Eating out : how to order in restaurants 9781422228746, 1422228746, 9781422228777, 1422228770, 9781422229873, 1422229874

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NHMC13_11HBK_Nutrition_WomenSci 5/5/13 10:49 AM Page 5

Nutrition can be complicated. How do you know which foods are healthy and what aren’t? How much should you eat? How do you pick what to eat when you’re looking at a menu in a restaurant? Learn how to enjoy eating out while eating healthy. Discover which kinds of restaurants are the healthiest, what to order off the menu, and how to figure out which foods will keep you strong and happy.

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ISBN 978-1-4222-2877-7

EAN

90000

9 781422 228777

Eating Out: How to Order in Restaurants

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA  19008 www.masoncrest.com Copyright © 2014 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in the United States of America. First printing 987654321 Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-2874-6 Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4222-2877-7 ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-8939-6 Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4222-2987-3 The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcopy format(s) as follows: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Etingoff, Kim. Eating out : how to order in restaurants / Kim Etingoff. pages cm – (Understanding nutrition: a gateway to physical & mental health) Audience: Age 10. Audience: Grades 4 to 6. ISBN 978-1-4222-2877-7 (hardcover) – ISBN 978-1-4222-2874-6 (series) – ISBN 978-1-42222987-3 (paperback) – ISBN 978-1-4222-8939-6 (ebook) 1. Dinners and dining–Juvenile literature. 2. Nutrition–Juvenile literature. 3. Restaurants–Menus–Juvenile literature. I. Title. TX355.E85 2014 642’.5–dc23 2013009446 Produced by Vestal Creative Services. www.vestalcreative.com

Understanding Nutrition:

A Gateway to Physical and Mental Health

Eating Out: How to Order in Restaurants Kim Etingoff

Mason Crest

Contents Introduction 6 1. Healthy Eating in Restaurants 9 2. Choosing Your Restaurant 17 3. Choosing Your Meal 27 4. Eating Out and Staying Healthy 37 Find Out More 46 Index 47 About the Author & Consultant and Picture Credits 48

Introduction by Dr. Joshua Borus

T

here are many decisions to make about food. Almost everyone wants to “eat healthy”—but what does that really mean? What is the “right” amount of food and what is a “normal” portion size? Do I need sports drinks if I’m an athlete—or is water okay? Are all “organic” foods healthy? Getting reliable information about nutrition can be confusing. All sorts of restaurants and food makers spend billions of dollars trying to get you to buy their products, often by implying that a food is “good for you” or “healthy.” Food packaging has unbiased, standardized nutrition labels, but if you don’t know what to look for, they can be hard to understand. Magazine articles and the Internet seem to always have information about the latest fad diets or new “superfoods” but little information you can trust. Finally, everyone’s parents, friends, and family have their own views on what is healthy. How are you supposed to make good decisions with all this information when you don’t know how to interpret it? The goal of this series is to arm you with information to help separate what is healthy from not healthy. The books in the series will help you think about things like proper portion size and how eating well can help you stay healthy, improve your mood, and manage your weight. These books will also help you take action. They will let you know some of the changes you can make to keep healthy and how to compare eating options. Keep in mind a few broad rules: • First, healthy eating is a lifelong process. Learning to try new foods, preparing foods in healthy ways, and focusing on the big picture are essential parts of that process. Almost no one can keep on a very restrictive diet for a long time or entirely cut out certain groups of foods, so it’s best to figure out how to eat healthy in a way that’s realistic for you by making a number of small changes.

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• Second, a lot of healthy eating hasn’t really changed much over the years and isn’t that complicated once you know what to look for. The core of a healthy diet is still eating reasonable portions at regular meals. This should be mostly fruits and vegetables, reasonable amounts of proteins, and lots of whole grains, with few fried foods or extra fats. “Junk food” and sweets also have their place—they taste good and have a role in celebrations and other happy events—but they aren’t meant to be a cornerstone of your diet! • Third, avoid drinks with calories in them, beverages like sodas, iced tea, and most juices. Try to make your liquid intake all water and you’ll be better off. • Fourth, eating shouldn’t be done mindlessly. Often people will munch while they watch TV or play games because it’s something to do or because they’re bored rather then because they are hungry. This can lead to lots of extra food intake, which usually isn’t healthy. If you are eating, pay attention, so that you are enjoying what you eat and aware of your intake. • Finally, eating is just one part of the equation. Exercise every day is the other part. Ideally, do an activity that makes you sweat and gets your heart beating fast for an hour a day—but even making small decisions like taking stairs instead of elevators or walking home from school instead of driving make a difference. After you read this book, don’t stop. Find out more about healthy eating. Choosemyplate.gov is a great Internet resource from the U.S. government that can be trusted to give good information; www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource is a webpage from the Harvard School of Public Health where scientists sort through all the data about food and nutrition and distill it into easy-to-understand messages. Your doctor or nurse can also help you learn more about making good decisions. You might also want to meet with a nutritionist to get more information about healthy living. Food plays an important role in social events, informs our cultural heritage and traditions, and is an important part of our daily lives. It’s not just how we fuel our bodies; it’s also but how we nourish our spirit. Learn how to make good eating decisions and build healthy eating habits—and you’ll have increased long-term health, both physically and psychologically. So get started now!

Introduction

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1 Healthy Eating in Restaurants T

hink about the last time you went out to eat. Where did you go? What did you eat? How much did you eat? How did you feel afterward? The answers to these questions have a lot to do with your health. Restaurants are a big part of how we eat, and eating out can be a lot of fun. The danger is when we make unhealthy choices at restaurants. Luckily, there are plenty of ways we can eat out and take care of our health too.

Good Choices At home, you don’t always have much choice about what to eat. Someone else in the family probably does the grocery shopping. You probably don’t prepare most of the meals. At a restaurant, though, you’re the one making the choices. You choose what you What Does Diet want to eat and you choose how much you Mean? want to eat. You’re responsible for making good food choices when you’re eating out. When people say they are “goGood food choices mean healthy ing on a diet,” that means they’re choices. Food is one of the keys to being going to follow certain rules for healthy. When you eat well, you feel good, how they eat. But when we talk you look good, and you don’t get sick as about a healthy diet or an unoften. healthy diet, we’re just referring If you want to have a healthy diet,

to the foods you normally eat every day.

keep these simple general guidelines in mind. Later on, we’ll take a look at what these guidelines mean when you’re eating out.

• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. • Eat whole-grains like brown rice, whole-wheat bread, and oatmeal. • Eat protein foods without too much fat, like chicken, lean red meat, beans, and tofu. • Eat small amounts of dairy, like milk, eggs, and cheese. • Limit how much salt and sugar you eat (and drink).

Dangers Sometimes eating out gets in the way of eating healthy. We choose the wrong foods or we eat too much food.

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Ordering a sandwich with whole-grain bread instead of white can make your lunch a bit healthier. The kind of flour used to make white bread isn’t as healthy as whole-wheat flour used to make whole-grain breads.

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Over time, unhealthy food decisions—in restaurants or at home—can have a bad impact on our health. So the sooner you start to eat healthy, the better! Unhealthy food choices affect a lot of things in our bodies. We have a harder time thinking when we don’t have a good diet, and we don’t do as well in school or at work. We get tired all the time and don’t have the energy to do the things we like to do. We have a harder time moving around as we gain weight. We start to get sick more often. We might even get a serious illness. Weight gain is often one of the serious consequences of a bad diet. Unhealthy food What Is Diabetes? choices lead to gaining weight. Eating too much over a long time packs on pounds. Diabetes is an illness that makes Weighing too much leads to all sorts of your body unable to use sugar other problems. the way it should. Sugar gives us Diabetes is one of the big dangers of energy to move around. You have gaining weight. Today, people are eating something called insulin in your more sugar and gaining more weight. As blood, which helps your body use a result, more people are getting diabetes. sugar to make that energy. When Even kids are getting diabetes because of the someone has diabetes, somefood choices available to them. thing goes wrong with the insulin. People with diabetes have to watch what they eat. Then need to get regular exercise. Diabetes can also lead to serious problems What Is Cholesterol? later on, like kidney failure. Diabetes isn’t the only danger from a bad Cholesterol is a waxy substance diet. Eating too much salt, cholesterol, and that’s found in certain kinds of fat can lead to heart disease. Too much sugar fats. Your body needs some chocauses headaches and stomachaches. lesterol to build healthy cells, but By making healthier food choices, you’re too much cholesterol can build up helping to make sure you avoid a lot of in your blood vessels and cause problems later on. problems with your heart.

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Eating Out: How to Order in Restaurants

Making unhealthy food choices can lead to weight gain and health problems over time. The food choices you make today can affect you for the rest of your life. Eating right and getting plenty of exercise is the best way to stay healthy as you get older.

Making Eating Out a Healthy Choice Restaurants aren’t bad places. You don’t need to give up on eating out because you’re afraid of making unhealthy choices. Eating healthy is all about the choices you make when you eat out.

Healthy Eating in Restaurants

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Many fast food restaurants serve foods that have a lot of calories in them. One burger can have up to 1,000 calories in it. That’s about half of the number of calories a person is meant to eat each day!

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Eating Out: How to Order in Restaurants

Some people go out to eat once in a while. Eating out is a celebration. Restaurants are great places to celebrate. You might go out for a friend’s birthday. Or to celebrate the last day of school. Or you and your family might go out for a special meal when you get good grades. If going out to eat at a restaurant is something you only do once in a while, it won’t matter so much what you choose to eat when you do eat out. Other families go out more often, though, like every week or a couple times a week. When you go out so often, you’ll need to be a little more careful to make good food choices. Ordering a hamburger and fries every time you go out to eat is not a healthy choice. You can still eat out every week and order healthy foods. Going out so often can even be a good way to explore different foods. You can find new healthy foods you like by ordering things you’ve never tried before. Enjoy the adventure of eating out! You can even go ahead and get that hamburger every once in a while. Just make sure you’re trying to eat healthy most of the time, wherever you’re eating, whether at home or at a restaurant.

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2 Choosing Your Restaurant N

ot every restaurant is the same. Some make it a lot easier to make healthy eating choices. Others make it a lot harder. Get smart, and learn which ones are best!

Fast Foods

People eat a lot of fast food. Every day, 50 million people in the United States eat fast food! More than half of everyone in the country eats fast food at least once a week. Some eat it every day. And the numbers are climbing in other parts of the world. McDonald’s®

Fast food restaurants like McDonald’s make getting food quick and easy, but young people need to be aware of the many unhealthy food choices at these restaurants. Eating burgers, fries, and sodas is all right sometimes, but these foods can be very unhealthy if you eat them too much.

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and other fast-food restaurants have spread around the world. Fast food is available on What Does every continent of the globe. Grilled Mean? Just because so many people eat fast food doesn’t mean it’s healthy for you. In fact, Something that’s been grilled is fast food is some of the unhealthiest food cooked on dry heat with little or out there. no oil added. You can still enjoy your favorite fastfood restaurant sometimes without worrying too much. Try not to go more than once or twice a month if you can help it. Even fewer times is better. When you do go to fast-food restaurants, you can make better choices. More and more of them are introducing healthier options. In kids’ meals, you can get milk and apples. You can order salads with lots of vegetables. You can choose to drink water or 100 percent juice instead of soda. Whenever you have the choice to order a fruit or vegetables, take it! Keep your meal sizes small or medium. And pass on extra cheese, soda, and mayonnaise.

Delivery and Takeout We lead busy lives. Your family probably runs around a lot, working, picking you up from school, taking you to practice. They need some help with meals sometimes when they don’t have time to cook. So they order takeout or delivery. Delivery or takeout means eating restaurant food at home. You have to think about the same health concerns as when you’re actually in a restaurant. A lot of delivery food isn’t usually very healthy. Pizzas have a lot of grease (fat) and salt. So do Chinese food and chicken wings. Talk about some better options with your family. Can someone make food on the weekend and freeze it for dinners during the week? Could you help cook? When your family does get delivery or takeout, you can make some healthier choices. Choose baked or grilled chicken instead of fried. Put extra veggies on your pizza. Anything that adds fruits and vegetables and limits salt, sugar, and fried foods is a good idea!

Choosing Your Restaurant

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A grilled chicken breast is a lot healthier than a fried piece of chicken. These kinds of small choices may not seem like a big deal, but all your healthy food choices add up over time.

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Healthier Delivery and Takeout Food Choices • • • • •

Pizza with half cheese and lots of vegetables Baked or grilled chicken drumsticks instead of fried Steamed Chinese dumplings with brown rice Turkey sub with extra vegetables on a whole-wheat roll Small hamburger with a side salad

All-You-Can-Eat Buffets Buffets are a real challenge even for the healthiest eaters! When you’re faced with a mountain of food, it’s hard to say no. You can eat as much as you want at buffets. You could eat dessert first. Or only eat fried foods. Or eat five plates full of everything. Imagine if you ate at buffets every day. You would always be full! You might feel sick. You’d gain weight because you would be eating so much. Going to buffets is okay once in a while. Save it for a special occasion, though, and don’t go more than a few times a year. Eating as much as you possibly can might be fun, but it shouldn’t be a habit. You don’t want to get used to eating so much. When you do go to a buffet, make sure you pick some fruits and vegetables. Stay away from too many fried foods and desserts. Drink water instead of soda.

Sit-Down Restaurants Sit-down restaurants are your best bet for a healthy meal. You usually have a lot of choices at these restaurants. Not every food is filled with lots of salt, sugar, and fat, though some of them definitely are!

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Seafood is often a very healthy choice when eating out. Fish is a good source of protein and doesn’t have much bad fat in it either.

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Eating Out: How to Order in Restaurants

Sit-down restaurants will usually have many healthy choices on the menu. You’ll still have to think about the foods you’re ordering, but many restaurants make picking healthy food easy. Some even have different menus for people who want to order healthier foods.

You can choose from all kinds of sit-down restaurants. Which ones are best? Try to visit ones that serve lots of vegetables. Steakhouses aren’t the best choice to go to regularly. Restaurants that only serve fried chicken aren’t either. Eat at restaurants that have a lot of variety on their menus. You’ll be able to pick and choose exactly what you want to eat. Chances are, you can find a couple of healthy items on the menu. A big problem in restaurants is that people eat too much. Serving sizes are often much bigger than what you would normally have at home. But you can always take home with you whatever food you don’t eat. Only eat until you are full.

Choosing Your Restaurant

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By ordering whole-wheat pasta, you can make many Italian dishes a bit healthier when you go out. Many people won’t even be able to tell the difference, making whole-wheat pasta an easy, healthy choice.

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Eating Out: How to Order in Restaurants

Ethnic Foods Depending on where you live, you can find restaurants that serve all kinds of food! Ethnic food restaurants offer some healthy choices, if you know how to order well. Ethnic restaurants serve food that is based on traditions from other countries. People around the world today enjoy Italian food, Chinese food, and Mexican food. Thai food and Indian food are becoming more popular too. More new restaurants are opening up, like Afghani and Ethiopian restaurants. Many ethnic restaurants serve up choices with a lot of veggies. Thai dishes, for example, often have carrots, peppers, broccoli, corn, bamboo shoots, and more. However, you can’t order just anything from a menu and assume it’s healthy. Ethnic restaurants serve plenty of less healthy foods. Italian restaurants have pastas covered in cream sauce. Chinese food generally has a lot of salt in it. Indian restaurants serve fried foods and food with lots of butter. But choose wisely, and you can have a healthy meal!

More Healthy Food By Restaurant Try these options: • Italian: whole-wheat pasta, tomato sauces, salad with Italian dressing, minestrone soup • Mexican: salsa, soft tacos rather than fried taco shells, fajitas, rice, one serving of guacamole • Steakhouses: sirloin, tenderloin, green salad with vinaigrette; eat only 3 to 6 ounces of meat (about the size of two decks of cards)

Choosing Your Restaurant

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3 Choosing Your Meal E Choosing Healthy Foods

ating healthy in any restaurant is possible. You just have to know a few tricks.

Guidelines for healthy eating are exactly the same at home and at a restaurant. First, you want to eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible. Restaurants usually offer at least some kind of fruit or veggie. It’s up to you to order it!

Good

Bad

Broiled Steamed Blackened Baked Roasted Light Fresh Grilled Sauteed

Fried

Battered Buttery Creamy Crispy Cheesy Thick Breaded Smothered

Sometimes the words on the menu can tell you whether a food is healthy or not. Watch for words that might mean extra salt, sugar, or fat.

Many dishes come with a choice of French fries or something else. Check out that something else—it might be a vegetable side like a salad or soup with veggies. Some kids’ menus might have apple slices or carrot sticks. When you’re craving fries, see if you can order half fries and half of the vegetable side.

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Pick main dishes that have lots of fruit and veggies in them. What’s better: pancakes What Do Broiled and with syrup and whipped cream or waffles Steamed Mean? with fresh strawberries? A cheeseburger or a stir-fry with carrots and broccoli? The Food that has been broiled has answer is also the food that contains fresh been cooked with very high heat, fruits or vegetables. Strawberries, carrots, usually with little or no added oil. and broccoli are great things to eat. Food that has been steamed has Do you see any whole grains on the been cooked using steam (very menu? Some places might let you choose hot moisture), which adds no exbrown rice instead of white rice. Or wholetra calories to the food. wheat toast instead of white toast. When you have those options, take them. Restaurants have a lot of fried things, like french fries, chicken nuggets, fried fish, and onion rings. Fried foods are something you probably don’t eat very often at home, but they’re common in restaurants. They taste good, but fried foods have a lot of fat in them. They also have a ton of calories. You can eat fried foods once in a while as a treat, but as often as you can, try to make other menu choices. Choose alternatives to fried foods. Lots of restaurants have other options. Look for the words “baked,” “broiled,” “steamed,” or “grilled.” All those choices are tasty. Baked foods even give you the same crunch as fried. Instead of fried chicken, get baked chicken. Instead of fried dumplings, get steamed dumplings. One of the simplest choices you can make when you’re eating out is to not drink soda. Soda has a lot of sugar in it and not much else. Replace soda with water or juice when you’re out to eat. Restaurants usually have some good choices. Try bubbly water if you want something fizzy! What about dessert? Sometimes you just have to have something sweet at the end of a meal. See if the restaurant has fresh fruit. Yogurt and fruit is a good option. When you do order a special dessert, try to pick one with fruit in it. Cake and pie aren’t the healthiest options, but if you choose banana cake or apple pie, you’re at least getting a little fruit!

Choosing Your Meal

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Knowing serving sizes is a good way to make sure you don’t eat too much. This chart can help you remember some serving sizes and keep your portions under control.

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More Tips • Ask for salad dressing on the side, so that you can control how much you put on your salad. Get vinaigrette or Italian (which have less fat) instead of ranch or blue cheese (which have a lot of fat). • Order low-fat milk instead of whole milk. • Pick broth-based soups (like chicken noodle) instead of creamy soups (like clam chowder). • When you get pizza, add some vegetables on top. • When you get free bread or tortilla chips before a meal, only eat a little. • Choose tomato sauces on your pasta instead of creamy alfredo.

Portion Control Just about everyone has eaten way too much at a restaurant. You see that mound of food, and you can’t help but eat it all! Eating all that food doesn’t feel that great afterward, though. Remember that sick feeling the next time you go out to eat and want to eat too much. You don’t have to eat until you feel sick. When you have a choice of meal size, choose small or medium. Stay away from menu choices that use the words jumbo, deluxe, super, giant, or extra-large. You won’t be tempted to overeat when you only have a smaller amount of food on your plate. You could also decide to order a salad first every time you go out to eat. The very first thing you’ll eat is filled with lots of veggies. Then, move on to your main meal. You’ll get full before you can eat the whole thing.

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Many restaurants serve portions far larger than what you might eat normally. Think about how many times you’ve had to take food home from a restaurant because you couldn’t finish it. Large portion sizes can be a big problem for people trying to make healthy food choices.

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Drink lots of water before and with your meal. A lot of the time when we feel hungry, we really are thirsty. By drinking at least a glass of water before your food comes, you’re filling up your stomach and giving your body what it needs. When your meal comes, eat slowly. You start to feel full after you eat in about twenty minutes. In those twenty minutes, you could stuff in a lot of food. Then you feel stuffed and maybe a little sick. But if you slow down, you’ll eat the right amount of food and still feel full. You can almost always take your food home in a to-go box. You could even ask for it at the beginning of the meal. Then you can put half or a third of the food in the box before you start eating. You won’t be wasting food—and you’ll get to enjoy your restaurant meal all over again! If you decide to have dessert, share it with at least one other person. You’ll get a taste of how good it is and you won’t be eating too much.

What If My Parents Say I Have to Clean My Plate? Some parents tell their kids they have to finish all the food on their plate. In one way, they’re right. You don’t want to waste food and throw it away. But that rule can make you eat too much, and can make you gain weight after a while, especially when you’re eating out. Tell your parents that you’re worried about eating too much. Talking about it will help them see you’re not trying to waste food on purpose. Then promise to bring the food you don’t eat home with you and eat it later. Or try to order smaller meals. Choose an appetizer instead of a whole meal, or share your food with someone else.

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Nutrition facts are your best way to check how many calories are in the foods you’re eating. You can also check how much fat, sugar, vitamins, and minerals are in your favorite foods. Keeping track of calories is a great way to make sure you’re not eating more than you need to.

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Nutrition Facts

What Does Research Mean?

Some restaurants have menus that tell you a little about the food you’re about to eat. If you research something, you They might list how many calories each dish find out more information about has. They might also list how much fat, salt, it. You find the answers to quesor sugar is in the food. tions you may have about that Pay attention if you see nutrition facts. thing. You can do research onIf the menu doesn’t give you this informaline. You can also do research in tion, lots of the chain restaurants have nua library. Sometimes, you can do trition information online. When you know research by asking someone who ahead of time that you’re going to a certain knows more about something restaurant, you can look the menu up onthan you do. line. Research what the healthiest choices are. You can even decide what you’re going to eat before you go to the restaurant! You want to pick foods lower in calories. Calories aren’t bad for you—you need some every day to live! You can eat too many calories, though, and that leads to gaining weight. In restaurants, try to limit how many calories you eat. Your meal shouldn’t be more than about 600 calories total, so add up all the calories in everything you plan to eat. If it’s more than 600 calories, cut back a little, or plan on taking some of your food home. The number for sodium should be low in the foods you eat at a restaurant. Sodium is basically the same thing as salt. Some sodium is good for you, but a lot of sodium is unhealthy. Restaurant food is famous for having a lot of sodium! Pick foods that less sugar as well. Too much sugar is unhealthy. Again, restaurant food is often loaded with sugar, so look for a low number. Calories, sodium, and sugar are just the start. Healthy eating starts with knowing just what healthy food is.

Choosing Your Meal

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4 Eating Out and Staying Healthy R Nutrients

estaurants are a great place to practice eating healthy. Reading a menu can be like a game—what is the healthiest thing you can order off of it?

Healthy foods are healthy because they have nutrients in them. Nutrients are substances our bodies need to grow and stay strong. Our bodies can’t make nutrients. We have to find foods that have nutrients and eat them.

Many people choose to take vitamins to make sure they get enough of the nutrients they need without having to eat it. Vitamins can never fully replace a healthy, balanced diet, though.

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Vitamins are nutrients. We name vitamins with letters. Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K all help us be healthy. Vitamin A helps you see well and keeps your skin and teeth healthy. Vitamin D helps your body use calcium, another kind of nutrient. Vitamin K helps your blood clot. Minerals are another kind of nutrient. Have you ever heard of potassium, calcium, iron, or sodium? Each one is a mineral that also keeps us healthy. Calcium keeps bones strong, while sodium keeps the amount of water in our bodies balanced. Carbohydrates are also nutrients. Carbohydrates come in different kinds, like sugars, fiber, and starch. Carbohydrates give us energy and keep us going during the day. Fiber keeps the digestive system healthy and moving along. Fats are nutrients too. And so are proteins. Fats also give us energy like carbohydrates. They protect organs and work with vitamins to keep the body healthy. Protein make muscles strong and helps the body grow. You might say, “Wait! Didn’t we just say that a couple of those things are bad for you? Sugar and sodium are unhealthy!” That’s true, but only if you eat too much of them. We need a little bit of sugar and sodium every day. The problem is that people eat too much sugar and sodium. Instead of a little bit, they eat a lot. And eating a lot isn’t good for you.

Taking Vitamins Vitamin supplements are pills people take every day to give them some or all of the vitamins they need. The way to get your vitamins is from the food you eat. The second best way, though, is taking a vitamin supplement, especially if you need extra of one kind of vitamin. For example, someone might need extra vitamin C. She should make sure she eats oranges and other fruits every day—but she can also take a vitamin. That way she’ll be sure she’s getting enough vitamin C—and she’ll be less likely to get sick with colds too!

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Paying attention to how many calories you eat each day is one of the best ways to lose weight or stay in shape. Remember that calories are listed by “amount per serving,” so be sure to check how many servings are in the package, can, or box.

Calories Calories are the way we measure how much energy is in food. All food has energy. Food is what keeps us going. We use energy to walk, run, and jump. We use energy to digest food, breathe, and even think. The energy in food is really important. Without it, we wouldn’t last very long! Food with a lot of energy has a lot of calories. Food with just a little energy has fewer calories. People need about 2,000 calories a day. Our bodies use up 2,000 calories walking, breathing, and doing everything else. Some people need fewer calories, and some need more, but most need about 2,000. When you eat more than 2,000 calories, you gain weight. When you eat fewer than 2,000 calories, you lose weight.

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Now you can see why eating huge portions of food is a problem. In one trip to the all-you-can-eat buffet, you could eat 1,500 calories or more, almost enough for the whole day. Eating so much once in a while is okay. But if you went to the buffet every day, you would be eating a lot of extra calories.

Calorie Counting What does eating 2,000 calories mean? What does it look like? The way to find out how many calories you eat every day is to count them! Keep a list of every food you eat for a few days. Write down how much you ate of each. For breakfast you might write: 1 large banana, 1 cup of cereal, 8 ounces of milk. Pick normal days, not days like your birthday or a holiday where you eat differently from what you normally do. Next, go to a website that lists the calories in foods (like the one listed at the end of this book). Make sure you’re looking at the right amount of food you ate. Add up all the calories for the foods you ate in one day. Is it around 2,000 calories? If it’s too far above, you might be eating too much. Ask your doctor to help you figure out what your number means, and if you need to change how you eat.

Eat More of These! Healthy foods are all over the place. If you try, you’re sure to find lots of healthy foods you think are delicious and love to eat. Fruits and vegetables are healthy choices. Add in a fruit or a vegetable to your meal or snack whenever you can. Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables are the best. They have lots of good nutrients in them. Canned fruits and vegetables are your next best choice. Canned fruits often have extra sugar added in. When you’re eating out, ask the waitress or waiter whether their fruit and veggies are canned or fresh. If they have fresh options, pick those.

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Eat more whole grains too! All grains are the seeds of certain grass plants. Wheat is a grain. So are rice, oats, and quinoa. Foods made out of grains include flour (wheat) and oatmeal (oats). The best kinds of grains to eat are whole grains. Sometimes factories take out parts of each grain seed. The parts they take out have a lot of good nutrients in them, like protein. Whole grains don’t have anything taken out—that’s why they’re called whole grains. They still have all the nutrients in them. Whole-grain foods are usually darker than non-whole-grain foods. Whole-wheat bread is usually brown, for example. Brown rice, barley, quinoa, and millet are other whole-grain choices. When you eat out, ask if there are any whole-grain choices. Pay attention if the menu says sandwiches are served on whole-grain buns, and be sure to ask for the healthiest alternatives. Make sure you eat a variety of proteins too. The protein most of us know is meat. Other proteins are beans, tofu, and nuts. The best thing to do is to eat all kinds of proteins, not just meat. Try ordering a side of baked beans instead of french fries. Check out dishes made with tofu the next time you’re at a Chinese restaurant.

Exercise Exercise uses calories. Your body uses calories doing normal everyday things, like walking and talking. When you exercise, your body uses even more of them. Exercise is a good way to lose weight if you need to, and to stay healthy. Even if you eat extra calories, you burn them off by exercising. Besides, exercise keeps your muscles and heart strong, and makes you feel good!

Eat Less of These No foods are so bad you can’t ever eat them. Foods aren’t evil. They’re just unhealthy when we eat too much of them.

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Eating Out: How to Order in Restaurants

Limit how much junk food you eat. Junk food is any food that doesn’t have many good nutrients in it. Instead, junk food usually has a lot of salt (sodium), sugar, and unhealthy fat. When you look at a junk food, it’s hard to guess where it came from. How do you make a cheese puff? A factory has to spend a long time making all the ingredients of a cheese puff into the final product. You can tell what’s in healthy foods much more easily. A carrot is just a carrot. No one at a factory had to make it into a carrot, because it grew in the ground. Junk foods taste good because of all that salt, sugar, and fat, which is why we eat so much of them. We need salt in small amounts. Junk food has too much salt. Too much salt hurts your heart and circulatory system. Stay away from unhealthy fats too. Junk food, meat, and dairy have some unhealthy fats, which are called saturated and trans fats. Eating too much of them leads to heart disease and other sicknesses. A short list of foods to limit include chips, soda, cookies, candy, sugary cereal, ice cream, crackers, french fries, and juice drinks that aren’t 100 percent juice. If you can’t tell What Is Your from the menu whether a certain food is Circulatory System? healthy or not, ask the waiter or waitress to find out for you.

Healthy Eating Habits No matter where you’re eating, you can make healthy food choices. Whether you’re eating in a restaurant, getting takeout, ordering lunch in the school cafeteria, or sitting down to dinner at home, healthy food is important.

Your circulatory system is made up the parts of your body that move your blood through your body. Your heart, blood, and blood vessels are all part of your circulatory system. It acts like a highway, where the things your body needs—like food and oxygen—can be carried, along with the wastes that your body needs to get rid of.

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Healthy Fast Tips to Remember When Eating Out • Don’t order the biggest sizes. While it may seem like a bargain to super-size your order, it is no bargain for your health. The largest sizes have the most fat, calories, sugar, and sodium, and you will probably be just as satisfied with a smaller portion. • Soda is full of sugar and calories, but it does not fill you up. It is important to stay hydrated, but make a smarter choice and select skim or low-fat milk, fruit juice, diet soda, or water. • Sauces such as mayonnaise, tartar sauce, or salad dressing can add loads of extra fat and calories where you might not need them, as can cheese, sour cream, guacamole, gravy, and “special” sauces. Order a sandwich without the condiments, or ask for them on the side so you can add your own. Most places give you more salad dressing than you need, so add it yourself and don’t use the whole packet. Choose low-fat or reduced-fat options when possible. Salads are a healthy option, especially with a healthier dressing. • Generally, fried foods are not the best choice. Choose items that are labeled as grilled, broiled, steamed, or baked. • Go for the kids’ menu. The portions are smaller, and you can usually make substitutions. Another option is to bring half of what you order home to eat later instead of all in one sitting. • Choose from the items labeled as “healthy” or “light.” Most restaurants, even fast-food restaurants, now offer special sections on their menu. Source: Adapted from Palo Alto Medical Foundation, www.pamf.org/teen/ health/nutrition/fastfood.html

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Eating Out: How to Order in Restaurants

Governments around the world show their people about healthy eating habits in different ways. The Filipino government uses this pyramid. The United States government uses MyPlate, a picture of a plate to show how much of each kind of food Americans should eat at each meal.

At first, you might have to think for a while about what you should order at a restaurant. Should you get the side salad or the fries? The trick is to make healthy eating a habit, something you do automatically. Once you order the salad a few times, you’ll start to just do it without thinking twice. Restaurants give us a lot of food choices. Some are healthy, and some are not. Learn how to pick out the healthiest options, and you can enjoy eating out and feeling good at the same time!

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Find Out More Calorie Counter caloriecount.about.com

Online

Choose MyPlate www.choosemyplate.gov/children-over-five.html Healthy Dining Finder www.healthydiningfinder.com/home KidsHealth: Eating Well While Eating Out kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/nutrition/eating_out.html Kids Eat Right www.eatright.org/kids/landing.aspx?agegroup=4295378505

In Books

Gilpin, Rebecca, and Fiona Watt. 30 Healthy Things to Cook and Eat. Eveleth, Minn.: Usborne Publishing, 2010. Kalnins, Diana. YUM: Your Ultimate Manual for Good Nutrition. Montreal, Quebec: Lobster Press, 2008. Watson, Stephanie. Fast Food. New York: Rosen Central, 2008.

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Index buffet(s) 21, 41

junk food (s) 7, 43

calorie(s) 7, 14, 29, 34–35, 40–42, 44, 46 carbohydrate(s) 39

menu 23, 25, 28–29, 31, 35, 37, 42–44 mineral(s) 34, 39

dairy 10, 43 delivery 19, 21 dessert 21, 29, 33 diabetes 12

nutrients 37–39, 41–43 nutrition labels 6

energy 12, 39–40 ethnic foods 25 exercise 7, 12–13, 42

portion 6–7, 30–32, 41, 44 protein(s) 7, 10, 22, 39, 42 salt 10, 12, 19, 21, 25, 28, 35, 43 soda(s) 7, 18–19, 21, 29, 43–44 sugar 10, 12, 19, 21, 28–29, 34–35, 39, 41, 43–44

fast food(s) 14, 17–19, 44, 46 fat(s) 7, 12, 19, 21-22, 28–29, 31, 34–35, 39, takeout 19, 21, 43 43–44 fried 7, 19–21, 23, 25, 28–29, 44 vegetable(s) 7, 10, 19, 21, 23, 27–29, 31, 41 fruit(s) 7, 10, 19, 21, 27, 29, 39, 41, 44 vitamin(s) 34, 38–39 grain(s) 7, 10, 11, 29, 42 water 6–7, 19, 21, 29, 33, 39, 44 habit(s) 7, 21, 43, 45 weight gain 12–13 whole grain(s) 7, 10, 11, 29, 42 heart disease 12, 43

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About the Author & Consultant Kim Etingoff lives in Boston, Massachusetts, spending part of her time working on farms. Kim has written a number of books for young people on topics including health, history, nutrition, and business. Dr. Borus graduated from the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed a residency in Pediatrics and then served as Chief Resident at Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center before completing a fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is currently an attending physician in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and an Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Picture Credits Dieticians-Online: p. 14 Dreamstime.com: Audi Dela Cruz: p. 20 Bebcmj: p. 38 James Camp: p 32 Jerryb8: p. 13 Jhansen2: p. 36 Joanne Zh: p. 40 Kelvintt: p. 23 Lucian Milasan: p. 16 Michael Flippo: p. 11 Monkey Business Images: p. 12 Odua: p. 8 Radist: p. 26 Radovan Mlatec: p. 18 Sally Scott: p. 24 Government of the Philipines: p. 45 United States Department of Agriculture: p. 30 United States Food & Drug Administration: p. 22 To the best knowledge of the publisher, all other images are in the public domain. If any image has been inadvertantly uncredited or miscredited, please notify Vestal Creative Services, Vestal, New York 13850, so that rectification can be made for future printings.

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