Vocabulary

Choice is an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities.
Disease is a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.
Food is any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth.
Health is a state of being free from illness or injury.
Hunger is the physical discomfort which drives us to fill our stomachs now.
Malnutrition is the lack of proper nutrition caused by not having enough to eat, not eating enough of the right things, or being unable to use the food that one does eat.
Nutrition is the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth.

Purpose - 
Healthy Food Choices

Picture
The right of every child to sufficient nutritious food is essential for their survival. 
In the first sub-unit, children identified the foods that contribute to the maintenance of optimal health, and those that are harmful for human consumption. In this sub-unit, children analyze how making healthy food choices contributes to optimal health by examining the way different foods contribute the building of the human body.
Child Asks: What are healthy food choices?
Children's Rights Education: Enables the child to analyze how good food choices contributes to optimal health. 
Child Answers: I am grateful for all the nutritious food I can choose to eat.

Classroom Learning Activities

1. Healthy Foods = Healthy Body
In this activity children expand upon the knowledge they gained in the first sub-unit and analyze which foods contribute to a healthy body, and which foods might cause harm and disease. View the movie "Hunger isn't just a stomach thing" and list all ways the body uses the food consumed by an individual:
  1. The Brain - uses 20% of the body's energy - what is the food source of this energy?
  2. The Heart - pumps a steady supply of blood throughout the body - what foods might affect the heart? Why?
  3. The Liver and Kidneys - filter out toxins and waste - what happens if the food you eat is full of these toxins? 
  4. Immune System - fends off diseases - what foods weaken the immune system? What happens then?
  5. Skin - healthy skin is like armour and shields the body. What happens when children don't have healthy skin? What foods help build healthy skin?
  6. Bones - children's bones form the skeleton of the body. What foods contribute to healthy bones? What happens when the bones don't get the nutrients they need to grow?
Hunger isn't just a stomach thing
World Vision
2. Super Size Me -  Making poor food choices:
Movie Synopsis:
Why are Americans so fat? Two words: fast food. What would happen if you ate nothing but fast food for an entire month? Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock does just that and embarks on the most perilous journey of his life. The rules? For 30 days he can't eat or drink anything that isn't on McDonald's menu; he must wolf three squares a day; he must consume everything on the menu at least once and supersize his meal if asked. Spurlock treks across the country interviewing a host of experts on fast food and an equal number of regular folk while chowing down at the Golden Arches. Spurlock's gruelling drive-through diet spirals him into a physical and emotional metamorphosis that will make you think twice about picking up another Big Mac.
- Written by Sujit R. Varma for IMDb

There are multiple resources for educators to use on the Internet. Just google Super Size Me Teaching Resources. One particular resource that was developed by the Ontario Society of Nutrition Professionals in Public Health is highly recommended and can be found here. It identifies some healthy eating objectives that relate to this sub-unit that include:
  1. Determining whether fast foods fall into the category of nutritious foods for a healthy body.
  2. Determining what constitutes healthy portion sizes.
  3. Identifying and analyzing the perceived barriers to healthy eating.
  4. Identifying and analyzing the health risks and chronic diseases associated with overweight and obesity. 
  5. Identify the health risks to diet-related behaviours and practices and unhealthy weight loss strategies. 
Super Size Me (2004)
While examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald's food for one month.

Relevant Convention Articles

Article 6
1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life.
2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.
Article 24
1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures:
(a) To diminish infant and child mortality;
(b) To ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care;
(c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution;
(d) To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers;
(e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents;
(f) To develop preventive health care, guidance for parents and family planning education and services.
3. States Parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.
4. States Parties undertake to promote and encourage international co-operation with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right recognized in the present article. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.

Online Resources and References

Ontario Society of Nutrition Professionals in Public Health - Super Size Me Discussion Guide for Educators
Super Size Me - Fast food facts from the official website
Super Size Me Official Website
World Vision