods is to be more qualitative. If you try the comparative taste-test activity mentioned above, add on an additional element to  add nuance to the way we judge foods. Ask them to eat a certain snack, and then thirty minutes later reflect on how they feel: Are they immediately hungry again? Do they still feel satisfied? How energetic do they feel?

Have them write down their answers in a journal. Then, repeat the activity on successive days with different kinds of snacks or different quantities (low calorie, low fat, processed, fruits and veggies, carbohydrates versus protein, etc.), and see how their feelings change. Activities like these teach kids to reflect on the relationship between what they eat and how they feel.

Include emotions

Nutrition is not just about fuel. It is also deeply connected to our emotional well-being. All age groups can benefit from developing a more mindful relationship to what we put in our bodies. It could be as simple as observing: What feelings do I associate with certain food items? If that kind of exploration leads them to recognize an eating pattern that they want to change (for example “boredom equals chips”), use that as a starting point to brainstorm other ways to address the feeling, that may lead to a better outcome (call a friend when bored).

Ideas for project based nutrition activities

As a project-based school, we find that when learners can choose their own adventure and connect their exploration to real-world issues, they’re naturally willing to dive deep into complicated subjects — and nutrition is no exception. Our “Food Lab” cycle used kids’ love of baking and experimentation to reach a range of subjects that extended from nutrition to chemistry, data analysis and ethics.

Here are some of the many ways you can approach a nutrition project with your kids.

• A budding chef can plan and cook a healthy meal. (When we include cooking challenges in our curriculum, we recommend parents start by carefully supervising each step, until their child shows comfort in the kitchen.) A middle school or elementary school child could ease into this chef-mindset by assembling a healthy snack from a variety of foods.
• A science-minded student can take a look at how dietary guidelines have evolved over the years — and what evidence supports those shifts. A student with a political eye could address the same topic, looking for outside factors that may have also contributed to the shifts — major world events, discoveries, and the influence of specific industries.
• An aspiring anthropologist can compare typical diets of various cultures, looking at how the traditions, climate and geography shape the different foods that get put on the table — and how that might impact life-expectancy and certain diseases.
• A vegetarian, vegan, or plant-curious kid can research plant-based meats, comparing their nutritional profiles and environmental impact.
• A kid who is interested in media can look at how news outlets, social media and celebrity chefs create narratives that demonize things like added sugars or elevate certain veggies like kale. Or, they can turn their attention to food packaging to see how food products pitch themselves as “healthy” — and whether that depiction matches the ingredient list.
• A history-curious kiddo can trace the rise and fall of certain food groups, and how that relates to shifting ideas of wellness during a certain period.
• A student interested in social justice can explore the concept of food deserts and how access to healthy foods impacts community well-being.
• A budget-minded learner could create several different meal plans (one full of nutritious foods and one heavy in processed foods), compare the nutrition information and the respective costs, and reflect on why a healthy diet is so expensive.

More Resources

• Games from the FDA to make learning to read nutrition labels fun
• Project-based lesson plans on nutrition from the USDA
• A CDC-sponsored app to learn to make healthy food choices
• Myplate.gov - an interactive resource to learn how to eat the food pyramid
• Spoons Across America - a 9-lesson food exploration project (for kids 8-11)

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8 Fun Nutrition Activities For High School Students

In the hustle and bustle of high school life and in the anticipation of what lies ahead, students often forget to focus on their nutrition. According to a 2023 report [ 1 ] , less than 15% of high school students in the United States consumed food rich in micronutrients such as fruits, veggies, legumes, and nuts. Not just that, most of the calories they consume come from processed foods that provide little to no nourishment while increasing the risk of various diseases. 

Proper nutrition acts as fuel for both physical health and academic success. Therefore, it becomes essential to learn all about maintaining a healthy diet and indulging in physical activities that keep one fit and hearty. 

The best part about nourishment through food is that it doesn’t have to be boring. As high schoolers, you can take various steps to spruce up your plate and explore different food options that are healthy, delicious, and important for your overall vitality. 

In this article, we will be talking about various nutritional activities that high school students can be indulged in. This prepares them for the future and ensures they develop healthy eating habits early on in their lives.

Exciting nutritional activities to empower high schoolers

It is important to educate students about the benefits of following a balanced diet. However, giving them mere instructions will not suffice. Here are some interesting group activities that high schoolers can be encouraged to undertake to better understand the importance of proper nourishment: 

1. Nutrition Rich Workshops

Everyone including high schoolers needs to work on their culinary skills. This serves a dual purpose: it prepares them to be independent in the future while also ensuring their present nutritional needs are met. For this activity, arrange for a workshop or seminar dedicated specifically to talk and learn about nutrition. You can also invite certain industry professionals for more enhanced learning and participation.

Start by asking students to follow simple healthy recipes available online before the day of the workshop. On that day, give opportunities to students to share their recipes and discuss the nutrition element in each food item. The goal is to ensure that you consciously make healthy choices instead of relying on readily available junk food.

Following this, invite experts to share their insights and knowledge with students. Encourage students to ask questions to them and actively participate. This activity can bring something unique and different to the table other than classroom lectures fostering active participation and learning.

2. Food Marketing Campaigns

Pick some nutritious snacks such as yogurt, whole-grain crackers, fresh fruits, hummus, and veggies. Divide the students into groups and ask them to prepare marketing campaigns for each of the food items, listing their benefits, nutritional value, and how they help us meet our daily calorie requirements. Encourage children to make attractive posters and slogans and use infographics and visuals. The peers can vote for the most engaging and persuasive campaign. 

This allows them to educate themselves and their friends about the various snack items and their dietary benefits. Once students realize that most of their favorite junk food is not all that nutritious, they will have a solid reason to ditch their favorite cookie for a delicious apple. 

3. Culinary Cultural Exchange

Divide your students into groups and allow each of them to explore a different cuisine from around the world. They must carry out proper research, understand the nutritional value of different dishes, and understand why it is popular in different cultures. They can prepare presentations that delve into the nutrition and health practices of different communities around the world. 

 You can also host a potluck where each group prepares a healthy homemade meal that is popular in their culture and brings it to class. In this manner, students will be encouraged to try different cuisines and learn more about its benefits. 

4. Deep Dive into Nutritional Labels

Most teenagers need around 2200 to 2800 calories per day, out of which 45-60% is made up of complex carbs. Ask students to prepare a meal chart in which they can list different food items and their nutritional value. This includes carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, and so on. 

This allows students to become conscious eaters as they are aware of the benefits and disadvantages of the food they are consuming. Consequently, they will make sure to check the nutritional labels of different food items that they purchase. 

5. Undertake Farming Activities on Campus

While practicing healthy food choices, high school students can indulge in different agricultural activities on the school campus and grow different vegetables or fruits if there is space available. This is to ensure that they learn to grow fruits, vegetables, and cereals keeping in mind the nutritional value in them.

Divide students into groups and instruct them about different steps that are crucial before planting and to ensure the nutritional quality of the output. These steps may include checking the quality of seeds before planting, the quality of soil, the use of fertilizers, etc.

If your school campus does not have enough space, take the teams to a nearby farm or local market and ask them to explore around and gain insights about the process involved in order to ensure the nutritional value of the food grown. Ask students to actively participate, make notes, and then have a group discussion in the class where everyone can share their valuable insights. 

6. Culinary Science Experiment

Students are always curious about the scientific aspect of things and often undertake natural science experiments to satiate their curiosity. So, they are likely to enjoy a culinary science experiment. 

For this activity, divide the students into teams and allow each team to carry out proper research about how different cooking methods affect the nutritional value of food. Ask them to prepare a report, find scientific reasoning behind the difference in nutritional content, and present their conclusions to the class. This will have three benefits: it will help students learn the nutrition potential of different food items, teach them about proper presentation, and improve their research skills. 

7. Undertake a Grocery Store Budgeting Challenge

In this activity, divide the students into groups and ask them to discuss the challenges they face when trying to balance nutritional requirements with budget constraints. A common misconception when it comes to healthy eating is that food items that are nutritious are by default expensive.

The goal of this activity is to dispel this myth by allowing each team to compile a budget-friendly shopping list that has nutritious food items such as fruits, veggies, whole grains, tofu, avocado, lentils, meat, and so on.

Ask the student to make a list of food items they have included in their shopping cart, the nutritional value of each item, and the challenges they faced compiling them while adhering to the budget. Then, ask them to share these findings with the class, and discuss and encourage students to formulate a similar chart for themselves without burning a hole in their pocket. 

8. Organize Cooking Challenges

Divide the students into teams and assign a set of ingredients using which they have to prepare a healthy meal. This promotes creativity in crafting delicious yet nutritious meals. To make it more challenging, the teams can be given a time limit within which they have to create a balanced meal. 

In addition, give them additional time during which they will come up with an argument to justify why they have chosen to prepare a particular meal and what is the nutritional value of the dish. This motivates them to become more creative and conscious of what they are making. 

The purpose of any high school is to prepare students for life . These unique nutritional activities add a fresh and engaging twist to your initiatives and encourage students to explore healthy eating habits in creative and interactive ways. 

Besides, by fostering engagement, you allow students to become more mindful of what they eat. They will be encouraged to check labels, consume nutrient-dense food items, and prepare a meal chart for themselves, depending on their budget. It is an effective way to develop proper eating habits and ensure that students have a deep understanding of nutritional concepts as they move ahead in life.

• Jenkins, M., Jefferds, M. E. D., Aburto, N. J., Ramakrishnan, U., Martorell, R., & Addo, O. Y. (2023). What Do United States Adolescents Eat? Food Group Consumption Patterns and Dietary Diversity from a Decade of Nationally Representative Data. Current Developments in Nutrition , 7 (8), 101968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.101968

Sananda Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of TheHighSchooler, is dedicated to enhancing operations and growth. With degrees in Literature and Asian Studies from Presidency University, Kolkata, she leverages her educational and innovative background to shape TheHighSchooler into a pivotal resource hub. Providing valuable insights, practical activities, and guidance on school life, graduation, scholarships, and more, Sananda’s leadership enriches the journey of high school students.

Explore a plethora of invaluable resources and insights tailored for high schoolers at TheHighSchooler, under the guidance of Sananda Bhattacharya’s expertise. You can follow her on Linkedin

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• Nutrition by Life Stage

For Tweens and Teens

Find information and games that teach tweens and teens about the importance of nutrition and physical activity.

Build healthy eating habits in your teenage years using these tips.

Download the free Dining Decisions game to your iPad, iPhone, or Android device and see how healthy you can make your food plate!

These materials challenge kids (ages 9 to 13) to look for and use the Nutrition Facts label on food and beverage packages. Materials include fun, easy tips and targeted education to help make label reading a key component through which today’s young people are equipped to achieve a healthy diet. 

Learn about whole grains in this educational handout and quiz.

Learn about health and nutrition as you get older and start making your own decisions about food choices and physical activity.

Find links to resources, tools, and research on teen health. 

Learn about what nutrients are, healthy weight goals, what to do if you are a vegetarian, and more. 

Find nutrition tips to help teen athletes fuel before, during, and after workouts to optimize performance.

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Easy Nutrition Education Activities

Teaching our children about healthy eating and nutrition can help them make the connection between nutritious foods, feeling good and our overall health. These activities can tie in fun and educational lessons through hands on experience and digital learning. Use these activity ideas to help promote and model healthy behaviors and choosing foods at home.

Take Action

Nutrition education can be taught through hands on activities or digital learning platforms. Choose which fits your needs at home and will best inspire learning in your child.

At-Home Taste Test

Having kids taste healthy food items is at the heart of nutrition education, because if they have the opportunity to try healthier foods, they’ll be more likely to become healthier eaters. A series of taste tests at home paired with some fun food facts is a great way to reinforce the importance of nutrition and fueling our bodies. Click each for specific ideas for  whole grain taste tests ,  fruit and veggie taste tests , and  dairy taste tests . Here are a few tips to get you started on your taste test!

• Taste testing is more than tasting! Encourage your child to examine how a food looks, smells and feels. Use this opportunity to expand your child’s vocabulary by introducing new adjectives to describe food.
• Let your child be involved in preparing and serving samples if you have multiple children.
• Include the taste test food in a meal during the week!
• When tasting fruits and vegetables, show kids the fruit or vegetable in its whole and cut up forms. This can help them identify the fruit or vegetable at the grocery store.
• Use this taste testing ballot to officially let your child express their thoughts!

Food Label Lab

Your kitchen is a great learning lab for your children and the best resource to use as you are teaching your children about nutrition at home. It is important for kids to understand what is in their food and how to make healthy choices by reading food labels on their own. You can start the activity by simplifying the information on nutrition labels to teach children to identify key nutrients that are common in healthy foods. Use the foods you have in your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer to create a food label lab lesson at home. Here are some tips to get started:

• Feel free to use FDA’s resource on reading nutrition labels before teaching your child how to. It is okay to educate yourself to feel equipped to teach your children, this is a learning opportunity for all!
• Point out the vitamins and minerals content on the foods you and your child choose to look at. A food is considered a “good source” of that vitamin or mineral if it has 10% or more of it.
• In general, the shorter the ingredient list, the better. The first ingredient on the list has the largest amount. Pay attention to the kind of ingredients, too. Try to eat natural-sounding ingredients as opposed to chemical ones that are a hundred letters long.
• Pay attention to the serving size. Many times, the size of one serving is much less than we actually eat. Depending on how much you eat, you may have to double or triple the numbers on the label!
• Ask your child questions such as “How many calories are in a serving? “Does this food have fiber in it?” to familiarize them with the label and nutrition lingo.
• To incorporate a digital component into this lesson, use the FDA interactive label to as a tool to demonstrate the elements of a food label.
• Finish your lesson by letting your child pick a healthy snack based on their food label learnings in your own kitchen!

MyPlate Online Learning

If you have access to a computer, you can use the MyPlate digital tools to assist with nutrition education at home. Here some ways to use the MyPlate tools:

• You can use free eBooks to teach your children about the  MyPlate food groups. These digital books feature interactive tools and can test your child’s comprehension if you want to turn it into a reading activity as well.
• Use MyPlate games, activity sheets, videos, and songs to explore nutrition in an interactive way! Your child can choose from a variety of ways to engage in nutrition education through innovative methods of learning.
• If your child is older, they can use the MyPlate Plan for a personalized approach to learning about their nutrition needs.

Make sure what and how your teaching is age-appropriate for your child.

Use meal times and snacks to teach your children about nutrition and eating healthy.

Continually engage your children in nutrition education. The more often the learning and discussion, the more your child will grasp the importance.

Model healthy habits by making half your plate fruits and vegetables, choosing whole grains, offering non-fat and low-fat dairy, and limiting sweets and sugar sweetened beverages.

Don’t be afraid to try something new! Use these educational lessons as a time to learn as a family.

Use MyPlate tips sheets for quick facts about food to share with your children.

For more activities and ideas like this one, be sure to sign up for our news and updates . And if you like what you see, please donate to support our work creating more ways to help build a healthier future for kids.

How to Read Nutrition Facts Labels

Help kids make better choices by simplifying the information on nutrition labels to teach them to identify key nutrients that are common in healthy foods.

SMART Goals for Health and Wellness

Encourage children to set SMART goals around nutrition and wellness in order to become healthier and happier versions of themselves.

Mindful Eating

Encourage children to practice mindful eating strategies to slow down, enjoy their food and practice mindfulness throughout the day.

Host a Taste Test

Expose your students to a variety of healthy food items so they'll eat better!

Categories: Nutrition & Healthy Eating , At Home , At School , Digital Resource

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Tutor-Program Leader at ABC Unified School District

Application Deadline

8/27/2024 4:30 PM Pacific

Date Posted

Number of openings, length of work year, employment type, about the employer.

The ABC Unified School District is known throughout the State of California as a leader in educational planning and innovation. The District has received county, state, and national recognition for outstanding programs in counseling, alternative education, staff development, and labor relations. Staff members have been selected to participate on state and national educational committees and have been invited to make presentations at national, state, and local conferences. Students have been recognized as National Merit scholars, academic decathlon winners, and participants in the Model United Nations program. Approximately 85 percent of the graduating students go on to higher education. The ABC Unified School District includes nineteen elementary schools, five middle schools, three comprehensive high schools, a college prep 7-12 school, a continuation high school, infant/children centers, extended-day care, and adult school.

Job Summary

ESSENTIAL DUTIES: Under the direct supervision of the After School Site Coordinator, school’s principal, and the district’s Expanded Learning Programs Coordinator, the program provides activities aligned to the ABC EXCELS Program; actively supervises groups of at least 20 students in grades TK- 6; sets an example for students, parents, and colleagues by reflecting the vision of the ABC EXCELS Program; assists in the development and implementation of academic enrichment activities for ABC EXCELS students, including visual and performing arts, sports, recreation, health/nutrition, technology, environmental/outdoor education, etc.; provides positive behavior guidance that supports the developmental, social-emotional and physical needs of all students; may also assist in recruiting students, communicating with parents/guardians and volunteers, and perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned. QUALIFICATIONS: Education: Proof of High School diploma and Associate of Arts (AA) degrees from a college or university, 48 units of college credits, or pass the District proficiency exam; CPR/First Aid Certification. Must be available Monday - Friday from 1:15 P.M. - 6:15 P.M. Split shift is available with additional hours 7:00am-9:00am. Knowledge of: Techniques to motivate and encourage students to learn; basic English and mathematics; developmental stages of children; ways to embrace new approaches and ideas to create a positive Expanded Learning experience for ABC EXCELS students and families; methods to increase student responsibility and build self-esteem; ways to communicate effectively and professionally with adults and students; ways to work with diverse cultures and populations; appropriate student behavior management strategies and techniques; ways to make sound judgments, ways to follow oral and written directions; strong written and verbal communication skills; academic, recreational, and social activities appropriate for various grade levels. Experien

Requirements / Qualifications

Resume and 1 Letter of Recommendation

Comments and Other Information

Links related to this job.

• California Credentialing Information
• View Other Job Desc. / Ess. Elem.

CalPERS Links

• CalPERS Retirement Benefits

ABC Unified School District

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