This lesson plan from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center teaches teens about making healthy choices when eating fast food. It discusses how fast food can be unhealthy due to high fat, calories, and sodium. However, fast food restaurants offer healthier options like smaller portions, fruits and vegetables, and avoiding fried foods. The lesson divides students into groups based on favorite fast food to learn about nutrition facts and healthier alternatives. It aims to educate youth on reading nutrition labels and serving sizes to make informed choices for a balanced diet.

1. Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Awesome.2Cents! A Healthy Lifestyle Curriculum for Teens…
Lesson # 7 Fast Food
Content outline
1. Fast food is extremely popular with the youth, but can be unhealthy if choices are
limited to few foods. A diet high in fast food can be high in fat, calories, sodium and low
in vitamins, minerals and fiber. This can contribute to increased chronic disease risk.
2. Fast food restaurants offer healthier selections that can make a healthy meal. Choose
smaller sized portions, choose fruits and vegetables when possible, avoid fried foods,
and avoid high fat condiments.
Louisiana content standards:
1-H-1, 1-H-5, 1-H-6, 2-H-1, 2-H-2, 3-H-1, 3-H-2, 3-H-4, 6-H-1, 6-H-4
1-M-2, 1-M-3, 2-M-1, 2-M-2, 4-M-3, 4-M-5, 5-M-4, 6-M-1, 6-M-2
Objectives/Expected Learner Outcomes
The students learn about the nutritional content of variety of fast foods.
Students learn to make healthy choices in fast food restaurants based on nutrition.
Lesson and Strategies
Student group targeted
7-12th grade
Time required
Teacher Preparation: 15-20 minutes
Assessment: 10 minutes
Materials and Resources
Printed copies of Nutrition Information from Fast Food Restaurants: McDonald’s,
Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Subway, Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza
Power point presentation
Projector
Screen
Laptop/Computer
Motivation and Explanations
In this lesson, students are divided based on their usual consumption of a type of fast
food in order to learn to make healthier choices.
Teacher Preparation
Before class, make copies of the nutrition information from different fast food restaurants.

2. Slide Lesson Plan
1 The Fast Food Challenge
Making Good Food Choices in a Fast-Paced World
2 Say: This lesson will cover:
 Overweight trends
 Causes of overweight
 Fast food information/statistics
 Nutrition Facts Panel
 Portion sizes
 Making healthier choices at each meal
 What is a healthy diet like
3 Say: Which of these choices has the highest calorie count?
Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips (10) (McDonald’s)
Meat Lovers Pizza - 2 slices (Pizza Hut)
Sausage Gravy Biscuit (Arby’s)
Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese (McDonald’s)
Double Whopper Sandwich with Cheese (Burger King)
Do: Ask for a show of hands and record responses.
Record the number of hands for each choice on the pre assessment.
4 Say: Which of these choices has the highest fat content?
Deluxe Breakfast (McDonald’s)
Sausage Lover’s Pizza - 2 slices (Pizza Hut)
Fiesta Taco Salad (Taco Bell)
Big N’ Tasty (McDonald’s)
Triple Whopper sandwich with cheese (Burger King)
Do: Ask for a show of hands and record responses.
Record the number of hands for each choice on the pre assessment.
5-13 Say: Ask the students: Have you eaten some of these?
Are these some of your favorite foods?
Burger King Whopper, McDonald’s Big and Tasty, Pizza Hut, sausage pizza, Taco
Bell taco salad, Wendy’s Chili, Burger King breakfast.
Show slides 4-12.
14 Say: Who likes pizza’s hamburgers, taco’s and sandwiches? Let’s break into groups.
1. pizza (Pizza Hut, Little Caesar’s, Domino’s). Those of you who like pizza can
join this group.
2. hamburgers (Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s). If you like hamburgers,

3. please join this group.
3. tacos (Taco Bell). If you prefer tacos and Mexican fair, please join this group.
4. sandwiches and subs (Arby’s, Subway). If you frequent sandwich shops, please
join this group.
I will give you nutrition information for your specific group.
Do: Move the students around to form four groups and then distribute fast food
information based on groups.
Say: Let’s look up nutrition information for your favorite meal
Calories
Calories from fat
Total fat
Saturated fat
Sodium
Do: Give the students about 7-10 minutes to look up their meal and the nutrient
content.
Say: Let’s look for a healthier alternative, and then compare the same information
Calories
Calories from fat
Total fat
Saturated fat
Sodium
Do: Once the teams have made their selections and calculated the nutrient content of
the meals, then explain more about Dietary Guidelines recommendations.
Say: Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends no more than 20 g of saturated
fat, about 300 g of carbohydrate, and less than 2,300 g of sodium (based on an average
daily diet of 2,000 calories) daily. This amounts to an average of 667 calories, 6 g
saturated fat, 100g of carbohydrates, and 766 mg of sodium per meal.
Do: Get back into large group and have each group report on their findings.
15 Say: Today we are going to talk about healthy fast food choices, but lets first look and
see where we are today. The youth today, as well as the adults, have higher and higher
incidence of obesity and diabetes. Obesity has increased four fold since the 60’s and
70’s in all age groups. Overweight and obesity is particularly alarming in some such as
African American and Hispanic women, and younger children are more overweight
than older children.
16 Say: Why are we so unhealthy?
1.) We have had changes in daily food pattern.
a. We spend less time eating together as a family. About 20 years ago,
people use to sit down and eat together as a family more often than not.
Today, our busy lives and varied schedules prevent the family from
eating together in the evening.

4. b. We consume much too many soft drinks and sports drinks that are high
in calories. Milk consumption has decreased over time while soft drink
consumption has gone up. Latest research tends to indicate that dairy
products help with weight control, while high fructose corn syrup, main
sweetener in soft drinks, tends to promote weight gain.
c. Fast food and eating at quick service restaurants have become a norm
rather than an exception. As more mothers have gone to work, families
are relying more and more on pre-prepared foods. Meals at these
establishments tend to be too high in calories for most people and
individuals will have a positive calorie balance at the end of the day
which will result in weight gain over time.
2.) We have also had changes in how active we are.
a. Many of us are so busy with school or our jobs that we have no free
time for recreational activity. Many people work for long hours, or
commute many hours to and from work and have very little leisure time.
b. Many do not have access to safe places for recreational activity. Some
neighborhoods do not have safe sidewalk, or parks for recreational
activity.
c. Playing video games/surfing the net has become very popular compared
to playing basketball, soccer, swimming or doing other active things.
We have exchanged more active lifestyle to a less active lifestyle by
what we choose to do during our free time.
17 Say: There are many factors which play a role in becoming overweight. Some of these
are: eating too many Calories, consuming a diet too high in fat, not being active
enough, consuming foods that promote overweight, not consuming enough fiber, not
consuming enough fruits and vegetables.
But, generally speaking, overweight and obesity are the result of an energy imbalance
over a period of time.
An energy imbalance arises when the number of calories consumed (eaten) is not equal
to the number of calories used (burned) by the body. This is fueled by the large portion
sizes we see today. Many foods are served in portions that are twice as large or more
than they were in the 70’s.
18 Say: A plate of pasta use to have about 500 Calories but today can have more than
1000!
The total Calories in pizza slices have increased from 500 to about 850 and more
because of increased size.
Coffee used to be a low Calorie drink but today it can have 350 Calories and more by
the time it has whole milk, whipped cream, sugar and caramel added!
19 Say: You can think of energy balance as a scale.
When you are consuming less than expending, you are losing weight.
When energy intake is balanced with expenditure, you are neither gaining nor losing
weight.

5. When you are consuming more than expending, you are gaining weight.
If you are within normal weight, as determined by body mass index, weight
maintenance is very important.
Exercise is very important for weight maintenance. It helps your body to “use” more
calories in case you occasionally overeat.
When calories consumed are greater than calories used by the body, weight gain
is the result
Basically weight gain is controlled by two things: food and exercise.
20 What contributes to an unhealthy diet?
Say: Many studies show that there certain types of foods that contribute to an
unhealthy diet. These foods are:
High in calories, high in total fat & saturated fat, high in trans fat, high in cholesterol,
high in sodium (salt), and low in fiber. They are also low in fresh fruits and vegetables,
dairy and whole grain.
Largely these are foods that are highly processed.
21 Information on fast food.
Say: Let’s get some information about fast foods.
22 Fast food statistics.
Say: America has been called a “fast food nation” and for good reason.
The number of fast food restaurants has increased 200% over the past 33 years.
About 25% of adults and 30% of children eat fast foods on a typical day.
That’s 1 out of every 4 adults and nearly 1 out of every 3 children!
23 Fast foods.
Say: Fast food items are generally thought of as being high in calories, fat and sodium
and lower in important vitamins and minerals.
They are also low in fruits and vegetables and low in whole grain offerings.
The good news is that more and more, both fast food and sit-down restaurants are
adding healthier items to their menus!
Today, it is possible to eat a reasonably nutritious meal on the go but you need to know
the approximate calorie and fat content of the offerings! Restaurants that have more
than 20 locations will have to post calorie counts on their menu. Many fast food
restaurants now offer salads and healthful side items as well as a variety of beverages.
24 Fast foods. Know what you are eating.
Say: To get to know what you are eating at fast food restaurants, there are several
things you need to do:
Look at the nutrition guide of the fast food restaurant. Each restaurant has a list of their
foods with the nutrition information. The nutrition guide will tell you the nutrition
content of each menu item. You can estimate how much fat and calories is in each food
and a meal.
Know your portion sizes. How much food you need to eat depends on your body size.
Smaller person has lower calorie needs than a larger person. Females need fewer
calories than males.

6. Learn the various ways that foods are cooked. For example, choosing foods that are
grilled, roasted, baked or steamed over foods that are fried means fewer calories and
lower fat intake.
25 Nutrition facts label.
Do: Distribute the food label to the students.
Say: The information in the main or top section of the label, can vary with each food
product; it contains product-specific information (serving size, calories, and nutrient
information).
Serving Size: Tells you how big one serving is. The size of the serving on the food
package influences the number of calories and all the nutrient amounts listed on the top
part of the label.
Number of servings: Tells how many servings are in the entire food. Calories provide
a measure of how much energy you get from a serving of this food. How many calories
from fat are there in ONE serving? Calories per serving: Number of calories per one
serving of food
Total Fat: Total amount of fat (in grams) found in one serving.
Saturated Fat: The amount of saturated fat (in grams) in one serving
Trans Fat: The amount of trans fat (in grams) in one serving. Fats: Important: Health
experts recommend that you keep your intake of saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol
as low as possible as part of a nutritionally balanced diet.
Cholesterol: The amount of cholesterol (in milligrams) in one serving
Sodium: The amount of sodium (in milligrams) in one serving
Most Americans don't get enough dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and
iron in their diets. They are identified in blue as Get Enough of these Nutrients.
Fiber: For example fiber: The amount of fiber (in grams) found in one serving of that
food. The same is true for vitamins A, C, calcium and iron.
Eating enough of these nutrients can improve your health and help reduce the risk of
some diseases and conditions.
The bottom part contains a footnote with Daily Values (DVs) for 2,000 and 2,500
calorie diets. This footnote provides recommended dietary information for important
nutrients, including fats, sodium and fiber. The footnote is found only on larger
packages and does not change from product to product.

7. 26 Say: Let’s take a closer look at serving sizes.
27 Soft drinks.
Say: As you can see, calories in the drink increase with increasing serving size. A
serving size used in MyPyramid is 8 fl oz. It is recommended that we get 8 servings of
fluids a day (8 fl oz/each each day or 64 oz). Eight servings of fluids should include all
the fluids you are having in a day, such as water, juice, soft drinks, coffee etc. All of
these servings pictured are larger than the recommended 8 fl oz. The normal sizes in
fast food restaurants are:
 Large (32 fl oz) 310 kcal
 Medium (21 fl oz) 210 kcal
 Small (16 fl oz) 150 kcal
 Junior/Child (12 fl oz) 110 kcal
28 Soft drinks.
Say: If you order 1% milk instead of regular soda with a meal you get much healthier
alternative. Although the milk does contain calories, low-fat milk (unlike soda) is
nutrient dense and contains the nutrients calcium and protein which are important for
healthy bones and teeth.
You can also order diet soda instead of regular soda to cut down on calories.
This saves you from consuming a lot of “empty” calories, meaning that the calories
from soda come mainly from sugar and provide no vitamins and minerals.

8. 29 French fries.
Say: Again the serving size of fries makes a difference in the number of calories
consumed. A large serving has more than twice the calories of the small serving and
has almost 3 times as much fat.
 Large 570 kcal, 30 g fat, 6 g saturated fat
 Medium 380 kcal, 20 g fat, 4 g saturated fat
 Small 250 kcal, 13 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat
Large fries have more than twice the amount of fat grams and total calories than
the small fries
30 French fries.
Say: What can you do? Order the smallest serving or order something else in place of
the fries? Many fast food restaurants have baked potatoes. Those are a much healthier
choice.
True, it may have more calories than the small order of fries, but it is a much healthier
choice. The plain baked potato has no fat, whereas the small fries had 13 g total fat and
2.5 g saturated fat.
31 Making healthier choices.
Say: Let’s learn to Make Healthier Choices. We will do A Comparison of Different
Foods.
32 Making healthier choices.

9. Say: Let’s learn to make Healthier Choices at Breakfast
The plain biscuit is lowest in calories, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium
when compared to the other two choices. It is the best choice of the three. The Egg
McMuffin, which contains the most fiber and zero grams of trans fat is the next best
choice.
Calories Total Saturated Trans Cholesterol Sodium Fiber
Fat Fat Fat
Biscuit 240 11 2.5 5 0 680 1
Muffin with 300 12 4.5 0 230 860 2
egg
Sausage 500 31 10 5 250 1,080 1
Biscuit with
Egg
33 Making healthier choices.
Say: The McGriddles are lower in calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol
and sodium than are the big breakfast and deluxe breakfast. The sausage McGriddle
has fewer calories, less cholesterol and less sodium than the bacon, egg and cheese
version. Of the four breakfasts listed, the sausage McGriddle is the better choice,
followed by the bacon egg and cheese McGriddle.
Calories Total Saturated Trans Cholesterol Sodium Fiber
Fat Fat Fat
Sausage and 420 22 7 1.5 30 990 1
Pancakes
Bacon, Egg, 450 21 7 1.5 245 1,260 1
and Cheese
Pancakes
Large 730 46 14 7 465 1,470 3
Breakfast
with sausage
and
pancakes
Brfst with 1,220 61 17 11 480 1,920 4
hashbrowns,
sausage,
eggs, and
bicuit

10. 34 Making healthier choices.
Say: Let’s learn to make healthier choices for fish and chicken. As you can see
Premium Grilled chicken classic has the fewest grams of total fat, saturated fat and no
trans fat and makes the best choices.
Calories Total Saturated Trans Cholesterol Sodium Fiber
Fat Fat Fat
Fish 400 18 4 1 40 640 1
sandwich
Grilled 420 9 2 0 80 1240 3
chicken
sandwich
Fried 500 16 3 1.5 60 1380 3
chicken
sandwich
35 Making healthier choices.
Say: Let’s make healthier choices for burgers with cheese. All three burgers are with
cheese. Although the quarter pounder has less calories and grams of saturated fat than
the Big N Tasty, it is not greatly different. Healthier choices would be the burger
versions that are available without cheese.
Calories Total Saturated Trans Cholesterol Sodium Fiber
Fat Fat Fat
Large 510 25 12 1.5 95 1150 3
hamburger
with cheese
1
Large 520 26 10 1.5 95 1010 3
hamburger
with cheese
2
Laarge 560 30 10 1.5 80 1010 3
hamburger
with cheese
3
Triple meat 1230 82 32 3.5 275 1590 3
Sandwich
with cheese
36 Making healthier choices.

11. Say: Let’s learn to make Healthier Choices and Look at Burgers without Cheese.
The Quarter pounder without cheese has less calories, along with less total, saturated,
and trans fat, and less cholesterol and sodium than the Big N’ Tasty without cheese. It
is the better choice of the two. And is a better choice than the 3 burgers listed on the
previous slide
Calories Total Saturated Trans Cholesterol Sodium Fiber
Fat Fat Fat
Hamburger 210 9 3.5 0.5 30 530 1
Large 420 18 7 1 70 730 3
hamburger
without
cheese 1
Large 470 23 8 1.5 80 790 3
hamburger
without
cheese 2
Double meat 900 57 19 2 175 1040 3
37 Making healthier choices.
Say: Let’s learn to make healthier choices with Crispy Chicken Salads. The Asian
Salad is the best choice of the three salad options. It is the lowest in calories, total fat,
saturated fat, and cholesterol and the highest in fiber. The Caesar salad and bacon ranch
are both similar in calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium. Although the Asian salad is the
best choice, an even better choice would be the grilled Asian salad.
Calories Total Saturated Trans Cholesterol Sodium Fiber
Fat Fat Fat
Salad with fried
chicken & 460 19.5 2 1.5 45 1710 6
dressing
Caesar salad
with fried 490 31 7.5 1.5 75 1520 3
chicken &
Caesar dressing
Salad with fried
chicken, bacon 510 31 7.5 1.5 90 1670 3
& ranch
dressing

12. Dressing
38 Making healthier choices.
Say: Let’s learn to make healthier choices with Grilled Chicken Salads.
Compared with the crispy chicken versions, these salads are lower in calories, fat,
saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium. In fact, none of these salads have any
trans fat at all. The salads are all similar in nutrient content before the dressing is
added. The dressings add more fat and calories to the salads.
Calories Total Saturated Trans Cholesterol Sodium Fiber
Fat Fat Fat
Salad with 380 12.5 1 0 65 1570 6
Grilled
Chicken &
Sesame
Ginger
Dressing
Salad with 410 24 6.5 0 95 1390 3
Grilled
Chicken &
Caesar
Dressing
Salad with 430 24 6.5 0 110 1530 3
Grilled
chicken,
bacon &
Ranch
Dressing
39 Making healthier choices.
Say: Let’s learn to make healthier choices with ice cream
The better choice of the four shown here would be the reduced fat ice cream cone. It is
the lowest in calories, total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat, as well as the lowest in
cholesterol and sodium. The next best choice would be the caramel sundae followed by
the 12 oz vanilla shake. The least healthy choice of the 4 would be the McFlurry. It is
the highest in calories, fat, cholesterol, and sodium.
Calories Total Saturated Trans Cholesterol Sodium Fiber
Fat Fat Fat

13. Vanilla 150 3.5 2 0 15 60 0
Reduced Fat
Ice Cream
Cone
Hot Caramel 340 7 4.5 0 30 140 0
Sundae
Vanilla 420 10 6 0.5 40 140 0
Triple Thick
Shake
(12 oz)
Ice cream 620 20 12 1 55 190 1
flurry with
M & M’s
(12 oz)
40 Making healthier choices.
Say: Let’s learn to choose healthy choices for snacks.
The apple dippers and fruit ‘n yogurt parfait are the best choices of the five. They are
the lowest in calories and in fat and are also very low in sodium and cholesterol. The
next best choice is the fruit and walnut salad. Although it does have more calories than
the apple pie and the cookies, it is a better choice because it is lower in saturated fat
and contains zero trans fat. It is also lower in sodium than the cookies and pie, and has
the highest fiber content of all the snacks.
Calories Total Saturated Trans Cholesterol Sodium Fiber
Fat Fat Fat
Apple slices 100 0.5 0 0 5 40 0
with Low Fat
Caramel Dip
Fruit ‘n 160 2 1 0 5 85 1
Yogurt Parfait
with granola
Fruit salad 310 13 2 0 5 85 6
with nuts
Baked Apple 250 11 3 4.5 0 150 2
Pie
Chocolate 270 11 6 0 35 170 1
Chip Cookies
41 Making healthier choices.

14. Say: Let’s look at some tips for choosing wisely in quick service restaurants.
 Choose grilled meats over fried when possible.
 Grilled meats are lower in calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium. Overall,
they will have fewer calories and grams of fat!
 Watch foods like cheese, bacon and sausage.
 These foods are high in calories, fat, and sodium (salt). Try to limit
these foods!
 Be careful with salad dressings!
 They are well-known sources of hidden fats and calories. One
tablespoon can be 100 calories. Try to use the lower fat, or non-fat
versions!
42 Making healthier choices.
Say:
 Watch serving sizes on beverages and snacks.
 Whereas a 12 oz vanilla shake may only have 420 calories,
a 21 oz shake has 740 calories.
 Don’t choose foods based on calories alone. It can be deceiving!
 The fruit and walnut salad has more calories than the baked apple pie
and the chocolate chip cookies. However, this does not mean that it is a
poorer choice. When looking at the saturated fat and trans fat levels (bad
fats) in the foods, the walnut salad has less. It also contains less
cholesterol than the cookies and less sodium than both the cookies and
the pie.
43 Choosing Healthier Options for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.
Say: Let’s learn to choose healthier options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
44 Healthy Choices/Balance
Say: Let’s look at a typical breakfast one may have at a fast food restaurant.
Breakfast (Typical)
Big Breakfast
(scrambled eggs, sausage patty,
hash browns, and biscuit)
Medium Orange Juice (16 oz)
The nutrition breakdown is as follows:
Kcal: 910 Cholesterol: 465 mg
Total Fat: 46 g Sodium: 1,475 mg

15. Saturated Fat: 14 g Fiber: 3 g
Trans Fat: 7 g
45 Healthy Choices/Balance. Breakfast (Better Choice)
Say: Let’s look at a healthier option for breakfast.
This meal would have
1 Biscuit, Plain
Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait (small)
Strawberry Preserves
Small Orange Juice (12 oz)
Kcal: 575 Cholesterol: 5 mg
Total Fat: 13 g Sodium: 770 mg
Saturated Fat: 3.5 g Fiber: 2 g
Trans Fat: 5 g
46 Making healthier choices.
Say: By Choosing the Better Breakfast
You saved:
335 Kcal
33 g Total Fat
10.5 g Saturated Fat
2 g Trans Fat
460 mg Cholesterol
705 mg Sodium
At this meal
47 Healthy Choices/Balance. Breakfast (Better Choice)
Say: Let’s look at another healthier option for breakfast.
This meal would have
English Muffin, Plain
Scrambled Eggs
Strawberry Preserves
Small Orange Juice (12 oz)
Kcal: 535 Cholesterol: 435 mg
Total Fat: 16.5 g Sodium: 490 mg
Saturated Fat: 5 g Fiber: 2 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
48 Making healthier choices.
Say: By Choosing the other breakfast option you saved:
375 Kcal
29.5 g Total Fat
9 g Saturated Fat

16. 7 g Trans Fat
30 mg Cholesterol
985 mg Sodium
At this meal
49 Healthy Choices/Balance
Say: Lets look at a typical lunch you may be choosing at a fast food restaurant.
You may choose a large hamburger with Cheese,
Medium French fries, and a
Medium Soft Drink
That amounts to
Kcal: 1,100 Cholesterol: 95 mg
Total Fat: 45 g Sodium: 1,385 mg
Saturated Fat: 16 g Fiber: 8 g
Trans Fat: 6.5 g
As you notice, it has a lot of calories.
50 Healthy Choices/Balance
Say: Let’s look at a lunch that is a better choice in terms of calories and fat.
You can have a large hamburger without cheese, a
Side Salad, with Low Fat Family Recipe Italian Dressing,
Medium Iced Tea, Unsweetened, and
Fruit & nut salad
Kcal: 810 Cholesterol: 75 mg
Total Fat: 33.5 g Sodium: 1,570 mg
Saturated Fat: 9 g Fiber: 10 g
Trans Fat: 1 g
This meal has less calories and fat just by making a few different choices.
51 Choosing the Better Lunch
Say: By Choosing the Better Lunch You saved:
290 Kcal
11.5 g Total Fat
7 g Saturated Fat
5.5 g Trans Fat
20 mg Cholesterol
At this meal and you gained 2 g of fiber!
52 Healthy Choices/Balance
Say: Now, let’s move on to the evening meal. This may be a typical meal you may
choose:

17. Fried Chicken pieces (5 piece)
Medium Soda
Baked Apple Pie
This has:
Kcal: 1,090 Cholesterol: 90 mg
Total Fat: 44 g Sodium: 1,715 mg
Saturated Fat: 9 g Fiber: 2 g
Trans Fat: 9 g
As you can tell, the meal is loaded with calories and fat.
53 Healthy Choices/Balance, Dinner (Better Choice)
Say: Now, if you made some other choices such as:
Asian Salad with Grilled Chicken, with
Low Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing,
Medium Diet Soda, and
Vanilla Reduced Fat Ice Cream Cone for dessert, your nutrient intake would be as
follows:
Kcal: 530 Cholesterol: 80 mg
Total Fat: 16 g Sodium: 1,660 mg
Saturated Fat: 3 g Fiber: 6 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
54 By Choosing the Better Dinner
Say: Since you made healthier choices, you saved:
560 Kcal
28 g Total Fat
6 g Saturated Fat
9 g Trans Fat
10 mg Cholesterol
55 mg Sodium
As you can see you have almost halved the calories, reduced fat by two thirds and
eliminated all trans fats. You also increased fiber by 4 grams.
55 Say: A Look at the Two Diets
This gives you the running total for the two sets of meals we just went over.
The nutrition facts for the typical meal are:
Calories 3,100

18. Total Fat 135 g
Saturated Fat 39 g
Trans Fat 22.5 g
Cholesterol 650 mg
Sodium 4,575 mg
Fiber 13 g
While the totals for the better meals are:
Calories 1,915
Total Fat 62.5 g
Saturated Fat 15.5 g
Trans Fat 6g
Cholesterol 160 mg
Sodium 4,000
Fiber 18 g
As you can see there is a big difference in the total values.
56 Say: Your Total Daily Savings because you chose the Better Choice at Each Meal you
saved:
1,185 Kcal
72.5 g Total Fat
23.5 g Saturated Fat
16.5 g Trans Fat
490 mg Cholesterol
575 mg Sodium
If you made these kinds of choices on a weekly basis, not even every time you ate, you
would save more than Calories a year. This would amount to about 17 pounds.
57 What is Healthy Diet like?

19. Say: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans state that a healthy diet is one that:
 Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and
milk products;
 Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, nuts; and
 Is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, sodium (salt), and added sugars
58 Do: a post test. Make sure you have a copy of post assessment.
Say: Which of these choices has the highest calorie content?
 Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips (10) (McDonald’s)
 Meat Lovers Pizza - 2 slices (Pizza Hut)
 Sausage Gravy Biscuit (Arby’s)
 Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese (McDonald’s)
 Triple Whopper (Burger King)
Ask for a show of hands and record responses.
Do: Record the number of hands for each choice on the post assessment.
59 Say: The highest calorie content was in the
Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips (10) (McDonald’s), 1, 270 Calories.
Meat Lovers Pizza - 2 slices (Pizza Hut) has 740 Calories,
Sausage Gravy Biscuit (Arby’s) has 961 Calories,
Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese (McDonald’s) has 730 Calories, and
Double Whopper Sandwich with Cheese (Burger King) has 1,070 Calories. A close
second.
60 Do: a post test. Make sure you have a copy of post assessment.
Say: Which of these choices has the highest fat content?
Deluxe Breakfast (McDonald’s)
Sausage Lover’s Pizza - 2 slices (Pizza Hut)
Fiesta Taco Salad (Taco Bell)
Big N’ Tasty (McDonald’s)
Triple Whopper sandwich with cheese (Burger King)
Ask for a show of hands and record responses.
Do: Record the number of hands for each choice on the post assessment.
61 Say: The highest fat content was in
Triple Whopper sandwich with cheese (Burger King) 82 grams, the highest fat content.
Deluxe Breakfast (McDonald’s) has 61 grams of fat,
Sausage Lover’s Pizza - 2 slices (Pizza Hut) has 40 grams,
Fiesta Taco Salad (Taco Bell) has 46 grams, and
Big N’ Tasty (McDonald’s) has 26 grams of fat.

20. 62 Authors:
Heli Roy, PhD, RD
Shanna Lundy, BS
Division of Education
Phillip Brantley, PhD, Director
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Steven Heymsfield, MD, Executive Director
he Pennington Biomedical Research Center is a world-renowned nutrition research center.
Mission:
To promote healthier lives through research and education in nutrition and preventive medicine.
The Pennington Center has several research areas, including:
Clinical Obesity Research
Experimental Obesity
Functional Foods
Health and Performance Enhancement
Nutrition and Chronic Diseases
Nutrition and the Brain
Dementia, Alzheimer’s and healthy aging
Diet, exercise, weight loss and weight loss maintenance
The research fostered in these areas can have a profound impact on healthy living and on the prevention
of common chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and osteoporosis.
The Division of Education provides education and information to the scientific community and the
public about research findings, training programs and research areas, and coordinates educational events
for the public on various health issues.
We invite people of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the exciting research studies being
conducted at the Pennington Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. If you would like to take part, visit the
clinical trials web page at www.pbrc.edu or call (225) 763-3000.
Edited : October 2012