Lesson Plans - Body Image: Lesson

Intermediate - Grade 7 - Lesson Plan

• PDF Version of this page (28 KB, 3 pages)
• Hunger Scale (95 KB, 1 page)
• Developing a Healthy, Non-Dieting Active Lifestyle (173 KB, 1 page)
• Answer Sheet for Teachers (32 KB, 1 page)
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Grade 7 - Tuning In To Hunger

Key Messages

• People can be healthy at a variety of shapes and sizes when leading a healthy lifestyle.
• We can find our own unique healthy weight when we:
  • Eat well.
  • Be active.
  • Feel good about ourselves.
• Healthy eating practices include:
  • Eating when we feel hungry and not waiting until we feel “starved”.
  • Stopping when we feel comfortably full and satisfied.
  • Eating regular meals and snacks throughout the day.
  • Using Canada’s Food Guide (1.49 MB, 2 pages) and eating a variety of foods that are both nutritious and tasty.
  • Relaxing and enjoying eating.
  • Eating with family and friends, not in front of the TV.

Equipment/Resources

1. Cut up parts of the Hunger Scale (95 KB, 1 page) – categories and indicators in envelopes – enough for several small groups to work together.
2. Suggestions for Developing a Healthy, Non-Dieting, Active Lifestyle (173 KB, 1 page).

Description/Instructional Strategies

1. Discuss with students that our bodies are designed to help us to eat the amount of food that is right for us, and that will help us find our own unique size, shape and weight.
2. Note that internal body messages tell us:
   • When we need to eat (i.e., we feel hungry)
   • When to stop eating (i.e., when we feel full and satisfied).
3. Explain that there are several degrees of hunger, from feeling extremely hungry to feeling full/satisfied.
   • Divide your students into three or four small groups. Distribute an envelope to each group.
   • Ask students to sort the indicators according to the five categories: “satisfied”, “thinking of food”, “hungry”, “really hungry” and “starving”.
   • Discuss the answers using the answer sheet for teachers (32 KB, 1 page).
4. Explain that there are also body messages to help us recognize how full we are. Ask students how their bodies feel when they eat:
   • Just the right amount (e.g., comfortable, just right, energetic).
   • Too much (e.g., very full, uncomfortably full, stuffed, sick).

5. Develop a simple rating scale with students to reflect the range of feeling extremely hungry or "starving" and feeling extremely full.

Lead a discussion to help students understand this scale. Ask them:

• How does your body let you know when you are hungry? (Answer: any of the hunger indicators.)
• What’s the best place on the rating scale to eat?
  (Answer: when you feel hungry but not wait so long that you feel extremely hungry or starving.)
• What’s the best place on the scale to stop eating?
  (Answer: when you feel comfortably full and satisfied.)

Acknowledge that people occasionally eat beyond this stage during special occasions like Thanksgiving, or when a meal or dish really tastes good.

• How do you feel if you wait to eat once you are very hungry or starving? (Answer: tired, cranky, hard to concentrate, headache, etc. People who wait this long to eat often have a hard time figuring out when they are full. They may keep on eating and end up feeling extremely full.)
• How does your body feel when you have eaten too much?
  (Answer: tired, ‘stuffed’, uncomfortable, need to loosen the belt, sick, feel like you never want to see food again.)
• Do you ever eat for reasons other than being hungry?
  (Answer: we sometimes eat for other reasons, like when we’re feeling bored, lonely, stressed or tired.)

Acknowledge that if this is happening often, it’s important to find healthier ways of coping with our feelings. It’s easy to over-eat when we’re distracted and not paying attention to our hunger and fullness cues.

• Are the foods you eat when you’re feeling starved any different from the foods you eat when starting to feel hungry?
  (Answer: when people are feeling extremely hungry they tend to choose foods more impulsively. They’re more likely to select food and snacks that are less nutritious, or are higher in fat and calories.)

6. Provide students with copies of the handout "Suggestions for Developing a Healthy, Non-Dieting, Active Lifestyle" (173 KB, 1 page) and discuss.

Notes/Reflection on Lesson for Teachers:

• Once a dieter gives in to their hunger, they are more likely to overeat or binge which can lead to overweight and/or disordered eating.
• People who diet typically get out of touch with their bodies’ internal cues for hunger and fullness. They may try a variety of methods to disregard hunger in order to eat less (e.g., smoking, eating low-calorie “diet” food or drinking a lot of water or diet drinks).
• 95-98% of people who lose weight on diets not only regain their lost weight but also put on more than before they started to diet.
• Dieting is particularly dangerous for children and teens because it can cause under-nourishment at a time of significant growth and development.
• Young people who experience teasing about their weight and shape are at risk, not only for restrictive dieting, but also for low self-esteem and depression.

Students at risk may include:

• Early maturing girls, who are more likely to be heavier than later maturing peers and more likely to receive sexual teasing and attention at a time when they are emotionally immature.
• Overweight students, who are more likely to be stigmatized, teased, excluded from social situations, verbally abused and bullied.