Food For Life

Scripture: Genesis 21-23

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will review the story of Abraham, God’s Promises and Isaac.
  • Students will learn Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away and they were struggling to find food and water.
  • Students will learn/review the concept of the nutritional values in food compared to the calories and what a person needs their body to do on that diet.
  • Students will participate in an activity to discover the healthiest diet to have for what they need/want to accomplish in life.

Guiding Question: How can what you eat help you accomplish your goals?

Materials: various foods common in the diets of your students (be sure to include healthy as well as snack foods and desserts) or photos of those foods, resources listing nutritional values of various foods, food labels of common foods, calorie requirements to do various physical activities, suggested food pyramid or other suggestions of healthy daily diet

Procedure: Review the story of Abraham focusing especially on the story of Hagar and Ishmael being cast out. Discuss with the students how Ishmael and Hagar were suffering partially because it was difficult to locate food and water in the wilderness. Discuss how one of the first things they would have needed to do was find good sources of food and hydration. Teach/review the basics of nutrition including the concept of foods containing vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, food as energy produced by the calories in that food, idea of everything we do requiring calories to accomplish those tasks.

Show students the foods, nutritional materials, food labels,etc. Have them examine the foods they would normally eat in a day. Can they calculate the nutrients they are getting? What are they missing in their diet that is suggested for a healthy diet? What do they normally do in a day? How many calories might it take to accomplish that? How many are they actually eating? What can they do with the results to make their diet healthier and more efficient?

Additional Questions:

  • If you were in a situation like Hagar and Ishmael, what would be the best foods to have in your possession??

Supplemental Activity: Have more advanced students research foods and nutritional information. If they were in a situation like Hagar and Ishmael, what three or foods would be the best to have with them? If students come up with a variety of answers, have them defend their choice and the class can vote on which foods they agree they should take on a similar journey.

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