Fast Food Nutrition: Should Fast Food Have Warning Labels?

Start by talking about the last junk food you ate. Differentiate junk food from fast food by talking about the last time you ate fast food, what you ate, where, and why. Ask students about the difference between junk food and fast food, showing online images.

Ask students if they like junk food. Tell them to name their guilty pleasures.

Ask students if they like fast food. Why do they eat food from fast food restaurants rather than cook at home? 

Put students in small groups or pairs for conversation:

 Conversation:

1. What is your favorite type of junk food?
2. Do you think fast food can be part of a healthy diet? Why or why not? How often do you eat at fast food restaurants per month? Where do you go most often and what do you order?
3. Is fast food popular in your country? If so, what kind of food is served?
4. Why has fast food become so popular even though it is not very nutritious?
5. What are some positives of fast food? What are some negatives?
6. How do you balance the temptation of junk food with your desire to eat healthy?
7. Do you think it is possible to indulge in junk food occasionally without negatively impacting your overall health?
8. What are some healthy alternatives to traditional fast food options?
9. Have you ever tried to give up junk food completely? How did that go?
10. Do you think it is easier or more difficult to eat healthy in today's society, with so many unhealthy options available
11. How do you think societal attitudes towards healthy eating have changed over time?

Tell students that they are going to learn more about fast food and its nutritional value.

Ask students to predict the answers to the following questions and record their answers. Alternatively, use a polling tool such as Poll Everywhere, Slido, Wooclap, Mentimeter, or other tools to poll students. Then share the correct answers.

Web Search or poll:

1. How “fast” is fast food?
2. Which is the most popular fast food in the USA? Hot dog, pizza, taco, hamburger, chicken
3. Who is more likely to eat fast food? Men or women?
4. Who is more likely to order a hamburger?  Men or women?
5. How much does the average person in the U.S.A. spend on buying fast food per month?
6. Which meal is the most popular for fast food? Breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
7. How often does the average adult in the U.S. visit a fast food restaurant per month? Once a month, 4 times a month, 6 times a month, 8 times a month.

Pair students and designate one person in each pair as A and B. Distribute the handout Infogap Reading - Fast Food Fasts. Demonstrate how student A will read begin reading, and then students A and B will alternate paragraphs, with the student listening filling in blanks, and asking clarification strategies and questions (please repeat that, did you say...?, etc). 

Students can practice choral reading. Provide feedback on pronunciation such as pausing, intonation, stress, and prosody.

Optionally follow up with this Web MD article - What’s Really in your Fast Food? 

To better understand food labels, assign individual students, pairs, or small groups to find answers to nutrition-related questions on the handout Internet Search - Food Ingredients and Nutritional Values. You may want to select fewer questions and copy the questions onto a shared Google Document where all students can record their findings to assigned questions in one place.

After students' work is complete, go over the answers, field questions, and ask students what new information they learned.

Tell students that they are going to use the information they learned to evaluate a menu item they often order at fast food restaurants.

Create a shared Google Slideshow (optionally) or have students use MS Word or Google Docs or PowerPoint to enter their information.

Go over the instructions and model:

1.    Use the site Fast Food Nutrition to search for the fast food snack or meal that you prefer from a fast food restaurant of your choice and enter information about it onto your slide.

2.    Select the restaurant and the items from the menu.

3.    Add images of the menu items and their names on your slide.

4.    Fill in other information on your slide: name of the restaurant and which meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack).

5.    Use the Calculator to see the nutrition facts. Take a snip/screenshot and include it on your slide.

6.    Use the Nutrition Label Information from USFDA and Fact Sheets as needed to point out one positive and one negative of the nutritional value of the meal or snack in the comments area of your slide.

7.    Give the meal an Overall Rating for nutrition: five stars - very healthy; four stars - somewhat healthy; 3 stars - not very healthy; 2 stars - not good for you; 1 star - very unhealthy snack or meal.

Sample

Have students share by presenting their information in class.

Review with students adverbs of frequency using the handout Adverbs of Frequency. Direct students to take notes as you elicit the adverb placement rules with them.

Answers:

Rule 1: to be verb + adverb of frequency

I am always very busy with work deadlines on Fridays, so that’s when I get fast food for dinner.

He is usually sleepy in the afternoons, so he stops by Starbucks for a coffee.

Rule 2: Adverb of frequency + other verbs

She never eats fast food because she is trying to be healthy.

He often visits the fast food restaurant down the street for lunch.

Rule 3: modal or linking verb + adverb of frequency + main verb / other verbs

He could often be found at the fast food restaurant down the street for lunch.

She must rarely eat fast food because she doesn't like the taste.

Have students practice using adverbs of agreement in answering questions in pairs or small groups about the topic of fast food using the conversation questions on the handout Adverbs of Frequency.

Provide feedback and finish by asking for volunteers to give their answers.

Ask students to name items that have warning labels (cleaning products, cigarettes, alcohol, medications, etc.). Show images of items with warning labels.

Tell students that they are going to think of reasons to say both "yes" and "no" to the following question, based on all that has been discussed and read about in class:

Should fast food have warning labels?

Give students a few minutes to think on their own. Then pair or group students and tell them that as a team, they need to think of at least three reasons why someone would say yes and at least three reasons why someone who say no.

Have students record their groups' lists on a shared Google Document, Jamboard, Padlet (shelf), or other digital tool that you have prepared ahead of time. 

Go over the lists and ask groups to explain their reasoning for unclear contributions.

Tell students that they now should form their opinions on the question.

Distribute the writing assignment prompt handout Fast Food Label Opinion Paragraph. Go over the expectations for the assignment. Provide a model, as needed. Point out to students that their group brainstorming is the basis for their opinions, so they need to just formulate the brainstormed ideas into supporting sentences.

Have students compose their paragraphs on MS Word, Google Docs, or other word-processing program. Provide feedback on the first draft on content. Then have students revise and provide feedback on mechanics (grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.) before having students edit and submit their final drafts.

Create a rubric or checklist and/or have students conduct peer review or self-evaluate.

Students will be able to carry out both short research projects to answer a question or solve a problem, analyze and integrate information into clearly organized spoken and written texts by delivering oral presentations about their findings integrating graphics or multimedia and express an opinion and give reasons for the opinion.