Hello,
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I teach Nutrition at a high school and I am planning a nutrition label scavenger hunt at two different grocery stores–one with more organic products and one with more conventional.
I easily could come up with a ton of products for them to compare but I was wondering if anyone had any they thought would be particularly surprising or exciting for them to compare.
I am not giving them a specific brand I just ask that they don’t pick the same brand from the store. So I would write
Co+op Corn Flakes-Nutrition Information-Product Name
Quillins Corn Flakes -Nutrition Information-Product Name Etc.
The Co+Op mostly has organic options and Quillin’s is more conventional.
Hope that isn’t too convoluted, I just want them to compare products and get experience reading labels but thought people here might have some input for which products they compare.
Hi. Firstly, I love this idea. This is my two cents as a registered dietitian and mom.
If it were me, I would compare whole/low processed versus processed food.
Unfortunately fresh produce & fresh meat have no label. But you could pull up online the nutrition info for example for a fresh cup of strawberries and go to store and compare it to a strawberry fruit roll up. Stark differences there.
Or a block of cheddar cheese compared to a bag of Cheetos.
Or plain popcorn compared to movie style or caramel popcorn.
Or a minimally processed snack bar versus one that’s heavily processed.
A can of corn versus corn chips. Or a bag of beans versus a bag of bean chips.
Salted, sweetened trail mix versus plain nuts.
Plain yogurt versus yogurt with added sugar.
95% of Americans don’t eat the recommended fiber intake. Yet the foods that contain fiber - fruit, veg, and whole grains offer more than that as you know and contain a myriad of nutrients & antioxidants. Plus we’re eating much more sugar than ever before and the evidence clearly shows that high sugar intake in the diet is associated with risk of chronic diseases.
The organic vs. conventional is honestly not on many dietitian’s radar when counseling the vast majority of Americans. Many of who don’t have a budget for organic only food. The bigger fish to fry is the Standard American Diet (SAD) that’s high in processed, sugary and salty foods.
Anyhow. Just my thoughts. Really wish other schools were doing what you’re doing!
I did something similar in one of my undergrad courses, but instead of comparing labels directly the prof set up a competition like find the product with the most sugar in it (forces you to find sugar in unexpected things and how to read serving sizes). You could do something similar like find the highest protein % in a non meat item or find a processed food with less than 5 ingredients etc. I found the friendly competition fun and you can even do a reward for the winner. It can also show that just bc you’re in a ‘health food’ store doesn’t inherently mean that all the food is healthier than a traditional grocery. This could also be an opportunity to compare prices of similar items and teach cost effective nutrition
I’d keep it all at one store. They should learn that it’s not simply a matter of picking a store, but doing their own research. Conventional stores have healthy options and “organic” stores still have bull shit. It’s not just a matter of picking the better of two stores.