New health guidelines: five and 15

FIVE AND 15

Canada’s Health Minister wants everyone to remember two simple numbers: “five” and “15.”

You’ll hear a lot about five and 15 in the coming months. They’ll be in ads, on websites, on posters in the grocery store and on foods themselves.

What does five and 15 mean? It has to do with how nutritious food is. Five means “a little” and 15 means “a lot.”

When you look at the list of “Nutrition Facts” printed on food items in the grocery store, you’ll see that each nutrient is given a percentage. It tells you how much of that nutrient is in a product, compared to how much you should have of that nutrient for the entire day.

For instance, if it says a product contains 4% Fat, it means it contains four per cent of the fat you should have in a whole day.

According to the new five and 15 rules, if a nutrient is five per cent or under, the food contains “a little.” If it’s 15 per cent or more, the food contains “a lot.”

So if you want more fibre in your diet, look for foods containing more than 15 per cent of the daily allowance of fibre.

On the other hand, if you’re trying to cut down on sodium, look for foods that have less than five per cent of the daily allowance of sodium.

The new guidelines will help consumers better understand how the foods they buy can affect their health. A new ad campaign about “five and 15” will begin in December.

Curriculum Connection
“What questions do you ask yourself to make sure you understand what you are reading?”

“How do you know if you are on the right track?” “When you come to a word or phrase you don’t understand, how do you solve it?” “How do you figure out what information is important to remember?” “What do you do when you get confused during reading?”

Primary
Identify, initially with some support and direction, what strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).

Junior
Identify the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and explain, in conversation with the teacher and/or peers, or in a reader’s notebook, how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).

Grammar Feature
Number words. When writing, how do you know when to write the word for a number or the digits? The rule that most writers follow is: numbers less than 10 are written as words and numbers 10 or over are written as digits.

“What does five and 15 mean?”

“… four per cent of the fat you should have in a whole day.”

Extensions
Do you think the new ad campaign will be effective and help people eat better? Why do you think so? Where should these advertisements be shown in order to be as effective as possible?

Customers prefer "old" Gap logo

The Gap won't be changing
its logo any time soon.

Image: Dorsetdude, Wikimedia Commons

The Gap is a popular clothing store. It sells clothes for babies, kids and adults.

Have you ever seen The Gap’s logo? Millions of people have and they obviously like it, because when the retailer decided to change its logo, its customers revolted.

The Gap posted its proposed new logo on its website. It said the new logo was more modern than its old logo.

But before it could replace the old logo with its new one, customers started complaining. They complained on Facebook and Twitter and they sent e-mails to the company.

Within a few days, they knew they had made a huge mistake. Customers liked the old logo and didn’t want it to change. So they changed their mind, and withdrew the new logo.

On their website they posted a note to customers: “OK. We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight.” The “blue box” refers to the fact that the old logo is the word GAP inside a blue box.

Some people are wondering if the “new logo introduction” was just a way to sell more clothing. Even though it looks like The Gap made a huge error, in fact they received a lot of attention from millions of people—and it didn’t cost them a cent.

And it turns out, they needed the publicity. Sales at Gap stores in North America have been falling this year.

Whatever the reason, there is no doubt that The Gap won’t be changing its logo any time soon. Its customers have spoken.

Related Links
The Gap's statement about the logo change.

Curriculum Connection

“What questions do you ask yourself to make sure you are understanding what you are reading?” “How do you know if you are on the right track?” “When you come to a word or phrase you don’t understand, how do you solve it?” “How do you figure out what information is important to remember?” “What do you do when you get confused during reading?”

Primary
Identify, initially with some support and direction, what strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).

Junior
Identify the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and explain, in conversation with the teacher and/or peers, or in a reader’s notebook, how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).

Grammar Feature
Today’s article uses quotation marks in an “interesting” way. Twice, words are in quotation marks but no one is speaking. This is because quotation marks can also be used to show sarcasm or irony.
“blue box” - The Gap logo is not actually a blue box.
“new logo introduction” - The new logo introduction may have been a trick to get people talking about the Gap.
Extensions
Why is a logo such a powerful image? Why do you think customers were upset about the logo of the Gap changing? Is there a logo or a business that you feel strongly attached to?

Does Ronald McDonald really smell bad?

FUN WAYS TO GET KIDS TO EAT BETTER

Everyone knows that it’s healthier to eat fruits and veggies than it is to eat fast foods and junk food.

But how do you get kids to eat the healthy stuff and avoid the foods that are bad for them?

It’s especially difficult today when fast food firms like McDonald’s offer toys with their hamburgers, when fast food is packaged to attract kids, and when ads make junk food seem healthy and fun.

Parents, chefs and farmers are fighting back in some pretty unusual ways.

For instance, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain tells his three-year-old daughter that Ronald McDonald kidnaps children, has cooties and that he smells like pooh.

He says he young children don’t care about calories and nutrition. But cooties, they understand, he says.
Bolthouse Farms, which sells carrots and other healthy foods, has created new packaging that makes their baby carrots look like bags of chips. And their website has a commercial that’s a lot like a Cheetos ad.

Are these chips? Nope - they're baby carrots, dressed up like
junk food to make them more appealing to kids.

Parents also need to help in the battle to get kids eating healthy food, say nutritionists. Simple things like making breakfasts more nutritious or cutting back on juice can really go a long way towards helping kids eat more healthy.

It’s also good to get kids in the kitchen, cooking their own meals. They’re more likely to eat healthy food if they cook it themselves. Toronto’s The Stop Community Food Centre offers a cooking program for kids aged 8 to 12. Kids are 20 times more likely to eat vegetables they’ve prepared themselves than ones that are just served to them, says The Stop’s co-ordinator.

This article was adapted from an article in the Globe and Mail by Wency Leung.

Curriculum Connection

This article contains many high frequency words and words that are relevent to kids’ lives. Ensure that these words are read fluently and that they do not interfere with comprehension.

Primary
Automatically read and understand most high-frequency words, many regularly used words, and words of personal interest or significance, in a variety of reading contexts (OME, Reading: 3.1).

Junior
Automatically read and understand most words in a range of reading contexts (OME, Reading: 3.1).

Grammar Feature
Never say never! Children often start sentences with the words, “but” or “and.” This is generally a problem. However, in today’s article, the author starts three different sentences with these words. Explore and investigate why it works and why it shouldn’t be done all the time.

“But how do you get kids to eat the healthy stuff and avoid the foods that are bad for them?”

“But cooties, they understand, he says.”

“And their website has a commercial that’s a lot like a Cheetos ad.”

Extensions
Eating healthy foods is a huge problem in our city and country. What would you do to help people make healthy choices? What problems do you think you would have?

"Saddle" seats on airplanes

AIRLINES TRYING TO REDUCE FARES, CUT "FRILLS"

Flying is one of the most expensive forms of transportation.

Airlines are always looking for ways to make flying cheaper, so more people will choose it over less expensive types of transportation like trains or cars.

One way airlines reduce the cost of flights is to make passengers pay for any frills or extras such as meals, drinks, checked baggage and -- as with one airline in Europe -- even use of the washroom. Ireland's Ryanair makes passengers pay one British pound to use the bathroom on the plane with a coin slot in the side of the door.

Now, a company called Aviointeriors has invented a new type of airline seat. It gives passengers less leg room than traditional seats, allowing airlines to pack more people into a plane. More people per plane means a lower cost for each person's airline ticket.

The new seat resembles a saddle and provides just 58 cm of leg room compared with the 81 cm of leg room offered by traditional airline seats.

With the new seats, passengers would bear most of their weight on their legs, so the seats would only be useful for short flights, of no more than three hours.

The seats apparently feel like you're sitting in a saddle. They have a hook to hang your purse or coat on.

Several airlines have expressed an interest in purchasing the new seats.

McDonald's recalls Shrek glasses

DON'T DRINK FROM THOSE GLASSES, DON-KEH!


McDonald's is recalling all of the "Shrek" glasses it sold recently, because the paint on them could make people sick.

The paint contains cadmium, which could cause long-term health effects for people who drink from the glasses. It would take a lot of cadmium to hurt someone - far more than just a few drinks - but the company wants to take no chances.

The company has sold 12 million of the glasses in the United States. People who bought the glasses can take them back to McDonald's for a full refund.

McDonald's has been promoting the new movie, "Shrek Forever After" and was selling the glasses in the US and Canada for about $2 each. The glasses feature pictures of Shrek, Princess Fiona, Donkey and Puss n' Boots.

It seems that not every McDonald's restaurant in Canada has gotten the message about the recall. Last Friday, a reporter from the Toronto Star went into a McDonald's restaurant at the Eaton Centre and was able to buy two Shrek glasses. An employee at the restaurant told the reporter that he was aware of the recall in the US but hadn't heard about one in Canada.

Links:
McDonald's corporate website, featuring the recall notice (see below).
An article in The Toronto Star, featuring pictures of the glasses.

Recall notice:
Below is the recall notice posted on McDonald's corporate website.


Shrek Glassware Recall – Customer Refund Information
Updated June 5, 2010

In collaboration with Health Canada and as a precautionary measure, McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited today issued a voluntary recall of its four Shrek Forever After™ glasses.

Customers are asked to stop using the glasses and are invited to contact our dedicated, bilingual customer service centre at 1-877-495-5502 with any questions.

Hours are:
Monday to Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. EST
Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST
Sunday, June 6 only: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST

Customers can return their glasses to a McDonald’s Canada restaurant for a cash refund.

McDonald’s safety standards are among the highest in the industry and the company has a strong track record. There have been no reports of illnesses related to the use of these glasses.

The well-being of our customers is our top priority. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but product safety and quality at McDonald’s will not be compromised.