My daily diet : fruits 9781422230947, 1422230945, 9781422230978, 142223097X

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My Daily Diet: Grains

On My Plate Building a Healthy Diet with the 5 Food Groups My Daily Diet: Dairy My Daily Diet: Fruits My Daily Diet: Grains My Daily Diet: Proteins My Daily Diet: Vegetables

On My Plate My Daily Diet: Grains

Rosa Waters

Mason Crest

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com Copyright © 2015 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: 978-1-4222-3094-7 ISBN: 978-1-4222-3098-5 ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-8789-7 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Waters, Rosa, 1957- author. My daily diet : grains / Rosa Waters. pages cm. — (On my plate) Audience: Age 9+ Audience: Grade 4 to 6. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4222-3098-5 (hardback) — ISBN 978-1-4222-3094-7 (series) — ISBN 978-14222-8789-7 (ebook) 1. Grain in human nutrition—Juvenile literature. 2. Grain—Juvenile literature. I. Title. QP144.G73W38 2015 613.2—dc23 2014010566

Contents Introduction 6 1. Where Do Grains Come From? 9 2. Why Do I Need to Eat Grains Every Day? 17 3. So Why Can’t I Just Eat Grains Every Day? 23 4. Putting Grains on My Plate Every Day 27 5. Fast Foods, Snacks, and Grains 35 6. The Big Picture 41 Find Out More 44 Series Glossary of Key Terms 45 Index 46 About the Author & Consultant and Picture Credits 48

Introduction

M

ost of us would agree that building healthy bodies and minds is a critical component of future success in school, work, and life. Providing our bodies with adequate and healthy nutrition in childhood sets the stage for both optimal learning and healthy habits in adulthood. Research suggests that the epidemic of overweight and obesity in young children leads to a large medical and financial burden, both for individuals and society. Children who are overweight and obese are more likely to become overweight or obese adults, and they are also at increased risk for a range of diseases. Developing healthy eating and fitness habits in childhood is one of the most important gifts we can all provide to children in our homes and workplaces—but as any parent can attest, this is not always an easy task! Children are surrounded with both healthy and unhealthy eating options in their homes, schools, and in every restaurant or store they visit. Glossy marketing of food and meals is ubiquitous in media of all types, impacting both children’s and adults’ eating choices. As a result of the multiple influences on eating choices, from infancy through adulthood, we all benefit from additional support in making healthy choices. Just as eating and fitness can become habits in adulthood, personal decision-making in childhood is critical to developing healthy habits. Providing healthy options and examples are a starting point, which can support children’s healthy habits, but children also benefit from understanding the rationale for eating reasonable portions of healthy foods. Parents, teachers, and others often communicate messages through their words and actions—but books can provide more detailed information and pictures. Building on this need for developing informed consumers, the On My P late series provides elementary school children with an informative yet fun introduction to their eating options. Beginning with an introduction to the five food groups, children can learn about what they ideally will have on their own plate and in their mouths. Tips are provided for

Introduction choosing healthy snacks. And children will understand the importance of eating a range of foods. These books empower our children to make healthy decisions for themselves. An additional benefit of this series may be the trickle-up effect for parents. Even if we all know the importance of making healthy choices for meals and snacks, there’s nothing like a child reminding us why this is important. When our children start citing the long-term consequences of our dietary choices, we tend to listen! Here’s to developing healthy eating habits today!

Lisa Albers Prock, MD, MPH Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician, Boston Children’s Hospital Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School

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WORDS TO UNDERSTAND cultivated: Raised or grew plants, especially on a large scale. pesticides: Poisonous chemicals sprayed on plants to kill insects that feed on them. silo: A tower or pit where grain can be stored. traditional: Having to do with the way things have been done for a long time. transported: Moved or carried across a distance.

Chapter

1

Where Do Grains Come From?

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he next time you eat some cereal, a piece of bread, or some popcorn, take a minute to think about what exactly you’re eating. Before you pop it in your mouth, really look at that food. All three of those foods are made of grains. They’ve come a long way from where they were first grown to your table. Exploring where they came from, why we eat them, and how they help your body will help you make healthier food decisions.

WHAT IS A GRAIN ANYWAY? The foods we call grains are all seeds. If you plant a grain, it might grow into a new plant. By definition, a grain is a seed. Most of those grain seeds come from one family of plants—the grass family. The grains we eat don’t come from the grass growing in parks and on lawns, though. But the plants they come from are related to that kind of grass.

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MY DAILY DIET: GRAINS

Grains like wheat are actually closely related to other kinds of grass—like the grass you see outside in the park or on your lawn!

Where Do Grains Come From?

11

MAKE CONNECTIONS You may recognize some of these grains, like corn and lima beans, as vegetables. Others, like soybeans and chickpeas, are also part of the protein food group (see chapter 3 for a discussion of food groups). How can they also be grains? We tend to consider these foods grains when they are dried. Take corn, for example. Corn fits the definition of a grain, because it is a seed from a plant in the grass family. However, people can eat fresh corn as a vegetable. If a farmer leaves corn on the stalk without picking it fresh, the corn kernels dry out. Each kernel is actually a seed. When the seed is dried, we can use it like a grain to pop or grind it into corn flour.

The grains we eat come from grass plants that people have cultivated over time. Someone (or many someones) thousands of years ago realized that humans could eat certain seeds that came from grass plants. They also figured out they could grow those plants themselves rather than hope to find them growing in the wild. Over time, ancient farmers chose the best seeds to plant for the next season. They chose the ones that were the biggest and tastiest. The process of choosing the best seeds to plant is called domestication. Over many years, farmers were growing the grain plants we know today. When people first started eating grains, the seeds were tiny, and the plants looked a lot different from the ones we know today. But over those many years, the plants started getting bigger. They started producing bigger seeds that were easier to harvest. They did this because when farmers planted their crops for the next year, they usually chose the seeds from the plants that had had the biggest grains in the last harvest. People all over the world eat lots of different grains. In fact, grains are the main food in a lot of traditional diets. In Asia, for example, people often ate rice as their main food. In Europe, wheat was the main grain. In South and Central America, corn was the major grain. Today, with everyone traveling all over the globe, food has moved beyond where people traditionally ate it. People in Latin America eat rice. People in Asia eat corn. People in Africa eat wheat. Grains that come from grass plants include: • • • • • • • • •

wheat barley rice corn oats millet rye teff triticale

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MY DAILY DIET: GRAINS

Today, farmers can use machinery like this to do all steps of the farming process very quickly and easily. One farmer can grow many acres of wheat.

Where Do Grains Come From?

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Not all grains we eat come from the grass family, though. A few come from plants that aren’t related to grasses. But they are seeds, and their nutrition is similar to the other grains, so people generally call them grains, too. They are: • amaranth • quinoa • buckwheat Sometimes people refer to another set of grains. They are also not related to the grass family. Instead, they are members of the pea family. They are called legumes (or pulses). These grains are seeds too. Legume grains include:



• • • •

chickpeas soybeans lentils lima beans

FARMS Most grains come from farms. They all grow in the ground, with the help of water, sunlight, and soil. Farmers and farmworkers grow the grain and then harvest it when it’s ready. Grain farms tend to take up a lot of room, because it takes a lot of plants to grow enough grain to be worth the farmer’s efforts. Every grain is tiny. Think of how small a grain of rice is. A rice plant can have about 3,000 grains of rice on one stalk. This may sound like a lot, but a 1-pound bag of rice has about 30,000 grains of rice in it! That means that 10 plants equals one bag of rice. Imagine how much space would be needed to grow enough rice to fill thousands and thousands of bags. You’d need 10,000 plants just to grow rice for 1000 bags. People eat a lot more rice than that all over the world every year. Though there are some smaller grain farms today (for example, many farmers in Asia have small rice farms), most farms are huge. They grow hundreds or thousands of acres of grains. One acre is a little smaller than a football field. Imagine thousands of football fields, and you’ll get a good idea of the size of a big grain farm. Grains are grown all over the world. Some grains grow best in certain parts of the world. For example, rice grows best in Asian countries like China, India, and Indonesia. That’s where most of the rice you buy in grocery stores comes from. But it can also grow in other parts of the world, like Brazil and even parts of the United States! The other two most popular grains are grown around the world. Wheat was first grown in what we now call the Middle East. People in that area, along with Europe and northern Africa, traditionally ate a lot of wheat. Today, people all over the world eat wheat,

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MY DAILY DIET: GRAINS RESEARCH PROJECT

This chapter discusses the domestication of grain plants. Do some research about other living things that people have domesticated over the past few thousand years. Use the Internet or a library to find out more about domesticated plants and animals. Identify one plant and one animal that have been domesticated, and write a paragraph for each about how, where, and when humans domesticated them. Then write another paragraph explaining how domestication of these living things helped humans in the past and how they continue to benefit us today.

because it can grow many places and can be easily transported to places it can’t grow. China, India, and the United States grow the most wheat and send it around the globe. France, Russia, Australia, Canada, and Pakistan also grow wheat. Corn was originally domesticated in Mexico. Farmers in Mexico still grow a lot of corn. The United States grows the most corn in the world, followed by China and Brazil. You can see that a few countries with a lot of land, like China and the United States, grow a lot of grain. No matter the grain, farmers go through the same process to grow it. First, they plant the seeds. In fact, the seeds are exactly the same thing that people eat as grains. Farmers just save some of the grains to plant instead of eat. Then farmers have to take care of the grain plants as they grow. Some farmers spray pesticides on them to protect them from insects. They also might spray fertilizer on them to keep them growing and strong. If there isn’t enough rain, farmers water the grain using huge machines. After the grain plants have grown for a while, they start producing the grain seeds. Farmers have to wait to make sure the seeds are dried out before they harvest them. Finally, after months of growing, the grains are ready for harvesting. On most big farms, farmers use huge tractors to harvest thousands of plants at a time. The machines separate the grain seed from the rest of the plant so that the farmer doesn’t have to do it by hand. On smaller farms, farmers harvest the grain by hand. They might use a sharp knife called a scythe to cut down the plants. Then they separate all the grains from the plants by hand. Some smaller farmers may use smaller machines to help them. Very large farms often have grain storage right on site to keep the grains until they’re ready to sell them and ship them away. The grain is stored in a silo. Farmers also dry out the grains so that they don’t get moldy and spoil.

FACTORIES Most grains don’t go straight from the farm to the grocery store. A lot of them end up in factories first.

Where Do Grains Come From?

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TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS 1. What family of plants do most grains come from? Do all the foods we consider grains come from this family of plants? 2. List at least 3 kinds of grains people eat. 3. Explain where people first grew rice, corn, and wheat. Why do people all over the world eat these 3 grains today? 4. What are the steps in the process farmers go through to grow grains on a farm? 5. Discuss the difference between unprocessed and processed grains. Give two examples.

Trucks, trains, or boats take the grain from the farm to a factory. The factory processes the grains. That means people and machines change them in some way before they’re sold. Grains that then arrive at factories are whole grains. This means their three parts—the bran, the germ, and the endosperm—are still there. Factories refine those grains. In other words, they take out the bran and the germ, leaving the endosperm. Refined grains can generally last longer on store shelves and at home. Many grains are processed even further. Wheat, for example, is ground into flour. Whole-wheat flour is made with whole grains of wheat. White flour is made from refined wheat grains. Other grains are also refined into flour. Corn is often ground into corn meal. Oats are often processed into new forms. Unrefined whole oats are hard to find in the store. Most oats are broken up and then pressed between two big rollers. That makes the flat oats many people are used to eating for breakfast. Some grains are simply dehulled. These grains have papery films over them, called hulls. Factories take the hulls off, leaving the grain within. Grains are also packaged. They are put into labeled bags and boxes before they’re shipped to grocery stores.

GROCERY STORES TO HOME After the factories, the grains are sent to stores. They travel by all sorts of transportation, including trucks, ships, and even planes. Many grains have to travel from one side of the world to the other. For example, for rice to get from China to the United States, it may have to go by plane or ship. Eventually, the grains make their way to grocery stores. People load the boxes and bags onto shelves, where shoppers, like you and your family, come along and choose which ones to buy and take home.

WORDS TO UNDERSTAND abundant: In large amounts. digestive system: The parts of your body that work together to break down food and get nutrients out of it. immune system: The parts of your body that fight off diseases and keep you healthy.

Chapter

2

Why Do I Need to Eat Grains Every Day?

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rains are a healthy food. They keep the body working right and going strong. In fact, most people need to eat grains every day.

NUTRIENTS

The key to understanding why grains are healthy is nutrients. Food contains tiny substances called nutrients. You may already have heard of some of the nutrients people need, like calcium and vitamin C. The healthiest foods have lots of the nutrients we need. Fruits and vegetables, for example, have plenty of nutrients, which is why they’re so healthy. Grains also have lots of nutrients.

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MY DAILY DIET: GRAINS

Most foods in the United States are required to have a nutrition facts label like this one. This helps you see what foods are high in each nutrient, so it’s easier for you to make healthy choices.

Nutritionists (people who are experts in nutrition) divide the nutrients we need into macronutrients and micronutrients. Macro means “big” or “large scale,” so it makes sense that we need large amounts of macronutrients. The macronutrients we need are carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Carbohydrates are divided into three types—starches, sugars, and fiber. Starches and sugars give people energy.

Why Do I Need to Eat Grains Every Day?

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MAKE CONNECTIONS Some people can’t digest a substance called gluten. Gluten is found in wheat, barley, and rye. Doctors say these people have gluten intolerance. An extreme form of gluten intolerance is celiac disease. The immune system of people with this condition reacts to gluten like it’s an enemy in the body. Luckily, there are many grains people with gluten intolerance can choose from. They should stay away from wheat and all wheat products, like bread and pasta. But they can eat quinoa, millet, rice, some oats, and plenty more.

Yes, we do need a little bit of sugar for health, but we don’t need a lot. People can’t digest fiber, but we need to eat it, because it keeps the digestive system moving and healthy. Protein is important for energy. It builds muscles and is important for growing young people. Protein also repairs damaged tissues and makes the immune system stronger, so it can fight diseases. People need fat, too. The healthiest kind of fat to eat is unsaturated fat, found in foods like avocados. Fat protects organs and helps carry other nutrients throughout the body. People need less of other kinds of fats, called saturated and trans fats. In small amounts, they’re OK, but larger amounts can lead to health problems. The other big category of nutrients is the micronutrients. Micro means “small” or “little,” so you can probably guess that people need smaller amounts of these nutrients. That doesn’t mean they’re any less important, though! Vitamins are some of the main micronutrients we need. Scientists have named these vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K. Each one helps the body in a different way. For example, vitamin A is good for eye and vision health. Vitamin C keeps the immune system strong. Minerals are also micronutrients. Minerals include calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, and more. Just like vitamins, each mineral plays an important role in the body. Calcium makes bones strong, while iron keeps oxygen levels steady in the blood and keeps up your energy levels.

CHOOSING GRAINS WITH THE MOST NUTRIENTS Grains are healthy because they have so many nutrients in them. But not all grains are equal. Whole grains have more nutrients than refined grains. Remember, whole grains have three parts to them—the endosperm, germ, and bran. Each part has different nutrients. The endosperm is the biggest part of the grain. It has starch (a carbohydrate), some protein, and a few vitamins and minerals. The germ is the part of the grain seed that grows into a new plant. It has vitamin B, protein, fat, and minerals. The bran is the outside layer of the grain and contains vitamin B and fiber.

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MY DAILY DIET: GRAINS RESEARCH PROJECT

In this chapter, you learned people need to eat a little bit of sugar every day to be healthy. Use the Internet to research how much sugar people need. Next, find an estimate of how much sugar people eat on average every day in your country. Do some math to find out how that compares to the amount of sugar people should be eating. Is the average higher or lower? By how much? How much sugar do you think you eat every day in comparison to the average?

Most of the fiber in grains can be found in the bran layer. To get all the nutrients that grains have to offer, you should eat whole grains that have all these parts.

Why Do I Need to Eat Grains Every Day?

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TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS 1. 2. 3. 4.

What is one reason some foods are healthier than others? Name the three macronutrients people need. What sort of fat is the healthiest? Celiac disease is mentioned in the sidebar. What substance can’t people with this disease eat? What sorts of foods do they have to avoid? 5. List at least two nutrients that whole grains are higher in than are refined grains.

Refined grains have the germ and the bran taken out. The endosperm is all that’s left. So that means that all the nutrients in the germ and the bran are lost. Sometimes factories will add nutrients back in to refined grains, but it isn’t quite the same. Whole grains still have more nutrients. Whole grains have a lot of the minerals: iron, magnesium, phosphorous, and more. Iron keeps the blood healthy. Magnesium helps the body use calcium and helps it do lots of other things, like keep body temperature steady. Phosphorous is needed for strong bones and teeth and to keep your heart beating steadily. Vitamin B is the most abundant vitamin found in grain. There are actually several different kinds of Vitamin B, and grains have many of them. Vitamin B keeps skin, hair, and muscles healthy, supports the immune system, and keeps nerves working right, among other things. Grains also have vitamin E, which protects your cells and keeps arteries healthy.

WORDS TO UNDERSTAND balanced: Not too much and not too little—just right!

Chapter

3

So Why Can’t I Just Eat Grains Every Day?

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rains may be healthy, but they shouldn’t be the only foods you eat every day. You also need to eat other foods in order to be as healthy as you can be.

A BALANCED DIET

For your body to work at its best, you need to eat enough of every nutrient every day. In other words, you need a balanced diet. To eat a balanced diet means to eat enough of all the nutrients you need, without eating too much of some nutrients. Getting 200 percent of your daily protein needs and 20 percent of your daily calcium needs is not balanced! A balanced diet includes eating food from every food group. Food is divided into five groups in the United States and Canada. The five food groups are fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy.

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MAKE CONNECTIONS The word “diet” can mean different things when it comes to food. Many people say, “I’m on a diet,” or that they “need to diet.” They’re talking about losing weight. Going on a diet requires eating less food than normal. Sometimes that involves eating only certain kinds of food. There’s even a grapefruit diet, where almost all the dieter eats is grapefruit! Diets can be very unhealthy, because they don’t allow dieters to get the nutrients they need. The other kind of diet simply describes the foods a person eats, and how much she eats. A healthy diet includes foods from all the food groups and a good balance of nutrients. An unhealthy diet includes eating more food than you need. The foods in an unhealthy diet might be mostly junk food, with too much sugar, salt, and fat.

Fruits and vegetables are plants. They grow in the ground and come in a huge variety. Fruits include oranges, berries, kiwis, pineapples, and more. Vegetables include tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, celery, and lots more. Fruits and vegetables are particularly high in vitamins and minerals. They aren’t very high in protein or fat. Grains, as we’ve discussed, have carbohydrates like starch and fiber. They also contain vitamins and minerals. Whole grains have more of these nutrients than grains that have been refined. Most people think of meat when they hear “protein.” But this food group includes much more. Other protein foods are beans and other legumes, like lentils and peanuts, tofu (made from soybeans), and eggs. Dairy is any food made from animal milk. Yogurt, sour cream, cheese, cottage cheese, and milk itself are all dairy foods. They have some protein in them, along with vitamins like vitamin B and minerals like calcium. Dairy foods also contain fat. Together, all these foods provide all the nutrients you need. If you leave out a food group, your diet becomes imbalanced unless you make some changes to the rest of your

RESEARCH PROJECT Choose one of your favorite foods, and research what nutrients it has. List all the nutrients you find that provide more than 20 percent of your daily value for that nutrient. Your food is high in all these nutrients. (If you do not find a percentage associated with a nutrient, that means you need to eat very little of that nutrient to be healthy. For example, you will not find a daily value percentage for saturated fat, because any amount of saturated fat can be unhealthy.) Now make a list of all the nutrients for which your food of choice has less than 20 percent daily value. Next, find several other foods that would provide you with all the nutrients your food choice lacks. How many food groups do you have when you are finished?

So Why Can’t I Just Eat Grains Every Day?

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TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS 1. Describe the difference between the two meanings provided in the chapter of the word “diet.” 2. What does a balanced diet mean? 3. Name all five food groups and at least two examples from each group. 4. What sorts of nutrients do fruits and vegetables have a lot of? 5. How many food groups should you eat each day? Why should you eat from this many food groups?

diet. For example, if you can’t have dairy because you can’t digest it (called lactose intolerance), you’ll have to pay more attention to the rest of your diet. You’ll need to be sure you get the calcium, fat, and protein you’re missing from dairy from other food groups.

BALANCE IN ACTION Imagine you only wanted to eat oats for the rest of your life. You eat bowl after bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Oats, on their own, are very healthy. They have a lot of fat, fiber, vitamin B, protein, iron, phosphorous, manganese, and magnesium. That’s a lot of nutrients! But oats aren’t high in other nutrients, like the other vitamins, calcium, or sodium. Without these nutrients, your body couldn’t work very well. Your bones wouldn’t get the calcium they need, and the level of water in your body would be off, because you wouldn’t be getting any sodium. Over time, you’d get sick even though oats are so healthy. When you add other foods to your diet along with the oats, you’re adding nutrients. You could eat some fruits and vegetables to add in vitamins. Milk would provide calcium. And some vegetables, dairy, and meat have natural sodium in them. If you ate all this—together with your oats—you’d have a much more balanced and healthy diet.

WORDS TO UNDERSTAND prepackaged: Food that is wrapped or packaged at the factory where it was produced, instead of at the place where you buy it. deceiving: Giving a false impression.

Chapter

4

Putting Grains on My Plate Every Day

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ith so many grains to choose from, you can add a wide range of them to your plate every day. But how many of them do you need? What kinds of grains should you eat? Luckily, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has come up with a tool to help you decide. The USDA’s MyPlate shows how much of each food group you should eat and gives tips on adding more of each to your diet.

HOW DOES MYPLATE WORK? MyPlate is basically a picture that represents a plate of food. The plate is divided into five sections, one for each food group. In the top right corner is a blue circle that shows a glass of milk, representing the dairy food group. The plate itself is divided into four sections.

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Eating healthy isn’t about eating a lot of any one food group. Instead, it’s best to eat a variety of different foods at every meal, so that you can get the nutrients that every food group has to offer!

The left side of the plate is divided into two sections. The green section for vegetables is a little bit bigger than the red section for fruits. That means you should be eating slightly more vegetables than fruits. On the other side of the plate, the purple protein group and the orange grain group are the same size. MyPlate is meant to help you compare your plate to what the USDA says a healthy diet looks like. If you divide your plate into fourths, one-fourth should be grains, one-fourth should be protein, a little more than one-fourth should be vegetables, and a little less than one-fourth should be fruit. Add a glass of milk on the side, and you’re all set.

Putting Grains on My Plate Every Day

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MAKE CONNECTIONS If you’re not used to eating whole grains and not sure how to eat more of them, here are a few tips: • When making baked goods, use half whole-wheat flour instead of white flour. • Add oats to yogurt, along with some fruit, to make a parfait. • Make a stir-fry with brown rice. • Look for whole-grain cereals, pasta, and bread. • Try grains you may be less familiar with, and make salads out of them, or use them in place of rice or pasta.

Of course, your plate may not look like MyPlate for every single meal. You may want to get your dairy by eating cheese or yogurt, not drinking milk. You may not eat vegetables for breakfast and fruit for dinner. Some of your meals might actually look a lot like MyPlate. Maybe you had a vegetable salad for lunch, with chicken or tofu, along with a grain like rice. You also had a sliced apple on the side and a glass of milk. If you separated all the parts of the salad into the vegetable, grain, and protein sections, then arranged the apples in the fruit corner, your plate would look like MyPlate. For many meals, though, you won’t be able to do that. Think about MyPlate in terms of the food you eat over a whole day. If you had a huge plate to hold all the food you ate during a day, it should look like MyPlate. A balanced MyPlate diet for a day might look like this: • Breakfast: oatmeal (grain) with banana (fruit), glass of milk (dairy) on the side • Lunch: chicken and vegetable soup (protein and vegetables), apple (fruit), slices of cheese (dairy) • Dinner: burritos with whole wheat tortillas (grains), peppers and onions (vegetables), rice (grain), beans (protein), side salad (vegetables) If you ate these three meals, you’d have eaten all five food groups. Pay attention to how much of each one you would have eaten—you have a good balance. You didn’t eat mostly dairy with a little bit of the other four food groups. You ate about equal amount of each, with a few more vegetables.

GETTING ENOUGH GRAINS MyPlate doesn’t just give general guidelines. It also shows you how much of each food group you should eat, depending on who you are.

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It’s hard to tell exactly how much food a person needs to eat; it depends too much on many different factors, like her age, body type, and metabolism. Instead, MyPlate shows you about how much of each food group you should eat compared to the others.

For grains, the recommended daily amounts range from 3 ounces to 8 ounces, depending on how old you are and whether you’re a boy or girl. Here’s the breakdown: Kids, 2–3: 3 ounces Kids, 4–8: 5 ounces Girls, 9–13: 5 ounces Boys, 9–13: 6 ounces Girls, 14–18: 6 ounces Boys, 14–18: 8 ounces Women, 19–30: 6 ounces Men, 19–30: 8 ounces Women, 31–50: 6 ounces

Putting Grains on My Plate Every Day

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Men, 31–50: 7 ounces Women, 51+: 5 ounces Men, 51+: 6 ounces Younger people tend to need less grain every day. However, once people are over 50, they also need less than they did when they were younger adults. Girls and women also tend to need less grain than boys and men. These rules don’t apply to everyone. Athletes and very active people need more food and more grains in general. They need more energy to get through the day than those who are less active. And individuals vary on how their bodies work. One individual may need more or less grains than these guidelines. But these guidelines a great place to start! However, these guidelines are only helpful if you know what an ounce of grain looks like. One ounce of grain equals 1 slice of bread or half-cup cooked grains, like rice or pasta, or 1 cup of cereal. So do 3 cups of popcorn, 1 small muffin, and 1 small tortilla. If you eat a bowl of oatmeal (1 cup) and a sandwich with 2 slices of bread, you’ve just eaten 4 ounces of grains. Similarly, if you eat a bowl of cereal (1 cup) and muffin for breakfast, you’ve eaten 3 ounces of grains just for breakfast.

WHOLE GRAIN OR NOT? The USDA suggests that at least half of all the grains you eat in a day be whole grains. That’s a good goal to aim for, but if you can get even higher, that’s even better! Even if you’ve never tried whole grains, you can learn to like them. They tend to have more flavor than nonwhole grains, so your meals are tastier. And because more of the grain is used, you may feel fuller sooner. The best way to make sure you’re eating whole grains is to look for the whole-grain stamp on boxes and bags. A box of whole-wheat pasta, for example, will have a yellow stamp on it that says “Whole grain.” If it’s 100 percent whole grain, the stamp will tell you so. If you don’t see the whole-grain stamp, the food you’re eating is not whole grain. Sometimes packages try to trick you. A package of bread might advertise that it’s “100% wheat,” “multi-grain,” or “stone-ground.” None of those things means it is made out of whole grain. Most bread is made out of wheat, so the first claim doesn’t mean much. “Multi-grain” simply means the bread has more than just wheat in it. The bread may include cornmeal, which isn’t necessarily a whole grain. “Stone-ground” means that factories used stones to grind the wheat into flour. It doesn’t say anything about whether the wheat used is a whole grain. The exception to the stamp rule is if the food you’re eating didn’t come prepackaged. Sometimes people buy grains from the bulk aisle of the grocery store. They scoop out grains from bins and weigh them to figure out how much they have to pay. In that case, the grains won’t have a stamp on them. But if you learn about whole grains, you should be able to tell which are whole grains without much of a problem.

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MY DAILY DIET: GRAINS

RESEARCH PROJECT Track how much grain you eat during a week to find out if you’re on track with MyPlate. For one week, keep a journal of all of the grain foods you eat, including their amounts and whether they are whole or refined. At the end of the week, take a look at the USDA’s MyPlate web page, “What Counts as an Ounce Equivalent of Grains?” and click on the chart (www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/grains-counts.html#). The chart lists the amounts of grain foods that make up an ounce. Match each grain you’ve eaten with the number of ounces it counts as. For example, 1 medium or large muffin counts as 2 ounces. Add the amounts of grain you’ve eaten for each day. Does the amount equal the amount you should be eating based on your age and whether you’re a boy or a girl? Also determine what percentage of the grains you ate were whole grains. Were at least half of your grains whole grains? Think about what you’ve learned about your diet. Do you think you should make any changes?

Whole-wheat bread tends to have a rougher texture than white bread. Sometimes, you can see whole seeds! Having the whole seed means that you’re getting more fiber and nutrients than you are with white bread.

Putting Grains on My Plate Every Day

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TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS 1. Explain what MyPlate is and how it can help you eat a balanced diet. 2. How much grain should a 35-year-old woman eat every day? What about a 12-year-old boy? 3. Give three ways to measure one ounce in grain foods. 4. According to the USDA, how much of the grain you eat should be whole? 5. List two ways to tell which are whole-grain foods.

Many whole grains and whole-grain foods are darker than refined foods. Think about brown rice versus white rice—the brown rice is the whole grain. Whole-wheat pasta is a lot darker than refined pasta. Whole grains also look like seeds. Barley, for example, looks like you’d expect a seed to look, since that’s exactly what it is. With practice, you’ll be able to recognize whole grains wherever you look in the store, in the lunch line at school, or at your favorite restaurant! Keep in mind, though, that color can be deceiving. Just because a loaf of bread is brown doesn’t mean it’s made entirely of whole-wheat flour. It could have coloring added. Or it could be made mostly of refined flour, with a small amount of whole-wheat flour. There is also white whole-wheat flour on the market. Though it may be used mainly by home bakers, it’s something to remember when shopping. So what should you do? Read the labels!

WORDS TO UNDERSTAND side: A small portion of food you have besides your main course at a restaurant.

Chapter

5

Fast Foods, Snacks, and Grains

A

balanced diet is important no matter where and when you’re eating. Even when you’re out at a fast-food restaurant or eating snacks, you can be thinking about getting your five food groups in, including grains.

FAST FOOD Fast food is very popular. It’s helpful for families on the go, it’s cheap, and it tastes good to most people. Unfortunately, fast food tends to be pretty unhealthy. Most fast food is very high in certain nutrients that people don’t actually need a lot of. For example, many fast-food items are high in sodium (another word for salt). French fries, hamburgers, onion rings, and more all have really high amounts of sodium. Over time, eating too much sodium can lead to health problems.

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MY DAILY DIET: GRAINS

Although grains are used to make fast food, like in the bun of this hamburger, they are highly processed and have had much of the nutritional content taken out.

Fast Foods, Snacks, and Grains

37

Cooking fast food in grease like this is fast and tastes good, but it adds lots of unhealthy fat to the foods you eat.

Fast-food menu items are also often high in unhealthy fats. Fried foods in particular can have too much unhealthy fat. Don’t forget the sugar. Junk food, including fast food, often has high amounts of sugar. While people need a little sugar every day, they don’t need the many grams of sugar found in soda, ice cream, cookies, and many other snack foods.. Like sodium, too much sugar over time can lead to health problems. The big problem with fast food is that it has a lot of calories and not so many good nutrients. Calories are a measure of how much energy a food has in it. In general, people need between 1,800 and 2,200 calories each day, depending on how old they are, how big they are, how active they are, and whether they are a boy or a girl. One fast-food meal can have more than 1,000 calories, which is half—or more—of the total calories someone needs for the day. And the person eating that meal isn’t getting many good nutrients. Instead, she’s getting lots of salt, fat, and sugar. Luckily, some fast-food restaurants are noticing that people want to eat healthier. They’re offering healthier menu options so that you can make smarter choices when eating out.

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MY DAILY DIET: GRAINS

RESEARCH PROJECT Do some field research. The next time you go to a fast-food restaurant, see if you can identify as many whole-grain menu items as possible. Sometimes, fast-food restaurants will have a brochure explaining what their healthier options are and the nutrients in those options. Ask the cashier if the restaurant has any information like that to hand out. If you go to more than one fast-food place, do some comparative research. In other words, compare one restaurant to another. Keep a list of all the whole grain items you find at each restaurant you go to. Which restaurant has the most whole grain options? Which has the least?

One way you can eat healthier at fast-food restaurants is to look for grains. Even better, look for items containing whole grains. In the past, whole grains were rare at fast-food places, but more are adding whole grains to their menus. You might be able to order whole-wheat bread with your sandwich or a whole-wheat tortilla with your wrap. A few fast-food places even offer a whole-wheat bun option for burgers. Brown rice is another great whole-grain choice offered by some fast-food places. Order brown rice in a taco or burrito. Some Asian fast-food restaurants will also offer brown rice as a side. At fast-food restaurants that serve pasta, order whole-wheat pasta. For breakfast, order oatmeal to start your day with grains. Some places have granola parfaits, which are made out of oats. Get whole-wheat English muffins or bread in your breakfast sandwich. Whole-wheat bagels taste good, too. Fast-food meals are healthier if treated as a special-occasion treat. But even on those occasions, you can get the most health out of your meal without sacrificing any flavor or fun. Choose whole grains, and know you’re making a great choice!

SNACKS Snacks can be a great addition to a healthy diet. The point of eating snacks is so you don’t run out of energy between meals. If you eat breakfast before school at 7:00 and can’t eat lunch until 12:00, you have to go 5 hours without eating. Many people need a boost of energy in the middle, so they have a snack. Snacks are also great ways to get some of the food groups and nutrients you’ve been missing in your day. If you don’t get a ton of grains with your regular meals, you can add a grain snack, like crackers—whole grain, of course. But remember, snacks aren’t automatically healthy. You can eat really unhealthy things for a snack, which doesn’t do you any good. Junk food snacks don’t give you lasting energy, and they don’t give you many nutrients. Chips, candy, sodas, and baked goods all count as junk food. They don’t make very good snacks.

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TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Name three things that make fast foods so unhealthy. What is the range of calories that people need to eat every day? List two things you could order on a fast-food menu that count as healthy grains. Why are junk foods considered unhealthy snacks? Do potato chips count as a healthy or unhealthy snack? Why?

You can easily sneak in some healthy grains—and whole grains—into your snacks. Here are a few ideas to try out: • Popcorn. Go for air-popped or stove-popped popcorn that doesn’t have lots of oil, butter, and salt already on it. You can add some olive oil and salt after you pop it to add some flavor. • Whole-wheat crackers. Eat a few crackers with cheese, deli meat, or hummus to mix in some dairy or protein foods along with your grains. • Peanut butter and jelly quesadilla. Spread some peanut butter and jelly on a wholewheat tortilla and fold it in half for a new kind of quesadilla. You can also use tortillas to make snack wraps with veggies and cream cheese. • Parfaits. Add oats and fruit to yogurt to make a sweet and healthy snack with grains, fruit, and dairy. • English muffin pizzas. Spread tomato sauce, cheese, veggies, and/or pepperoni on whole-wheat English muffins. Then bake them for a few minutes in the oven or toaster oven. • Pretzels and peanut butter or hummus. Choose whole-wheat pretzels if you can. All these healthy grain snacks will keep you fueled up between meals. Unhealthy snacks like sugary candy make you crash after a little while, but you’ll be able to make it through your day with whole-grain snacks.

WORDS TO UNDERSTAND circulatory system: Your network of blood vessels and your heart, which work together to bring oxygen and nutrients to your body. stroke: A blocked or bleeding blood vessel inside your brain.

Chapter

6

The Big Picture

W

hen you’re younger, you may feel like you don’t have the power to make a lot of your own choices. You can’t really choose where you live. Or what school you go to. Or maybe even when you go to sleep or what activities you do. You can make choices about your health, though. You have the power to make healthy or unhealthy choices. One of the big choices you have to make is between healthy and unhealthy food. You can choose, to a point, what you eat at school. You can choose how to spend any extra money you have on junk foods or other things. Even if you think your family has all the power when it comes to choosing meals, you can choose to try to convince your family to serve healthier foods. And as you grow up, you’ll have more and more choices. Practice making good, healthy food choices now, and you’ll be ready for when you have even more responsibility. It’s your health—and it’s your responsibility.

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MY DAILY DIET: GRAINS

MAKE CONNECTIONS Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body deals with sugar. In a healthy person, a substance called insulin helps the body absorb and use sugar. Bodies of people with diabetes don’t produce enough insulin or don’t produce it at all. Diabetes can lead to kidney problems, eye problems, foot problems, and more. In the past, young people generally only got type 1 diabetes. That type doesn’t really have anything to do with diet or weight. Today, both young people and adults get type 2 diabetes. This form is tied to unhealthy foods and weight gain. People have such unhealthy diets that more and more young people are getting type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is no longer just an adult disease. Kids and teens who get it have to live with the disease for the rest of their lives.

YOUR HEALTH TODAY A big reason to eat healthfully is because you’ll feel better! Unhealthy diets can make people feel grumpy and tired. It can give them headaches and stomach problems. On the other hand, healthy diets give people steady energy and keep moods up. In that case, why wouldn’t you eat healthy food? Healthy diets are important for a couple of other reasons, too. Healthy foods can help protect you from getting sick. The immune system fights off germs and keeps you healthy. A good diet includes foods that give the immune system a boost. A stronger immune system may mean getting sick less often. Eating healthy foods doesn’t mean you’ll never get sick again. But you may get sick less often and get better faster. A healthy diet also helps you have a healthy weight. A healthy weight is all about feeling good, not about looks and beauty. Someone who has a healthy weight can do all the things he wants to do, and his body works the way it should. Weight gain gets in the way of good health. People who weigh too much have more trouble moving around and doing daily activities. Being overweight or obese (weighing a

TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS 1. What does the immune system do for the body? What does a healthy immune system do for you? 2. What are some of the health problems associated with weight gain? 3. Name two ways eating grains can improve your present-day health? 4. According to the sidebar, what age person now develops type 2 diabetes? 5. What are three of the diseases that eating whole grains can help prevent people from developing in the future?

The Big Picture

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RESEARCH PROJECT This chapter mentions a study scientists did that found women who ate whole grains were less likely to have a heart attack. Use the Internet to find another study linking whole grains to fewer health problems. See if you can figure out the hypothesis. A hypothesis is an answer to a scientific question, which can be tested using experiments. For the study in this chapter, the hypothesis may have been that eating whole grains reduces a woman’s chance of having a heart attack. State the hypothesis of the study you have found. Write down answers to the following questions: What is the health problem being studied? Who conducted the study, and who was being studied? What was the time frame for the study? What did the researchers find? Did the research support their hypothesis, or did it disprove their hypothesis?

lot more than is healthy) can lead to serious health issues, like joint problems, diabetes, heart disease, and more. Grains and a balanced diet help keep weight gain in check. If you choose to eat grains and other healthy foods instead of junk food, you can have a healthy weight and avoid some of those health problems.

YOUR HEALTH TOMORROW A healthy diet, including whole grains, can really help you out in the future, too. By eating healthy foods today, you can work to avoid serious health problems later in life. Whole grains can help prevent a range of problems. Scientists think they lower the risk of cardiovascular disease—diseases of the heart and circulatory system. One scientific study found that women who ate two or three times as many whole grains as other women were much less likely to have a heart attack over the next 10 years. The list of diet-related diseases is long. Diabetes, stroke, and even some forms of cancer are linked to unhealthy diets. Eating more whole grains may help you avoid some of those things. And if you’re eating grains and other healthy foods, you’re probably not eating so much junk food. That’s a double win! If you make healthy choices, you’ll thank yourself today and in the future. You’ll be getting all the nutrients you need, from fiber to vitamin B to iron. Whether you’re eating grains at home, at school, in a fast-food restaurant, or for a snack, you’ll know you’re making the right choice.

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Find Out More ONLINE Grains www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/grains.html MyPlate kidshealth.org/kid/nutrition/food/pyramid.html Snacks kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/snack_attack.html#cat119 Whole Grains www.eatwellbewell.org/kids/healthy-habits/whole-grains The Whole Grains Council wholegrainscouncil.org

IN BOOKS Powell, Jillian, and Clare O’Shea. Cooking with Cereals and Grains. New York: Rosen Central, 2011. Reinke, Beth Bence. The Grains Group. North Mankato, Minn.: Child’s World, 2013 Sertori, Trisha. Grains, Bread, Cereal, and Pasta (Body Fuel for Healthy Bodies). Pelham, N.Y.: Benchmark Books, 2008. Somervill, Barbara A. Producing Grains. Mankato, Minn.: Heinemann Raintree, 2012. Spilsbury, Louise. Grains (Eat Smart). Mankato, Minn.: Heinemann, 2009.

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Series Glossary of Key Terms Carbohydrates: The types of molecules in food that we get most of our energy from.

Foods like sugars and grains are especially high in carbohydrates. Dairy: Milk or foods that are made from milk. Diabetes: A disease where the body can’t use sugar to produce energy correctly. Diet: All the foods and nutrients that you normally eat. Energy: The power stored in food that lets your body move around and carry out other body functions. Farm: A place where plants and animals are grown and raised to produce food. Fast food: Food designed to be ready for the customer as fast as possible. Usually it’s more expensive and less healthy than fresh food, but it is very convenient. Fiber: Tough parts of plant foods that your body can’t digest. Fiber helps your digestive system function normally. Fruits: A food group that includes the edible parts of plants that contain the seeds. They are often colorful and have a sweet flavor. Grains: The seeds of various kinds of grass plant. Grains include rice, wheat, corn, and many others. They are high in carbohydrates and fiber, and can be stored for a long time. Harvest: The process of gathering crops or the time when crops are gathered. Local foods: Foods that are grown close to where they are eaten, so they don’t have to be transported very far. Minerals: Materials found naturally in metals or rocks. Our bodies need certain minerals in very small quantities. Nutrients: Any part of food that our body uses in some way to survive and stay healthy. Obesity: A state of being so overweight that it begins to be bad for your health. Organic: A way of producing food in which no genetic modifications, harmful pesticides, or hormones can be used. Protein: The chemical parts of food that your body uses to build muscles and perform certain body processes. If your body runs out of carbohydrates and fat, it will start using protein for energy. Vegetables: Plant foods that are usually made of the flower, stem, leaf, or root of a plant. They are usually high in fiber and certain nutrients. Vitamins: Certain kinds of molecules that your body cannot produce. Instead, you need to get them in your diet to stay healthy.

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Index Asia 11, 13, 38 athletes 31

junk food 24, 37–39, 41, 43 legumes 13, 24

bran 15, 19–21 carbohydrates 18–19, 24 celiac disease 19, 21 corn 11, 14–15 dairy 23–25, 27, 29, 39 diabetes 42–43 diet 11, 23–25, 27–29, 32–33, 35, 38, 42–43 domestication 11, 14 endosperm 15, 19, 21 energy 18–19, 31, 37–38, 42 factories 15, 21, 26, 31 farmers 11–15 farms 13–15 fast food 35–37 fat 18–19, 21, 24–25, 37 food groups 11, 23–25, 27–30, 35, 38 fruit 17, 23–25, 28–29, 39 germ 15, 19, 21 grocery stores 13, 15, 31 harvest 11, 13–14 heart 21, 40, 43 immune system 16, 19, 21, 42 intolerance 19, 22, 25

machines 14–15 macronutrients 18, 21 Mexico 14 micronutrients 18–19 Middle East 13 minerals 19, 21, 24 MyPlate 27–30, 32–33 nutrients 16–21, 23–25, 28, 32, 35, 37–38, 40, 43 oats 11, 15, 19, 25, 29, 38–39 protein 11, 18–19, 23–25, 28–29, 39 refined 15, 19, 21, 24, 32–33 rice 11, 13, 15, 19, 29, 31, 33, 38 salt 24, 35, 37, 39 seeds 9, 11, 13–14, 19, 32–33 snacks 25, 35, 38–39, 43 stamp 31 sugar 18–20, 22, 24, 37, 42 transportation 15 United States 13–15, 18, 23 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 27–28, 31–33

47 vegetables 11, 17, 23–25, 28–29 vitamins 17, 19, 21, 24–25, 43 weight 24, 42–43

wheat 10–15, 19, 29, 31–33, 38–39 whole grain 15, 19–21, 24, 29, 31–33, 38–39, 42–43

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About the Author & Consultant Rosa Waters lives in New York State. She has worked as a writer for several years, producing works on health, history, and other topics. Dr. Lisa Prock is a developmental behavioral pediatrician at Children’s Hospital (Boston) and Harvard Medical School. She attended college at the University of Chicago, medical school at Columbia University, and received a master’s degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health. Board-certified in general pediatrics and developmental behavioral pediatrics, she currently is Clinical Director of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and Consultant to the Walker School, a residential school serving children in foster care. Dr. Prock has combined her clinical interests in child development and international health with advocacy for children in medical, residential, and educational settings since 1991. She has worked in Cambodia teaching pediatrics and studying tuberculosis epidemiology; and in Eastern Europe visiting children with severe neurodevelopmental challenges in orphanages. She has co-authored numerous original publications and articles for families. She is a also nonprofit board member for organizations and has received numerous local and national awards for her work with children and families.

Picture Credits Dreamstime.com: 8: Al1962 10: Brett Critchley 12: Kviktor 16: Photoeuphoria 18: Alain Lacroix 20: Guniita 22: Eric Cote 26: Monkey Business Images

28: Monkey Business Images 32: Anitasstudio 34: Monkey Business Images 36: Adrin Shamsudin 37: Fedor Kondratenko 40: Suzanne Tucker 30: www.choosemyplate.gov