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Protein Lesson 4th and 5th Grade Lesson

Goal: Introduce proteins, identify their sources, and recognize what they do in our bodies.

Objectives: 1. Students will be able to state that proteins are the building blocks of our bodies. 2. Students will be able to identify both animal and plant protein sources. 3. Students will be able to identify heart healthy protein foods versus those that are high in saturated fat.

Materials Needed  Protein group poster  Power Protein poster  SAT, TRANS and UN posters  Protein foods (Less Heart Healthy-More Heart Healthy)poster  Baked chicken vs. fried chicken poster  Hamburger meat vs. steak meat poster  MyPlate poster or plate

Lesson Talking Points Materials/Activities/Notes

Review We have been talking about the different nutrients we get from the foods we eat. Use the posters SAT, TRANS and UN posters to review the different Fats. Nutrients, these things we NEED to live and be healthy but our bodies can’t make. What nutrient did we talk about last class? (Fats)  Quick review of Fats: o We need them but not too much. We need them to stay warm, protect our organs, make hormones, and store energy. o 3 different types. . SAT—need a little, too much bad for heart, found in foods from animals (meats and dairy). . TRANS—very bad for heart, found in store bought baked goods and snacks. (Food companies starting to remove from foods so really need to be a nutrition detective to find.) . UN—good for our hearts, found in foods from plants and some fish.  Remember the difference of between these fats because it will be important when we talk about today’s Nutrient Superhero, Power Protein.

Mind Grabber Before I introduce Power Protein I want everyone to touch your hair. Your hair is made of protein. Touch your fingernails. They feel very different than your hair but are also made

July 2013 (KB) www.dineforlife.org Protein Lesson (4th-5th grade) 2 of protein. Touch your skin, pinch a little, pull it up and watch it spring back. Your skin is also made of protein. Make an arm muscle. You can’t feel the muscle directly because it is covered with skin, but it too is made of protein. All these parts of your body, hair, nails, skin and muscle look and feel different but they are all made of protein. EVERYTHING in your body is made of protein! Different kinds of proteins. (accentuate the plural) It is estimated that the human body is made up of over 2 million proteins!! Proteins are the building blocks of our bodies!

Discussion  Introducing Power Protein Show the Power Protein poster. o How do we get over 2 million different proteins to build our amazingly complex bodies? From the foods we eat, specifically, the foods from the Protein group. These are the foods where we find our Nutrient Superhero, Power Protein.

And that is easy to remember because Protein is in the name! Show the Protein Food Group poster Who can name a food from the Protein group? This is the only food group were some and/or picture Protein foods.

foods are from an animal and some are from a plant. Let’s look at these foods. Can play a quick round of the  Why is Power Protein so powerful? Plant/Animal game There are 4 reasons we need protein, or 4 jobs Power Protein does for our bodies. Use the Reasons to Eat Protein posters. 1. Growth—As I just mentioned, your entire body is built from protein. So to grow your body bigger and stronger your body needs more of the building

blocks, proteins to do the job. How does our body take the proteins in a piece of chicken and turn it into the protein that makes more hair on your head or skin on your arm? Can compare the 22 amino acids to the 26 letters in the alphabet if you a. Amino Acids: Well the proteins are made up of a kind of alphabet want to add a deeper understanding called the Amino Acids. When your body digests the protein from the to this concept. “We use 26 letters chicken it breaks it down into a kind of alphabet soup, an amino acid to make up the thousands of different words in the English soup. And then takes those amino acids and puts them back together language, your body takes the 22 to make the protein it needs for skin, hair, nail or muscles. Pretty cool, amino acids to make the millions of proteins to make you.” right? 2. Repair—So if our bodies are built of many different proteins and we get a cut, Use Lego house or Lincoln log house injury or sickness, what does it need to fix itself? More protein (building blocks) to demo

Kind of like this Lego house. If part of it breaks, I need more legos to fix it. 3. Satiety (feeling full)-- The third reason why we need to eat protein is because it helps us feel full for a longer period of time. A meal or snack that has protein in

it takes longer to leave our stomach because protein takes more time to digest. Therefore, we do not feel hungry for a while.

4. Energy-- Finally, the last reason why protein is so important for us to eat is because it supplies the body with 4 calories for each gram of protein. That means it gives our bodies a little bit of energy, however, supplying energy to

the body is NOT one of the main functions of this macronutrient. The main function of protein is supplying amino acids the body can use to build the proteins it needs for growth and repair. If we eat too much protein, our bodies

get rid of the extra amino acids -it discards them in urine. However, if we do not get enough protein from the foods we eat to give our bodies the amino

acids it needs to build proteins, then the body will break down muscle to get Point out the proportions on them. Notice on MyPlate that the Protein spot is a smaller one? We need MyPlate. some, some ever meal and with snacks would be best but not too much. A plate half full of a juicy steak is TOO much.

. How to Make Health Chooses from the Protein Group July 2013 (KB) www.dineforlife.org Protein Lesson (4th-5th grade) 3

 Not all foods in the protein group are the best or healthiest for our bodies. They may

have protein to build a strong body but the nutrient, Fat, is found in many of the Write: Lean = low fat on the board. Protein group foods. We want to choose foods from the Protein group that are lean, or low in fat. That way we are getting the protein we need to grow and keep our body

strong or repair it if needed while keeping our heart healthy at the same time.  Have you heard the term, “lean meat”? When choosing meats from the Protein group

to eat the leaner the meat the healthier. Which meat is lean? It mostly depends on what animal the meat comes from. Let’s take a virtual field trip to a farm. o Close your eyes and imagine you are looking at a cow. Is that cow a big or small

animal? (Big) Is that cow running around a lot or standing around a lot? (Standing) Remember how we have fat on our bodies to insulate us from cold?

All animals have the same. So a cow that is a large animal that does not move around a lot is going to have a lot more fat on its body. The same with a pig. So the meat we get from the cow (beef) and the pig (pork)is usually high in fat.

o Close your eyes again and imagine you are looking at a chicken or a turkey. Is it a large animal or a small animal? (Small) Is it moving a lot or just standing? Chicken and turkeys are constantly looking for little bugs and seeds on the

ground that they can eat. They move a lot more than the cow and pig. Therefore, they do not have as much fat on their bodies. So, the meat we get

from a chicken or a turkey (and I would add fish) is leaner than the meat we get from a cow or pig. Show poster of hamburger and steak o You can buy leaner cuts of beef and pork. It depends on where the meat comes and talk about the marbling of meat and the leaner packages of from on the animal. Meat from a part of the animal that is used a lot, like the hamburger meat you can choose leg, will have less fat than meat from, say, the underbelly. In general, beef from. NOTE: 95% lean ground beef tenderloin, beef sirloin tip and beef bottom round are lean meat from the cow. broiled 4oz. burger has 8g total fat and 4g saturated fat. Pork loin and pork tenderloin are lean meats from a pig. To help you understand look at this picture of two cuts of beef.

Put up the Protein foods poster and  Let’s look again at the Protein foods and look at the fat characters, SAT and UN and see the SAT and UN posters. Position if we can tell which Fat brother would be in which food. Notice that the protein foods SAT above the Protein Foods poster on the left (Less Heart Healthy) and go from less heart healthy to more heart healthy. What is it about the foods on the left UN above the More Heart Healthy that would make them less heart healthy than the foods on the right? Fat - that’s right! All of the foods on the left are really high in fat, specifically, saturated fat, SAT, because

they come from an animal. Is saturated fat a healthy fat or an unhealthy fat? Right, it’s an unhealthy fat. When we eat too much saturated fat on a daily basis it can lead to

heart disease as we get older, so that means that it’s not heart healthy.  Now take a look at the foods on the right. What makes them heart healthy? Some of them are low in fat, like the beans and the tuna, but some of them are high in fat, like

the almonds, and peanut butter. (Think how a handful of peanuts leaves your hands greasy.) Why are the almonds and peanut butter heart healthy even though they have

a lot of fat in them? That’s right! They have unsaturated fat, UN, because they are from plants. These foods, even though they are high in fat, help our hearts stay healthy. It is important to eat a variety of protein foods—some from plants and some from animals. Show poster of fried chicken and So we do not eat too much fat with our protein. oven-baked chicken. Talk about how  How we cook our Protein group foods (especially the meat) makes a difference if it is pan frying or deep frying our foods heart healthy or not. Broil, grill, roast, or poach your meat instead of frying. By cooking (like fried chicken, fish and shrimp) we use hot oil (a fat) to cook the this way, you will avoid adding a lot of extra fat. So even though chicken is a lean meat, food. The meat absorbs some of if you fry it in oil, it’s not-so-lean anymore. that oil/fat it is being cooked in so we are adding extra fat to the meat. One last time, take a look at the protein foods poster. Are all of these foods in the Protein Note: the fried chicken has almost group? No! What other food group is on this poster? The Dairy group! Foods in the Dairy the same amount of fat as the steak

July 2013 (KB) www.dineforlife.org Protein Lesson (4th-5th grade) 4 group are also really good sources of protein. And notice that they are pretty heart healthy shown on the other poster. depending upon how much fat is in them.  GAME: Lean or Not-so-Lean Game questions and answers are in the Lesson Materials on the N: Drive Let’s play a game to see if you all understand which foods are the heart healthy foods the Protein group. o Directions: 1. Divide the class into 4-5 teams and tell the students how to play the game. 2. Start with team 1 by asking them if they want a plant or animal question. Ask them the question. 3. If they don't get it right, move onto team 2 with the same question (this helps to ensure that all the teams are paying attention because they may have the opportunity to answer the question and get the points if the other teams don't get it). 4. When a team finally gets the initial question right ask them if the food is lean or not-so-lean and then ask them if it is heart healthy or not-so-heart healthy. 5. Then move onto the next team by asking them if they want a plant or animal question. 6. There is the opportunity to earn three points for each question. The first point is by getting the answer to the question right. The second point is by correctly choosing if the food is lean or not-so-lean and the third point is by correctly choosing if the food is heart healthy or not-so-heart healthy. It is helpful for the students if you leave all of your notes and posters on the board for hints. Try to do two rounds, so each team has the chance to answer at least 2 questions. 7. Bonus round! Have each team take out one piece of paper and one pencil. Then, read the bonus round questions out loud one at a time. Have the students write down the answer to the questions. Each question is worth two points, except for the amino acids question, which is three points. 8. The team that wins gets their taste test first.

Lean or Not-so-Lean

A Protein Group Game

Animals Plants Bonus Round The most commonly consumed Skippy, Peter Pan, and Jiffy Foods in the meats and bird at Thanksgiving. are all brands of this popular beans group provide our Answer: Turkey food. bodies with these building Lean or not-so-lean: Lean Answer: Peanut butter blocks. Heart Healthy? Yes Lean or not-so-lean: not-so- Answer: Protein lean Heart Healthy? Yes Most popular cut of pork. Tofu is made from this bean. These food groups are Answer: Pork chop Answer: Soy beans good sources of protein. Lean or not-so-lean: Lean Lean or not-so-lean: Lean Answer: Meats & Beans, Heart Healthy? Yes Heart Healthy? Yes milk Although this food originally comes This bean is named because These tiny molecules make from the ocean, most people eat it it is shaped like an organ in up proteins. out of a can. the body. Answer: Amino acids. Answer: Tuna Answer: Kidney beans Lean or not-so-lean: Lean Lean or not-so-lean: Lean Heart Healthy? Yes Heart Healthy? Yes July 2013 (KB) www.dineforlife.org Protein Lesson (4th-5th grade) 5

This meat comes from the belly of This bean is often eaten on Foods in the meats and a pig and is cured in salt. New Year’s Day for good beans group provide our Answer: Bacon luck. bodies with this nutrient Lean or not-so-lean: Not-so-lean Answer: Black-eyed peas that carries oxygen to the Heart Healthy? No Lean or not-so-lean: Lean rest of the body. Heart Healthy? Yes Answer: Iron Often eaten at breakfast, this food These seeds come from a big comes from a chicken. yellow flower. Answer: Eggs Answer: Sunflower seeds Lean or not-so-lean: Lean Lean or not-so-lean: not-so- Heart Healthy? Yes lean Heart Healthy? Yes The average American eats over 80 lbs of this bird each year Answer: Chicken Lean or not-so-lean: Lean Heart Healthy? Yes This food is one of the most popularly consumed seafoods in the United States. Answer: Shrimp Lean or not-so-lean: Lean Heart Healthy? Yes This food is commonly consumed at baseball games and backyard cookouts. Answer: Hot dogs Lean or not-so-lean: not-so-lean Heart Healthy? No Made from milk, this food is kept in the refrigerator and is found in many flavors such as vanilla, strawberry, and blueberry. Answer: Yogurt Lean or not-so-lean: Lean Heart Healthy? Yes

Wrap-Up Now that we’ve learned all about Power Protein and the Protein group, let’s do a quick review:  Proteins are one of the three macronutrients our bodies need to stay healthy.  Proteins are built from amino acids. There are 22 amino acids and we must get them from the protein foods that we eat.  The main functions of protein in the body are: growth, repair, and feeling full (satiety).  Protein foods can come from two different sources: plants and animals.  When we choose protein foods to eat we want to make the most heart healthy choice—the lowest in saturated fat. Most plant sources of protein are naturally heart healthy. Lean cuts of meat (an animal source of protein) are also heart healthy.

Challenge I have a challenge for you. I challenge you to try to eat a variety of foods from the Protein group that are from both plant & animal sources and are heart healthy. I’m going to ask you

July 2013 (KB) www.dineforlife.org Protein Lesson (4th-5th grade) 6 about it next time I come in.

Taste Test Ideas  Hummus or bean dip with pita/chips/carrots/celery sticks  Bean and corn salsa with whole grain tortilla chips  Sunflower or pumpkin seeds  Sun butter on whole grain crackers  Soy nuts  Turkey wraps  Lentil Salad  Tofu Wraps

Additional Activities 1. Human Mural of the Protein Foods (Less Heart Healthy –More Heart Healthy) : Instead of using the Protein foods poster when talking about choosing healthy foods from the Protein group have the student create a living mural. Give every student a picture of a protein group food and then have them line themselves up along the front of the room from “Less Heart Healthy” to” More Heart Healthy” . As you help them you can be teaching this whole section. As the final piece, ask them on which end should SAT be placed and UN be placed. 2. Build a Healthy Breakfast: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it gives our bodies energy to start the day after a 9-11 hour overnight fast (going without eating). Starting your day with a good breakfast prepares you to be a good student. You will have energy to sit up and concentrate on the lesson and for your brain to remember the new information. We want to try to eat at least 3 different food groups at breakfast. Because of the “staying power” of protein, (it helps us feel fuller longer), one of the food groups present in our breakfasts should be the Protein group or the Dairy Group. Let’s build a healthy breakfast that includes a heart healthy source of protein. Using the breakfast pictures from the 2nd-3rd grade Breakfast Lesson and/or the handout “Build a Healthy Breakfast,” have the students create a breakfast and then discuss in class. 3. Label Logic Activity: Let the students review the nutrient content of the three types of bologna individually or as a group and then answer the questions about the labels.

Student Handouts  Protein Hunt (comparing food labels)  Label Logic Worksheet  Protein Food Group Word Scramble  The Protein Group-Remember Variety  Build a Healthy Breakfast Worksheet  Where’s the Fat

Parent Handouts  With Protein Foods Variety is Key – 10 tips (Eng/Spa)  A Healthy Dish is Fish (Eng/Spa)  Nuts and Seeds (Eng/Spa)

Lesson Roadmap  Review (Fats)

July 2013 (KB) www.dineforlife.org Protein Lesson (4th-5th grade) 7

 Mind Grabber  Discussion o Intro to Power Protein and the Protein group foods o Four reasons we need Protein o How to make healthy food choices from the Protein group . What is Lean . How we cook our meats makes a difference . Animal sources (SAT fat) vs. Plant sources (UN fat) . Dairy group give us some protein  Activity o Human Mural of Less Heart Healthy and More Heart Healthy Foods o Lean and Not-so-Lean game  Wrap-up  Challenge  Taste-test

Durham County Department of Public Health Nutrition Division (919) 560-7837. This material was funded by the SNAP-Ed Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program. In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, political beliefs or disability. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Offices of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TTY). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. SNAP, or Food and Nutrition Assistance, provides nutrition assistance to people with low income. It can help you buy nutritious foods for a better diet. To find out more, call (919) 560-8000.

July 2013 (KB) www.dineforlife.org Protein Lesson (4th-5th grade)