Chapter 1: Food Is Fuel

Chapter Introduction

Your body runs on energy. Every step you take, every word you read, every heartbeat — all of it costs energy. The energy comes from food.

Energy is measured in a unit called a calorie. When you eat a slice of bread, you take in about 80 calories of energy. When you run for a minute, your body burns about 10 calories. Calories in. Calories out. Your body works with this equation every minute of every day, whether you are paying attention or not.

This chapter is going to teach you how the equation works. You will learn what a calorie is. You will learn how many calories are in the foods you eat most often. You will learn how many calories you burn doing the activities you do most often. By the end of the chapter, you will be able to look at your own day and add up the energy in and the energy out — exactly the way an engineer looks at fuel going into a car.

Coach Food is the Bear. The Bear teaches food. The Bear teaches numbers without flinching, because numbers are how you understand the world. You are old enough to learn this. The Bear is going to teach it the same way your math teacher teaches fractions — directly, clearly, expecting you to learn.

This chapter has four lessons. Lesson 1 is the definition: what a calorie really is and why every food has one. Lesson 2 is the equation: calories in versus calories out, and what each side does. Lesson 3 is the map: the calorie counts of common foods and common activities that you will use again and again. Lesson 4 is the math: how to add up a day on paper and see what your numbers look like.

This is a life skill. Once you have it, no one can take it away. Begin.

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Lesson 1.1: What a Calorie Is

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Define a calorie as a unit of energy
• Explain what the food calorie (kilocalorie) actually measures
• Recognize that all food contains some amount of energy
• Identify calories on a food label
• Describe how the body uses calories for everything it does

Key Terms

A Calorie Is a Unit of Energy

If you measure how tall you are, the unit is inches or centimeters. If you measure how heavy something is, the unit is pounds or kilograms. If you measure how cold the air is, the unit is degrees. All of these are units of measurement. They give you a way to compare things.

Energy is also measured in a unit. The unit is the calorie.

A calorie is just a number. It tells you how much energy something has. Scientists figured out the exact definition long ago: 1 calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree Celsius. That sounds technical, but the practical idea is simple — a calorie is a unit of energy, the same way an inch is a unit of length.

When you read "150 calories" on a glass of milk, that means: "this milk contains 150 units of energy your body can use."

Some foods have lots of calories. Some have very few. Some foods have a lot of calories in a small bite. Some foods have very few calories in a big bite. You will learn how to tell the difference. That is one of the main jobs of this chapter.

Why Food Has Calories

Every food has calories because every food was once alive. Plants store energy from sunlight. Animals eat plants and store the energy too. When you eat a plant or an animal, you take in some of the energy that was stored.

This energy is what your body needs to do everything. Without it, you could not move. Without it, your heart could not beat. Without it, your brain could not think.

Different parts of food carry different amounts of energy. Water has zero calories. Fiber has very few. But the three main parts of food — protein, carbohydrates, and fat — all contain calories. You will learn more about each of them as the chapter goes on.

Where to Find the Calorie Number

Calories are listed on every packaged food in the United States. By law, food companies have to print them on a label called the Nutrition Facts panel.

Open your kitchen pantry. Pick up a box of cereal or a granola bar. Look on the side or back of the package. You will see a chart with the words "Nutrition Facts" at the top. The first big number under that says Calories. That is the number of calories in one serving of the food.

For example:

• A bottle of orange juice might say "Calories 110" — 110 calories per serving (and the serving might be 8 ounces).
• A bag of chips might say "Calories 150" — 150 calories per serving (and one serving might be only a handful, not the whole bag).
• A cereal box might say "Calories 120" — 120 calories per serving (and a serving might be 3/4 of a cup, smaller than most kids actually pour).

You will use this number constantly in this chapter. The first habit the Bear wants you to build is looking at the calorie number on the food label. This takes 5 seconds. It tells you, every time, how much energy is in the food.

For foods that do not come in a package — an apple, a piece of fish, a serving of rice you cooked at home — there are calorie lookup tables. You can find them in cookbooks, in apps, and on government databases. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) keeps a free database of the calorie content of thousands of foods at fdc.nal.usda.gov [1]. You will use a small set of common foods throughout this chapter.

What Your Body Does With Calories

Once you eat, your body breaks the food apart into smaller pieces, then puts those pieces into a slow process called metabolism. Metabolism is how your body turns food into useful energy.

Your body uses that energy for three big jobs:

1. Staying alive. Even when you are doing nothing — sitting on the couch watching a movie — your body is burning a lot of calories just to keep going. Your heart beats. Your lungs breathe. Your brain runs. Your liver, kidneys, and gut all work non-stop. Your body temperature stays steady. All of this burns calories every minute of every day. You will learn the technical word for this in Grade 8: basal metabolic rate, or BMR. For now, the important idea is that your body is burning calories at all times, even at rest.

2. Moving. Every step, every shoulder roll, every word you say, every keystroke you type, every fidget — every movement costs additional calories on top of just staying alive. The more you move, the more calories you burn.

3. Growing. You are 11 or 12. Your body is building new bone, new muscle, new brain, new everything. Building things costs energy. Growing kids burn additional calories just for growth. This is one reason kids your age often feel hungry — your body is using calories at a faster rate than full-grown adults do.

All three of these jobs use the calories you eat. The food you put in your body becomes the energy your body uses to live, move, and grow.

Lesson Check

1. What is a calorie?
2. Where on a food package do you find the calorie number?
3. Why does every food (except water and fiber) have calories?
4. What are the three big jobs your body uses calories for?
5. If a granola bar says "Calories 180" on the label, what does that mean?

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Lesson 1.2: Calories In, Calories Out

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Describe the energy balance equation — calories in versus calories out
• Identify what counts as calories in
• Identify what counts as calories out
• Describe what happens in the body when calories in are greater than calories out, equal to calories out, or less than calories out
• Recognize that this equation runs every single day, whether you pay attention or not

Key Terms

The Equation

Here is the most important equation in the whole chapter. Memorize it. Write it on a sticky note. Put it on your wall.

Calories In − Calories Out = Energy Balance

That's it. That is the whole foundation of nutrition science.

The equation runs every single day. Some days you eat more than you burn. Some days you burn more than you eat. Some days they're roughly equal. The result of the equation across days, weeks, and years is one of the biggest factors in how your body changes over time.

Let's look at what goes on each side.

Calories In

Calories in is the total energy from everything you eat and drink. Every snack. Every meal. Every glass of juice. Every spoonful of yogurt. Every handful of crackers. Every sip of soda. All of it has calories. All of it goes on the in side.

Things that have zero calories:

• Water
• Plain tea or coffee with nothing added
• Diet soda (technically near-zero calories because of artificial sweeteners)
• Most spices and herbs in small amounts

Almost everything else has calories. Even foods that seem "light" — a salad with dressing, a piece of fruit, a snack-pack of nuts — have real calorie content. You can look them up.

To calculate your calories in for a day, you add up the calories in every food and drink you had. If lunch was a turkey sandwich (310), an apple (80), and a glass of milk (150), then lunch was 310 + 80 + 150 = 540 calories. Simple addition.

Calories Out

Calories out is the total energy your body burns in a day. This breaks into three parts:

1. Just-being-alive burn. This is what your body burns at complete rest. It's a big number. For a typical 11- or 12-year-old, this is usually somewhere in the range of 1,200–1,500 calories per day, depending on your size. Researchers measure this carefully in studies of metabolism [2]. This number is the floor — the calories your body would burn even if you spent the whole day in bed.

2. Movement burn. This is everything you do on top of being alive. Walking to school. Carrying books. Standing in line. Fidgeting in your chair. Playing soccer. Running up the stairs. Doing chores. Brushing your teeth. The more you move, the more calories you burn. Active days have a big movement burn. Sedentary days have a small movement burn.

3. Growth burn. Growing bodies use additional calories to build new tissue. A growth-spurt week can add significantly to your calories-out total.

To calculate your calories out for a day, you start with your just-being-alive number, then add the calories burned by movement and activity. You will learn how to calculate just-being-alive precisely in Grade 8. For now, you will use approximate numbers.

What the Equation Means

Once you have both sides, you can do the subtraction.

If calories in are greater than calories out, you are in an energy surplus. Your body has extra energy. The body stores the extra energy — mostly as body fat, but also as glycogen (a short-term sugar store in your muscles and liver), and during growth, as new tissue. Over time, a consistent surplus means the body grows or gains weight or both. For a growing kid, some surplus is necessary — you need extra energy to build new bone and muscle.

If calories in equal calories out, you are in maintenance. Your body's energy stores stay roughly the same. You're not gaining stored energy and you're not losing it. For a fully grown adult who is happy with their body's energy stores, this is the goal.

If calories in are less than calories out, you are in an energy deficit. Your body has to make up the difference somehow. It does this by drawing on stored energy — first glycogen, then body fat. Over time, a consistent deficit means the body uses up its energy stores and weight goes down. This is how weight loss works.

This equation is universal. It works the same for every human on Earth. It is one of the most studied facts in biology. The way researchers most carefully measure it is called the doubly labeled water method, which tracks how much energy a person actually burns over multiple days [3]. The result, every time researchers run the experiment, confirms the equation.

Why This Matters

You may be wondering why a 6th grader needs to know this.

The answer is simple: the energy balance equation is one of the most useful things any human can know about their own body. It works in 5th grade. It works in 10th grade. It works at age 30, age 50, age 80. Once you understand it, you have a tool you can use for your whole life.

People who never learn this are at a disadvantage. They have no way to think clearly about what their body is doing. They are guessing. The Bear does not want you guessing. The Bear wants you to know.

This does not mean you have to count every calorie every day for the rest of your life. Most adults who understand this equation don't track every calorie either. But knowing how it works lets you make sense of what's happening when your body changes — when you gain weight before a growth spurt, when you lose energy stores during a hard sports season, when you feel hungrier on active days, when you feel less hungry on lazy days. The equation explains all of it.

Lesson Check

1. Write out the energy balance equation in your own words.
2. What does "calories in" include?
3. What are the three parts of "calories out"?
4. Explain in your own words what happens when calories in are greater than calories out for a long time.
5. The Bear says knowing this equation is "one of the most useful things any human can know about their own body." Why?

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Lesson 1.3: The Calorie Map — Foods and Activities

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Recall the approximate calorie count of common foods you eat regularly
• Recall the approximate calories burned per minute for common activities
• Use a calorie chart to estimate the calories in a meal you ate
• Use an activity chart to estimate the calories burned in a play session, sport practice, or walk
• Build a personal "calorie map" — a small set of numbers you carry in your head

Key Terms

Memorize These Foods

The Bear is going to give you a small map of common foods and their calorie counts. These are the foods most middle schoolers eat regularly. Once you have these numbers in your head, you can do real calculations in your head, the same way you do quick math with the multiplication table.

The numbers below are approximate. Real food varies a little — a big apple has more calories than a small apple, a thick slice of bread has more than a thin one. But these averages are close enough to be useful. They come from the USDA FoodData Central database [1].

Common foods to memorize:

That's 25 common foods. You won't memorize them in one day. But over the next few weeks, you will see most of these foods many times — at home, at school, at restaurants, at friends' houses. Each time you do, look up or recall the calorie count. Within a month, most of these numbers will live in your head automatically.

A short rule: when you see a food not on the list, look it up. Many foods have surprising calorie counts. A "small" smoothie at a chain shop may have 500 calories. A "salad" with creamy dressing and croutons and cheese can hit 700. The Bear is not telling you to avoid these foods. The Bear is telling you to know.

Memorize These Activities

The other side of the equation: activity burn. Here are common activities and approximate calorie burn rates per minute for a 100-pound kid. Bigger kids burn slightly more; smaller kids burn slightly less. The exact numbers depend on body size, intensity, and a few other things, but these averages are reasonable starting points based on research on adolescent metabolic equivalents [4, 5].

Notice something? Activities most middle schoolers think of as "exercise" — running, biking, swimming, soccer — burn calories at roughly 7-14 per minute. So a 30-minute soccer practice at game pace burns roughly 30 × 9 = 270 calories above just-staying-alive.

Sitting in class for 30 minutes? About 30 × 1 = 30 calories. Watching a movie for 90 minutes? About 90 × 1 = 90 calories. These are very different numbers from movement.

Quick Math With the Map

Let's see how you can use these numbers right now.

Example 1: A real breakfast. A bowl of oatmeal (200 cal) with a sliced banana (100) and a glass of milk (150) = 200 + 100 + 150 = 450 calories in.

Example 2: A real lunch. A turkey-and-cheese sandwich on bread (2 slices bread = 160, turkey = 60, cheese = 110, mayo = 90, total = 420) + apple (80) + milk (150) = 650 calories in.

Example 3: Soccer practice. 60 minutes of game-pace soccer at 9 cal/min = 60 × 9 = 540 calories out above just-staying-alive.

Example 4: A walk to school. 15 minutes of moderate walking at 4 cal/min = 15 × 4 = 60 calories out above just-staying-alive.

You can do this math on a piece of paper in 30 seconds. The Bear is not asking you to do it every day. The Bear is asking you to learn how, so you can do it whenever you want.

Lesson Check

1. About how many calories are in an apple? In a glass of milk? In a chicken breast?
2. About how many calories per minute does a 100-pound kid burn while running? While sitting still?
3. If a kid eats a turkey sandwich (420 cal), a banana (100 cal), and a glass of milk (150 cal) for lunch, how many calories did they eat?
4. If a kid plays soccer at game pace for 45 minutes, about how many calories did they burn (above just-staying-alive)?
5. Why does the Bear say it's worth memorizing the calorie counts of common foods?

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Lesson 1.4: Doing the Math — Your Day on Paper

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Add up your total calories in for one day using a written food log
• Estimate your total calories out for one day using your weight, your just-being-alive estimate, and your activity log
• Subtract calories out from calories in to find your daily energy balance
• Interpret the result — surplus, maintenance, or deficit
• Recognize that one day's balance is just one data point — patterns over weeks matter more than single days

Key Terms

Your Just-Being-Alive Number

Before you do any subtraction, you need an estimate of how many calories your body burns just being alive. You will learn the official formula in Grade 8 (it's called the Mifflin-St Jeor equation). For Grade 6, use this approximate guide based on your weight:

These are middle-of-the-range estimates for kids ages 11-12. Real numbers vary by body composition, height, sex, and individual differences. Grade 8 will teach you how to calculate it more precisely. For now, pick the row closest to your weight and use that number.

This number is the floor of your calories out. Whatever activity you do gets added on top.

Step-by-Step: Calculating Your Daily Energy Balance

Let's do a full example together. Meet Sam. Sam is 12 years old, weighs 90 pounds, and has a typical school day.

Sam's Food Log:

Sam's Activity Log:

Just-being-alive calories (from chart, 90 lb): 1,300

TOTAL CALORIES OUT = 1,300 + 895 = 2,195

Daily Energy Balance = 2,060 − 2,195 = −135 calories (a small deficit)

What does this mean? Sam ate 135 fewer calories than Sam burned today. On a single day, that's a small number — not a big swing in either direction. Sam's body would draw on its energy stores (mostly stored glycogen and a tiny amount of body fat) to make up the small gap.

If Sam ate this way and trained this hard every day for many weeks, the small daily deficits would add up. But one day's small deficit means almost nothing on its own. It's the pattern over time that matters.

Reading Your Result

Here is a quick guide to interpreting a single-day energy balance, for an 11- or 12-year-old:

A small caution: growing kids should not aim for deficits. Your body is building bone, muscle, brain, and organs. Building requires extra energy on top of staying alive. A consistent surplus during growth years is normal and healthy. The Bear teaches the math so you understand what's happening — not so you target a number on either side.

Sometimes the Numbers Won't Match Your Feeling

This will happen. You will run the math and the number will say "surplus" but you'll feel hungry. Or the math will say "deficit" and you'll feel fine.

A few reasons this happens:

• Estimates aren't perfect. The calorie count on a label can be off by 10-20%. Your guess at how big your portion was may also be off. Activity burn rates depend on intensity, weather, and other factors.
• Your body has good days and bad days. Some days digestion is faster. Some days slower. Some days you absorb more of what you eat. Hormones, sleep, stress, sickness — all affect this.
• Hunger isn't only about today. What you ate yesterday and the day before still influences how hungry you feel today.

Trust the math when you do it carefully — but also know that your body sends real signals (hunger and fullness) that exist for good reasons. The Bear teaches both — the math AND the signals. Together they tell you more than either one alone.

Lesson Check

1. What number do you use as a starting point for your "calories out" calculation? Where does it come from?
2. Write out Sam's daily energy balance calculation from the example, in your own words.
3. If a kid's daily balance is +800 calories every day for a month, what's most likely happening to their body?
4. Why is one day's number not a reliable picture of what's really happening with someone's energy stores?
5. Why does the Bear say "growing kids should not aim for deficits"?

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End-of-Chapter Activity: One Day, On Paper

You are going to do exactly what Sam did in the example. Pick one normal day in your life — not a holiday, not a sick day, just a regular school day. Track every food and every activity. Add up both sides. Compute your daily energy balance.

Materials

• A piece of paper or a notebook
• A pencil
• A small calculator (your phone calculator is fine) or do it by hand
• The calorie tables from this chapter (or look up foods not on the list)

Procedure

Step 1 — Track your food. Carry your notebook for one full day. Write down every food and drink you have. Include the amount (1 cup, 2 slices, a handful, etc.). Don't change what you would normally eat — just track it.

Step 2 — Look up calories. For each food, find the calorie count. Use the tables in this chapter. For foods not on the list, look them up on a free database like the USDA FoodData Central, or ask an adult to help you.

Step 3 — Track your activity. Note every activity that was more than 10 minutes long. Write down how many minutes you spent on it.

Step 4 — Get your just-being-alive number. Look up your weight on the chart in Lesson 1.4. (If you're between two weights, pick the closer one or average them.)

Step 5 — Do the math.

• Add up all the calories in your food log → Total Calories In
• Multiply each activity by its calories-per-minute → add those up → Total Activity Calories Above Resting
• Just-being-alive number + Total Activity Calories = Total Calories Out
• Total Calories In − Total Calories Out = Daily Energy Balance

Step 6 — Interpret. Was today a surplus, maintenance, or deficit day? About how big?

Step 7 — Reflect. Write a short paragraph (4-6 sentences) answering:

• What was your daily energy balance?
• Did the result match how you felt by the end of the day?
• What was the biggest single calorie number on your "in" side? On your "out" side?
• Is anything surprising you about your numbers?
• What is one thing you learned by doing this exercise?

Submission

Turn in:

• Your food log (with calorie estimates)
• Your activity log (with calorie estimates)
• Your final math: Calories In, Calories Out, and Daily Energy Balance
• Your reflection paragraph

Total writing: approximately 200-300 words plus the logs.

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Vocabulary Review

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Chapter Quiz

Multiple Choice (10 questions, 2 points each)

1. A calorie is best defined as:

A) A type of sugar B) A unit of energy C) A measure of how fattening a food is D) A vitamin

2. The energy balance equation is:

A) Calories In + Calories Out = Body Fat B) Calories In − Calories Out = Energy Balance C) Calories × Days = Health D) Protein + Fat = Calories

3. If a kid's calories in are greater than their calories out every day for a long time, their body will:

A) Lose energy stores B) Store the extra energy (often as body fat, glycogen, or during growth as new tissue) C) Stop using calories D) Skip meals automatically

4. Approximately how many calories are in an apple (medium-sized)?

A) 5 B) 80 C) 350 D) 700

5. Approximately how many calories does a 100-pound kid burn per minute while running at a moderate jogging pace?

A) 1 B) 4 C) 10 D) 50

6. A turkey sandwich (420 cal) + an apple (80 cal) + a glass of milk (150 cal) is about how many total calories?

A) 200 B) 500 C) 650 D) 950

7. A 30-minute session of soccer at game pace (9 cal/min) burns approximately how many calories above just-staying-alive?

A) 30 B) 90 C) 270 D) 900

8. A 12-year-old kid weighs about 100 pounds. According to the just-being-alive chart, their resting daily burn is approximately:

A) 400 B) 900 C) 1,400 D) 3,000

9. Why does the Bear say "growing kids should not aim for deficits"?

A) Because deficits are mathematically impossible at this age B) Because growing bodies need extra energy to build new bone, muscle, brain, and organs — and deficits over time can slow growth C) Because surpluses are unhealthy D) Because the math doesn't apply to teens

10. Why is one day's energy balance number not a reliable picture of what's really happening in someone's body?

A) Because nobody knows how many calories are in food B) Because the body works in patterns over weeks and months — one day's small ups and downs are normal noise C) Because the body doesn't really need food D) Because all single-day numbers are wrong

Short Answer (5 questions, 4 points each)

11. A kid eats this breakfast: 2 eggs (140 cal total), 2 slices of whole-grain toast with peanut butter (160 cal bread + 95 cal peanut butter), and a glass of milk (150 cal). What is the total calorie count of this breakfast? Show your math.

12. A kid walks moderately to school for 20 minutes (4 cal/min), sits in class for 6 hours (already counted in just-being-alive), and runs for 30 minutes at moderate jogging pace after school (10 cal/min). How many activity calories above just-staying-alive did they burn that day? Show your math.

13. Sam (from the example) ate 2,060 calories and burned 2,195 calories. What was Sam's energy balance? Was it a surplus, maintenance, or deficit? Explain in 2-3 sentences what this means for Sam's body.

14. Write the energy balance equation. Then explain in 2-3 sentences what each side of the equation includes.

15. A friend says, "I don't think calorie counting matters because food is more than numbers." Using what you learned in this chapter, write a 3-4 sentence response from the Bear's point of view that respectfully explains why knowing the math is useful, even if no one needs to count every day.

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Teacher's Guide

Pacing Recommendations

Lesson Check Answers

Lesson 1.1:

1. A unit of energy. 2. On the Nutrition Facts panel, first number after "Calories." 3. Because every food contains stored chemical energy (originally from sunlight, then plants, then animals). 4. Staying alive (resting metabolism), moving, and growing. 5. The granola bar contains 180 units of energy that the kid's body can use.

Lesson 1.2:

1. Calories In − Calories Out = Energy Balance. 2. Everything you eat and drink that has calories. 3. Just-being-alive burn (BMR), movement burn, and growth burn. 4. The body stores the extra energy — short-term as glycogen, long-term as body fat. Over time, body energy stores increase, leading to weight gain. 5. Because it explains real things kids notice — why they feel hungrier on active days, why they gain before a growth spurt, why some people lose weight when they eat less than they burn. It's a tool they can use across their whole life.

Lesson 1.3:

1. Apple ~80; milk ~150; chicken breast ~140 (3 oz) or ~280 (whole). 2. Running ~10 cal/min; sitting still ~1 cal/min. 3. 420 + 100 + 150 = 670 calories. 4. 45 × 9 = 405 calories above just-staying-alive. 5. Because once the numbers are in your head, you can do calorie math instantly and accurately without having to look up every food, just like you use the multiplication table without thinking.

Lesson 1.4:

1. The "just-being-alive" number from the chart in Lesson 1.4. It's an approximate resting daily burn based on the student's body weight, and it represents the floor of calories out before activity is added. 2. 2,060 (calories in) − 2,195 (calories out) = −135. Sam was in a small deficit, meaning Sam's body burned slightly more energy than it took in. The body would make up the small gap using stored glycogen and a tiny bit of body fat. 3. The kid is in a chronic surplus — about 24,000 extra calories over the month. That's enough surplus to add roughly 6-7 pounds of body weight if no growth is offsetting it, though during a growth spurt much of that energy goes into building new tissue. 4. Because day-to-day variation is normal noise — estimates aren't perfect, the body has natural ups and downs, and short-term fluctuations don't reflect long-term direction. Weekly or monthly patterns are more meaningful than single days. 5. Because growing kids are building new bone, muscle, brain, and organs — all of which require energy on top of just staying alive. Deficits over time can slow growth, weaken bone development, and cause hormonal issues.

Quiz Answer Key

Multiple Choice: 1.B 2.B 3.B 4.B 5.C 6.C 7.C 8.C 9.B 10.B

Short Answer (sample target responses):

1. 140 (eggs) + 160 (bread) + 95 (peanut butter) + 150 (milk) = 545 calories.

2. Walking: 20 × 4 = 80 cal. Running: 30 × 10 = 300 cal. Total activity above resting: 80 + 300 = 380 calories.

3. Energy balance = 2,060 − 2,195 = −135 calories. This is a small deficit. Sam's body burned slightly more than it took in. The body covers the gap with stored glycogen and a tiny bit of body fat. On a single day, this is a small variation — normal noise that doesn't indicate any real change in Sam's energy stores.

4. Energy balance equation: Calories In − Calories Out = Energy Balance. Calories In includes all food and drinks consumed that day (everything except water, plain tea/coffee, and a few zero-calorie items). Calories Out includes just-being-alive metabolism, movement and activity, and (in growing kids) the calories used for building new tissue.

5. Food is more than numbers — the Bear agrees. Food is also energy, and energy is measured in numbers. Knowing the math doesn't take the joy or culture out of food; it gives you a tool to understand what's happening in your body. Most adults who learn the math don't count every day — but they can do the math when they want to, and that's a real skill that lasts a lifetime.

Discussion Prompts

1. Why might it be useful to know how many calories are in your favorite foods, even if you don't count every day?
2. Why does the Bear teach this math in 6th grade instead of waiting until later? What's the advantage of learning early?
3. What was the most surprising calorie count from the chart in Lesson 1.3?
4. If you tracked your food and activity for one day, what would you expect your energy balance to look like? Why?
5. The Bear says the energy balance equation is "universal" — it works for every human on Earth. How does that compare to other things in life that don't work this consistently?
6. What activity in your week burns the most calories? What activity takes up the most of your time but burns the least?
7. The chapter mentions that some kids gain weight before a growth spurt. Why does that happen, in terms of the equation?
8. Why might the calorie estimates on food labels not be perfectly accurate? Does that mean they're useless? Why or why not?

Common Student Questions

• "What if my body is different from the chart?" The numbers in the chapter are averages. Real bodies vary. Bigger kids burn a bit more at rest; smaller kids a bit less. Some kids have faster metabolisms than others. The chart is a starting estimate. Grade 8 will teach a more precise formula.
• "Should I count calories every day?" No — the Bear is not asking you to do that. The Bear wants you to know how so you can do it whenever it's useful — like checking a math answer.
• "What if I want to lose weight?" That's a conversation for your parent and your doctor, not for this curriculum. Growing kids generally need surplus, not deficit. If you have specific concerns, talk to a trusted adult.
• "What if I'm always hungry?" Constant hunger usually means your body needs more food than you're giving it — especially during growth spurts. The energy balance equation tells you why: if calories out are higher than calories in for too long, your body sends strong hunger signals to fix it.
• "Are some calories better than others?" Yes. You'll learn about this in Grade 7. A 200-calorie avocado is very different nutritionally from a 200-calorie candy bar, even though the calorie count is the same.
• "What if I eat fast food?" Fast food has calorie counts you can look up. Most chains post their calorie info online and on menus. Knowing the numbers helps you make choices without anyone telling you what to eat.

Parent Communication Template

Dear Parents,

This week your student begins Chapter 1 of the Coach Food middle school curriculum — Food Is Fuel. The chapter teaches calorie literacy as a foundational life skill at an age-appropriate level for 6th graders.

What the chapter covers:

• What a calorie is (a unit of energy)
• The energy balance equation (Calories In − Calories Out = Energy Balance)
• A practical calorie chart for common foods and activities
• A one-day tracking exercise where students log their own food and activity and calculate their daily energy balance

The math involved is addition and subtraction — appropriate for the 6th grade math level. Grade 7 will build to multiplication and division (calorie density, macronutrient math). Grade 8 will introduce the Mifflin-St Jeor equation for calculating individual BMR and TDEE.

This chapter is taught the same way math is taught — directly, with the expectation that your student can handle real numbers. The Bear's framing is that calorie literacy is a tool that lasts a lifetime, like knowing how to read a map or balance a checkbook. Most adults who learn this math don't track every day, but they have the skill when they want it.

A few practical notes:

• The end-of-chapter activity asks your student to track their food and activity for one normal day. Please support this exercise; it is a one-time data-collection assignment, not a habit they need to maintain.
• The Bear explicitly teaches that growing kids generally need to be in modest surplus, not deficit. Energy is required for building new bone, muscle, brain, and organs.
• If your student has specific health, weight, or eating concerns, please speak with your healthcare provider. The curriculum teaches the math; medical decisions are your family's.

If you have any questions, please reach out to your student's teacher.

Warmly, The CryoCove Curriculum Team

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Illustration Briefs

Lesson 1.1 — Units of Measurement Placement: After "A Calorie Is a Unit of Energy." Scene: A clean illustration showing four measurement tools stacked: a measuring tape labeled "inches — length," a scale labeled "pounds — weight," a thermometer labeled "degrees — temperature," and at the bottom a glowing yellow icon labeled "calories — energy in food." Coach Food (Bear) points at the calorie icon. Mood: clean and mathematical. Aspect ratio: 16:9 web.

Lesson 1.2 — The Balance Scale Placement: After "What the Equation Means." Scene: A balance scale with two sides — left labeled "Calories In" with food icons, right labeled "Calories Out" with icons for resting heart, running figure, and growth arrow. Three small sub-panels below show the scale tipped left (surplus), level (maintenance), and tipped right (deficit). Coach Food (Bear) stands beside, looking on calmly. Aspect ratio: 16:9 web, 4:3 print.

Lesson 1.3 — The Calorie Map Placement: Optional, near the food chart. Scene: A visual chart of 12 common foods with their calorie counts as colored badges. Apple-80, banana-100, egg-70, slice of bread-80, glass of milk-150, peanut butter tablespoon-95, chicken breast-140, cup of rice-200, handful of almonds-160, slice of cheese-110, hamburger patty-200, soda-140. Items shown in a grid with clean labels. Coach Food (Bear) stands to the side with one paw indicating the chart. Aspect ratio: 4:3 print.

Lesson 1.4 — Sam's Day on Paper Placement: Optional, after the worked example. Scene: A simple illustration showing a sheet of notebook paper with the Sam example written out — meal log on top, activity log in middle, daily energy balance calculation at the bottom. The final number "−135 calories" is highlighted. Coach Food (Bear) stands nearby with a pencil in one paw and a small calculator in the other. Mood: practical, like a math worksheet from a confident teacher. Aspect ratio: 16:9 web.

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Citations

1. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. (2024). FoodData Central. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

2. Schofield, W. N. (1985). Predicting basal metabolic rate, new standards and review of previous work. Human Nutrition Clinical Nutrition, 39 Suppl 1, 5-41.

3. Westerterp, K. R. (2017). Doubly labelled water assessment of energy expenditure: principle, practice, and promise. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 117(7), 1277-1285.

4. Ridley, K., Ainsworth, B. E., & Olds, T. S. (2008). Development of a Compendium of Energy Expenditures for youth. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 5, 45.

5. Ainsworth, B. E., Haskell, W. L., Herrmann, S. D., Meckes, N., Bassett, D. R. Jr., Tudor-Locke, C., Greer, J. L., Vezina, J., Whitt-Glover, M. C., & Leon, A. S. (2011). 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(8), 1575-1581.

6. Hall, K. D., Heymsfield, S. B., Kemnitz, J. W., Klein, S., Schoeller, D. A., & Speakman, J. R. (2012). Energy balance and its components: implications for body weight regulation. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 95(4), 989-994.

7. Mifflin, M. D., St Jeor, S. T., Hill, L. A., Scott, B. J., Daugherty, S. A., & Koh, Y. O. (1990). A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 51(2), 241-247.

8. Speakman, J. R., & Selman, C. (2003). Physical activity and resting metabolic rate. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 62(3), 621-634.

9. Butte, N. F., Watson, K. B., Ridley, K., Zakeri, I. F., McMurray, R. G., Pfeiffer, K. A., Crouter, S. E., Herrmann, S. D., Bassett, D. R., Long, A., Berhane, Z., Trost, S. G., Ainsworth, B. E., Berrigan, D., & Fulton, J. E. (2018). A youth compendium of physical activities: activity codes and metabolic intensities. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 50(2), 246-256.

10. Institute of Medicine. (2005). Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. National Academies Press.

11. Ludwig, D. S., & Friedman, M. I. (2014). Increasing adiposity: consequence or cause of overeating? JAMA, 311(21), 2167-2168.

12. Hall, K. D., Ayuketah, A., Brychta, R., Cai, H., Cassimatis, T., Chen, K. Y., Chung, S. T., Costa, E., Courville, A., Darcey, V., Fletcher, L. A., Forde, C. G., Gharib, A. M., Guo, J., Howard, R., Joseph, P. V., McGehee, S., Ouwerkerk, R., Raisinger, K., … Zhou, M. (2019). Ultra-processed diets cause excess calorie intake and weight gain. Cell Metabolism, 30(1), 67-77.