Healthy Eating Tales: Introducing Tommy, Tammy, and the Food Pyramid Kids

Meet Tommy and Tammy Tompkins. They are both nine years old and in the fourth grade.

Why are the two siblings both nine years old? Tommy and Tammy are fraternal twins.

Teacher Says or Asks: What does it mean to be a fraternal twin?

Students Respond: Fraternal twins are siblings that are born on the same day; however, they do not look alike.

That's right. Although Tommy and Tammy were born on the same day to the same parents, they do not look alike. Not only that, they rarely ever act alike. What's more, they are extremely competitive.

When the two of them play kickball during recess, they always play on opposite teams. Tammy works hard to kick the ball harder than Tommy. Tommy works hard to run the bases faster than Tammy. If Tommy's team wins, he brags about the win to Tammy all evening. If Tammy's team wins, she brags about the win to Tommy all evening.

After school, Tammy always tries hard to finish her homework before Tommy. Tommy tries to do the same. Here is why.

At 7:00 each evening, a show comes on television that Tommy really likes. At the very same time, a different show comes on television that Tammy really likes. Unfortunately, they only have one TV in the house.

Since Tommy and Tammy like different shows on television, their parents made a smart decree. Mrs. Tompkins said, "Okay, Kids. Here's the deal. Whoever finishes their homework first gets to decide which show we will watch as a family each night."

Tommy tries really hard to not only finish his homework before Tammy, he also tries to get better grades than Tammy. Tammy tries to do the same. Like I said, they are extremely competitive.

A Very Strange Dream

One night, Tammy had a very strange dream. She dreamed that inside her stomach, there lived a little kid named Food Pyramid Girl. In her dream, Food Pyramid Girl said, "Hey, Tammy! Did you know that I have a fraternal twin too?"

Tammy said, "You do? What's your twin's name?"

Food Pyramid Girl said, "My fraternal twin is named Food Pyramid Boy."

Tammy asked, "Where does your fraternal twin live?"

Food Pyramid Girl said, "My twin brother lives inside of Tommy's stomach just like I live inside of your stomach."

Tammy said, "Wow! That's amazing!"

Tammy thought for a while. Then she said, "You know, we've been studying Food Pyramids at school."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "I know. I hope you're learning something."

Tammy defensively said, "I am. But, ..., why?"

Food Pyramid Girl said, "I'll tell you why in a moment. First, we better make certain you and everybody else knows how a food pyramid works."

Note to Teacher: Display the poster of the Food Pyramid Kids.

Teacher Says or Asks: Look at the poster of the Food Pyramid Kids.

Teacher Says or Asks: What does the orange color represent?

Students Respond: The orange color represents the amount of grains that kids and adults are supposed to eat every day.

Teacher Says or Asks: An average kid of age 9 to 13 needs to eat about 1800 calories a day. How many grains should kids of age 9 to 13 eat?

Students Respond: A kid between the ages of 9 to 13 needs to 6 ounces of grain per day.

Teacher Says or Asks: What are some of the main nutrients found in grains?

Students Respond: Grains contain dietary fiber, several B vitamins, and minerals.

Teacher Says or Asks: Name some foods that fit the grains category.

Students Respond: Whole grains include brown rice, buckwheat, bulgur (cracked wheat), oatmeal, popcorn, whole wheat cereal flakes, muesli, whole grain barley, whole grain cornmeal, whole rye, whole wheat bread, whole wheat crackers, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat sandwich buns and rolls, whole wheat tortillas, wild rice, amaranth, millet, quinoa, sorghum, and triticale. Refined grains include cornbread, corn tortillas, couscous, crackers, flour tortillas, grits, noodles, spaghetti, macaroni, pitas, pretzels, corn flakes, white bread, white sandwich buns and rolls, and white rice.

Teacher Says or Asks: What does the green color represent?

Students Respond: The green color represents the amount of vegetables that kids and adults are supposed to eat every day.

Teacher Says or Asks: How many vegetables should kids of age 9 to 13 eat?

Students Respond: A kid between the ages of 9 to 13 needs to 2 ½ cups of vegetables per day.

Teacher Says or Asks: What are some of the main nutrients found in vegetables?

Students Respond: Many vegetables contain potassium, dietary fiber, folate aka folic acid, vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin C.

Teacher Says or Asks: There are five categories of vegetables: dark green vegetables, orange vegetables, vegetables known as dry beans and peas, starchy vegetables, and the vegetable category called other vegetables. Name some foods that fit the dark green vegetable category.

Students Respond: Bok Choy, broccoli, collard greens, dark green leafy lettuce, kale, mesclun, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, spinach, turnip greens, and watercress.

Teacher Says or Asks: Name some foods that fit the orange vegetable category.

Students Respond: Acorn squash, butternut squash, carrots, hubbard squash, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes

Teacher Says or Asks: Name some foods that fit the vegetable category called dry beans and peas.

Students Respond: Black-eyes peas, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), kidney beans, lentils, mature lima beans, navy beans, pinto beans, soy beans, split peas, tofu, and white beans.

Teacher Says or Asks: Name some foods that fit the starchy vegetable category.

Students Respond: Corn, green peas, green lima beans, and potatoes.

Teacher Says or Asks: Name some foods that fit the vegetable category of other vegetables.

Students Respond: Artichoke, asparagus, bean sprouts, beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, green beans, green or red peppers, iceberg lettuce, mushrooms, okra, onions, parsnips, tomatoes, tomato juice, vegetable juice, turnips, wax beans, and zucchini.

Teacher Says or Asks: What does the red color represent?

Students Respond: The red color represents the amount of fruits that kids and adults are supposed to eat every day.

Teacher Says or Asks: How many fruits should kids of age 9 to 13 eat?

Students Respond: A kid between the ages of 9 to 13 needs to 1 ½ cups of fruit per day.

Teacher Says or Asks: What are some of the main nutrients found in fruits?

Students Respond: Fruits include nutrients like potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin C and folate aka folic acid.

Teacher Says or Asks: Name some foods that fit the fruits category.

Students Respond: Apples, apricots, avocado, banana, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, grapefruits, grapes, kiwi fruit, lemons, limes, mangoes, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, fruit cocktail, nectarines, oranges, peaches, pears, papaya, pineapple, plums, prunes, raisins, tangerines, orange juice, apple juice, grape juice, and grapefruit juice.

Teacher Says or Asks: What does the blue color represent?

Students Respond: The blue color represents the amount of milk or milk products that kids and adults are supposed to consume every day.

Teacher Says or Asks: How many milk or milk products should kids of age 9 to 13 consume?

Students Respond: A kid between the ages of 9 to 13 needs to consume 3 cups of milk or milk products per day.

Teacher Says or Asks: What are some of the main nutrients found in milk and milk products?

Students Respond: Milk and milk products contain calcium, potassium, vitamin D, and protein.

Teacher Says or Asks: Name some foods that fit the milk and milk products category.

Students Respond: Milk (skim, 1%, 2%, and whole), chocolate milk, strawberry milk, lactose reduced milks, lactose free milks, puddings made with milk, ice milk, frozen yogurt, ice cream, cheese, and yogurt.

Teacher Says or Asks: What does the purple color represent?

Students Respond: The purple color represents the amount of meat and beans that kids and adults are supposed to eat every day.

Teacher Says or Asks: How many foods from the meat and beans category should kids of age 9 to 13 eat?

Students Respond: A kid between the ages of 9 to 13 needs to eat 5 ounces of foods from the meat and beans category per day.

Teacher Says or Asks: What are some of the main nutrients found in foods from the meat and beans category?

Students Respond: Nutrients found in the foods from the meat and beans category include protein, B vitamins, vitamin E, iron, zinc, and magnesium.

Teacher Says or Asks: Name some foods that fit the meat and beans category.

Students Respond: Beef, ham, lamb, pork, veal, bison, rabbit, venison, liver, giblets, chicken, duck, goose, turkey, ground chicken, ground turkey, eggs, black beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas aka garbanzo beans, falafel, kidney beans, lentils, mature lima beans, navy beans, pinto beans, soy beans, split peas, tofu, white beans, garden burgers, veggie burgers, tempeh, texturized vegetable protein, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, mixed nuts, peanuts, peanut butter, pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, catfish, cod, flounder, haddock, halibut, herring, mackerel, Pollock, porgy, salmon, sea bass, snapper, swordfish, trout, tuna, clams, crab, crayfish, lobster, mussels, octopus, oysters, scallops, squid aka calamari, shrimp, anchovies, clams, tuna, and sardines.

Teacher Says or Asks: What does the yellow color represent?

Students Respond: The yellow color represents the amount of oils that kids and adults are supposed to eat every day.

Teacher Says or Asks: How many oils should kids of age 9 to 13 eat?

Students Respond: A kid between the ages of 9 to 13 needs to consume 5 teaspoons of oil per day.

Teacher Says or Asks: What are some of the main nutrients found in oils?

Students Respond: Oils contain essential fatty acids and vitamin E.

Teacher Says or Asks: Name some foods that fit the oils category.

Students Respond: Canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, olive oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil. Some foods that are high in oil include nuts, olives, some fish, avocados, mayonnaise, certain salad dressings, margarines, butter, beef fat (tallow or suet), chicken fat, pork fat (lard), stick margarine, and shortening.

Continuation of Tammy's Strange Dream

Food Pyramid Girl said, "So, do you understand what my six colors stand for?"

Tammy said, "Yes, I think I do."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "Good! I'm glad you know what my colors stand for because Food Pyramid Boy and I are very competitive. I always like to do things better than he does. He always tries to do things better than I do."

Tammy said, "Tommy and I are the same way."

Just then, in her dream, Tommy came walking up. He said, "Hey, Tammy! I just learned that I have a little kid living inside of my stomach named Food Pyramid Boy."

Tammy said, "Yeah? Well, I just learned that I have a little kid living inside of my stomach named Food Pyramid Girl. And Tommy, they are fraternal twins just like we are."

Tommy said, "Are they competitive just like we are?"

Both Food Pyramid Kids said, "We sure are!"

Tommy asked, "Well, how does it work?"

Tammy said, "Yeah! How do you two compete with each other?"

Food Pyramid Boy said, "I try to have Tommy eat healthier foods than Tammy does."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "Yeah! And I try to have Tammy eat healthier foods than Tommy does."

Tommy and Tammy said, "What do you mean?"

Food Pyramid Girl said, "Do you see how I am missing some of my colors?"

Tammy said, "Yes."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "That's because you did not eat very healthy foods today."

Tammy said, "What do you mean?"

Food Pyramid Girl said, "Tammy, what did you eat for breakfast?"

Tammy said, "I had a chocolate chip waffle with syrup and a Coca-Cola."

Tommy said, "I ate the same thing."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "Was there anything healthy in what either of you ate during that meal?"

Tammy said, "Well, ..., uh, ..., I guess I ate some grains. There are grains in a waffle."

Tommy said, "Yeah, we learned at school that we should eat six ounces of grain each day."

"Food Pyramid Boy said, "Okay. You ate one waffle each. One waffle counted as one-sixth of the grains we need each day."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "That's right. When you ate that waffle, the bottom part of our grains stripe got filled in with orange."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "But that was it. No other colors got filled in as there were no vegetables, fruits, oils, milk products, meat or beans in what you ate. The waffle syrup, the chocolate chips, and the Coca-Cola were not healthy for your body."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "Well, there was about 2 teaspoons of oil in the chocolate chips. So now our oils stripe got filled in two-fifths of the way. But the rest of the ingredients in the chocolate chips were filled with solid fats and added sugars. That didn't help your body or us at all."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "As for the Coke you drank and the maple syrup, they were filled with solid fats, added sugars, and some other ingredients that didn't help us one bit. So not only did you make yourself unhealthy by having that, you made us unhealthy as well."

Tammy and Tommy looked at each other and felt rather guilty. Tammy said, "Uh, ..., sorry about that. I never thought about it in that way."

Tommy said, "Me either! I'm sorry, too."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "What did you eat for lunch?

Tammy said, "I had nachos with cheese and chocolate milk."

Tommy said, "I ate the same thing."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "Was there anything healthy in what you ate for lunch?"

Tommy said, "Well, there were grains in the nachos."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "Yeah! You ate 1 more ounce of grains. So now each of our grain stripes got two-sixths filled up with orange. That was good."

Tammy said, "There was calcium in the cheese that we ate."

Tommy said, "There was also calcium in the chocolate milk we drank."

Food Pyramid Girl asked, "Did you learn at school how much calcium products you are supposed to consume to be healthy?"

Tammy said, "Yes, we are supposed to consume 3 cups worth of milk or milk products per day."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "There was a lot of cheese on those nachos. Plus you drank the milk. That was a little less than 2 cups worth out of three. So you nearly filled up two-thirds of our milk stripes with blue. That was pretty good."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "There was also one more teaspoon of oil in what you eat. So now our oil stripe got three-fifths filled up with yellow."

Tommy and Tammy looked pleased at the thought until Food Pyramid Boy said, "But, you still did not give us any vegetables, fruit, or meat and beans. What's up with that?"

Tommy and Tammy both said, "Oops! Sorry about that."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "What did you eat for dinner?"

Tammy said, "I had three slices of cheese pizza and a Coca-Cola. Then I had chocolate cake for dessert."

Tommy said, "Uh, ..., I ate the very same thing."

Food Pyramid Boy asked, "Was there anything healthy in what you ate at dinner?"

Tommy said, "Well, there was grain in the pizza."

Tammy said, "There was tomato sauce on the pizza, so that counts as a vegetable."

Tommy said, "There was calcium in the cheese. So that part was healthy."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "Okay, there was about 4 ounces of grain in three slices of thin and crispy cheese pizza. So you had six ounces of grain for the day. That was good. Our grains stripe got completely filled in with orange."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "How many vegetables did you learn you were supposed to have each day?"

Tammy said, "We're supposed to have two and a half cups."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "There was no more than one-half of a cup of tomato sauce on that pizza. That meant that you only ate one serving. As a result, you only filled in our vegetable stripe with green one-fifth of the way."

Tommy said, "Well, didn't we manage to get your milk stripe filled in with blue all the way?"

Food Pyramid Boy said, "Yes, there was probably enough calcium in the cheese you had on that pizza to make our milk stripe get filled in up all the way with blue."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "But you did not have any fruit today; therefore, our fruit stripe never got filled in with red."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "How much fruit did you learn you're supposed to eat each day?"

Tammy said, "We're supposed to eat one and one-half cups."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "But you did not give us any."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "You also did not have any food that would fulfill the meat, beans, and protein category. Therefore, our meat and beans stripe never got filled in with any purple."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "How much meat, beans, and proteins are you supposed to eat each day?"

Tommy said, "We're supposed to eat five ounces each day."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "You did not give us any protein today either."

Tommy and Tammy said, "We're sorry. We'll try to do better."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "Now, let's talk about the dessert you ate - chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Do you think there was anything healthy in that?"

Tommy and Tammy looked at each other and said, "Uh, ... well, ..., uh, ... I don't know."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "There was about half a serving of grain because of the flour in the cake. But the rest of it was filled with solid fats and added sugars."
Food Pyramid Boy said, "Plus, since our grains stripe was already completely filled in with orange for the day, the extra grains just added to more fat in your body."

Tammy said, "But I love chocolate cake with icing!"

Tommy said, "Yeah! Me, too!"

Food Pyramid Girl said, "It's not that you can never eat that stuff. It's just that you need to plan better. First, make certain that you fill up all our stripes with the healthy stuff. Then, eat the chocolate cake on a day that you know you will get lots of exercise like playing kickball or riding your bike or running a race. That way, the extra fat in the cake won't hurt your body so badly."

Tammy said, "Oh! That makes sense."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "By the way, Tommy, you don't have to do any better, if you don't want to."

Tommy said, "I don't. Why not?"

Food Pyramid Girl said, "Well, then Food Pyramid Boy might get more colors filled in than I do."

Tommy said, "Hey! Wait a minute. That doesn't sound right."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "Tommy, don't listen to her. You need to make certain we get more colors filled in than my sister does. So Tammy, you keep on eating unhealthy food, if you want to. As for Tommy, he should eat mostly healthy food from now on."

Tammy said, "Hey! That doesn't sound right either."

Food Pyramid Girl said, "Tammy! Please don't let my brother beat me."

Food Pyramid Boy said, "Tommy! Please don't let my sister beat me."

Tommy said, "Well, I am going to try to eat healthier food than Tammy."

Tammy said, "Fat chance! I intend to try to eat healthier food than Tommy."

Tommy and Food Pyramid Boy walked off to Tommy's room to strategize. Tammy and Food Pyramid Girl tried to work out their own strategy.

Just then, Tammy woke up and thought, "What a strange dream!"

In his room, Tommy woke up and thought, "Man! That was one of the strangest dreams I have ever had. I wonder if it could be true?" As you can see, it turns out that Tommy had the same dream as Tammy.

So now, day by day, we will have to see which kid wins: Tommy or Tammy. Which kid do you think will manage to eat healthier food? We will just have to wait and see to find out.

Sequel tale: Healthy Eating Tales #1: Gala Apples and Other Foods

Resources:

My Food-A-Pedia

Explore the Food Guide Pyramid

Inside the Pyramid: Grains

Inside the Pyramid: Vegetables

Inside the Pyramid: Fruits

Inside the Pyramid: Milk and Milk products

Inside the Pyramid: Meat & Beans

Inside the Pyramid: Oils

Health benefits and nutrients found in Grains

Health benefits and nutrients found in Vegetables

Health benefits and nutrients found in Fruits

Health benefits and nutrients found in Milk and Milk products

Health benefits and nutrients found in Meat and Beans

Health benefits and nutrients found in Oils