When Riba Riordon assigned The Way We Eat series to her nutrition class, her students dubbed the project “desperate housewives.”
“I told them to have fun with it and learn from this package,” Riordon said in a phone interview from Bathurst High School in Bathurst, N.B.
She learned of the series from fellow teacher Brian Neumann, father of one of the series’ registered dietitians, Suzanne Neumann.
Riordon asked students to choose one of the makeover families and analyze its meals. They chose Kirsten Ulrich’s story.
“The kids kind of identified with that story,” Riordon said. “They could feel for that woman. She’s a nurse, she knows better. But she’s a single mom, she comes home dead tired, and she wants to take better care of her kids.”
Riordon’s students’ summary of the series’ lessons includes the following:
- Don’t be ignorant of the nutritional information around you. If you wish to change your habits, allow yourself to learn how.
- Eating meals together at the table more often promotes family bonding and conversations.
- There is always a way to get back on track. It’s a matter of taking small steps at a time.
“Now we all want to know how the makeover turns out,” Riordon said.
-By Florence Sicoli
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