Choose My Plate Research Presentation

Project Goals
- Analyze amounts of saturated/unsaturated fats, sugar and calories in everyday foods
- Compare how balanced current diet is with food pyramid
- Revise and develop a healthy and balanced meal
Part 1. Brainstorming Foods
You will analyze how balanced the foods you eat on a daily basis. Choose at least one main meal item, one
side, one drink, and one snack/dessert that you normally eat. Or if not, design a meal that you would
normally like to eat every day. Make sure you list a minimum of 4 food items in the chart below.
NOTE: It is acceptable to select candies, junk food, chips, etc., for your side or snack/dessert.
Food Name
Additional Food Name

Main Meal
Drink
Sides
Snacks/Desserts
Part 2. Research: Nutrition Facts
Afterwards, you will look up the nutrition facts for the items that you chose.
Websites to look up nutritional data include:
- http://www.calorieking.com/
- http://nutritiondata.self.com/
At these websites, make sure you record the following data for your food items
- Total Calories
- Total Fat and Saturated Fat (write down the percentage % values)
- Total Sugar (write the number in grams g)
NOTE: Make sure you correctly record data for the number of servings that *you* eat!!!
Food Name
Calories
Total Fat
Saturated Fat
Total Sugar
(%)
(%)
(g)

1.
2.
3.
4.
Total

1. Compare the amount of calories your meal contains with how many calories you should consume
in one day.
a. Use the Estimated Calories Chart to find your daily intake suggestions.
b. To view online: type cnpp usda estimated calories in google search. Click on first link (pdf)
2. Compare the amount of sugar to how much you should consume in one day
a. For males, ~37.5 grams of sugar per day
b. For females, ~25 grams of sugar per day
c. To view online, type added sugars heart.org in google search. Click on first link
3. Analyze the total amount of fats your meal contains. Is it close to 100%?

Part 3. Food Pyramid Comparison

Go to the website choosemyplate.gov. Read how much fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy
products a healthy individual needs on a daily basis.
Using this information, compare the amount of fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins and dairy you need
with the amount your meal gives you. What are you lacking? Which items do you have too much of? How
does your meal affect your diet, and overall health?
Directions: Fill in the blank food pyramid on the right with estimates of how much proteins, vegetables,
grains and fruits your meal provides.
NOTE: Percentage values show how much of your plate should contain the food item
- ~20% of your plate should be covered in protein/fruits
- ~30% of your plate covered in veggies/grains)

Food Pyramid

Food Pyramid

Proteins Vegetables
22%
28%
Grains
28%

Fruits
22%

Part 4. Building a Balanced Diet

With the food pyramid in mind, construct a new meal that incorporates all parts of the pyramid.
Then, calculate the same items done in Part 2. Record your data in the chart below.
NOTE: Make sure you correctly record data for the number of servings that *you* eat!!!
Food Name
Calories
Total Fat
Saturated Fat
Total Sugar
(%)
(%)
(g)

1.
2.
3.
4.
Total

Compare your meal with the one you designed in Part 2. Are the percentage values and calorie intake the
same or different? How so? What are some similarities / differences you noticed between the two meals?
Once done, go to Google Classroom, then fill out your information into the power point provided.

Choose My Plate Research Presentation Grading Rubric

This presentation will be graded on two categories: power point (50 points) and presentation (20 points)

Power Point
Title and Intro (5 points)
- Name, Date and Period shown on first slide
- Catchy Title used on first slide
Part 1: Brainstorming Foods (5 points)
- At least four food items were shown
- Food items were appropriately selected
Part 2: Research: Nutrition Facts (10 points)
- All food items properly recorded
- Calories, total fats, saturated fats, and sugar
percentages correctly recorded
- Totals properly added together
- Discussion questions appropriately addressed
Part 3: Food Pyramid Comparison (10 points)
- Food pyramid appropriately compares meal
from part 2 to the food pyramid
- Discussion questions appropriately addressed
Part 4: Building a Balanced Diet (10 points)
- Balanced meal contains a minimum of four
food items
- All parts of the food pyramid are shown in
balanced meal
- Discussion questions appropriately addressed
Organization and Clarity (10 points)
- Information is clearly organized
- All slides are properly labeled
- Effective use of bullet points, fonts, charts,
graphs to separate data

Presentation
0-1 No coherent organization
of information exists
1-2 Had several sections out
of order
Organization
2-3 Mostly followed the order
as described
4-5 Followed the order
exactly as described
0-1 Presentation was too
brief, not enough
information provided
1-2 Presentation finished a
little early, only some
information was provided
Presentation
2-3 Presentation finished on
time, created with most
information requested
4-5 Presentation finished on
time, created with all
information requested
0-1 Student was not clear in
speech, did not face
audience, made no eye
contact
1-2 Students was a little hard
to hear, sort of faced
audience, made some eye
Clarity and
contact
Poise
2-3 Students talked clearly,
sort of faced audience,
made eye contact
4-5 Students talked clearly,
faced audience several
times, made eye contact
0-1 Information had many
flaws with it
1-2 Information had several
errors in presentation
Accuracy
2-3 Information was mostly
accurate, few errors
4-5 All information provided
was accurate