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Community Corner

Tinley Park HS Students Learn What Junk Food Does to Their Bodies

Tinley Park High School students in Mrs. Jen Simak’s health classes experienced just what their favorite junk food is doing to their bodies in a fun experiment.  The students were all required to bring their favorite package of junk food to class and learned how to read the food label on the package for serving size, calories, and nutritional value.  Each student calculated how many servings and calories they eat per week and then per year.  Using that number of calories, they calculated how many pounds they would gain from that one junk food item.  The numbers were very surprising.  The next day, students were taught how to use a pedometer on their chosen type of technology.  Most students used smart phones, although some chose to use ipads or other tablets.  The students walked a half mile wearing a backpack loaded with their appropriate “weight gain” from their favorite junk food.  They also calculated how many calories they would need to burn to equal the amount of junk food they like to eat.  The students really seemed alarmed by the amount of weight they could potentially gain, but enjoyed using their devices as pedometers. 

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