 What do you think the word nutrition means?  And what does it mean to you?

 The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “nutrition” as:  1 : the act or process of nourishing or being nourished; specifically : the sum of the processes by which an animal or plant takes in and utilizes food substances  This basically means eating food, and the steps the body takes to use the food

 Whenever you eat food, your body breaks it down into glucose, also known as the simple carbohydrate the we commonly call SUGAR.  Sugar fuels your body but will make you “crash” later on in the day  Your body needs sugar to function and perform but too much of it is bad.

CALORIES?

 calories are a unit of energy, defined as the amount of energy it takes to increase 1 g of water by 1 °C  The Food Calorie or Large Calorie is 1000x greater than the calorie noted above, and it is written with a capital “C”

 Sugar increases cholesterol  Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein  Sugar causes food allergies  Sugar contributes to diabetes  Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children  Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases)

 If you were to drink a large 42oz Slurpee 5 days a week for one year, how much sugar do you think you would take in?

 If you consumed a large 42oz Slurpee 5 days a week for one year, you would have taken in grams of sugar.  grams? That 81 lbs of sugar!  Drinking that many Slurpees for a year would also cost you $520!

 How many calories do you think are in a McDonald’s Big Mac meal?  And how long do you think you would have to run to burn it all off?

 1 Big Mac Meal (Big Mac, large fries, large drink) contains 1310 calories, and not to mention the tremendous amount of fats. It would take you 3 hours of running at 5mph to burn all the calories off.  and for many of you, that’s 3 hours you wouldn’t want to spend running.

 The salads at McDonalds aren’t so great either as the dressing contains astonishing amounts of fat and calories  A “Mighty Caesar Entrée with Warm Crispy Chicken and Renee’s Mighty Caesar Dressing” contains: 700 Calories 54g Fat 1620mg sodium 2g sugar

 A common misconception about eating healthy is that it is expensive, when in fact  Processed foods costs more because the process itself and the packaging and the profit margin companies need to make  You also will lose out on many essential vitamins and mineral when eating processed foods

 At home  Bring lunch from home to school  Eat natural foods for snacks. For example, instead of a chocolate bar, have a banana. It’s sweet and the potassium will help you build strong healthy muscles.  Eat organic foods

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