Lesson:How to eat: like predator or prey?

Conversation

Answer the following questions. You might be asked to write them down or answer them out loud.

1. How concerned are you about how and what you eat?
2. Are you concerned about your daily calorie intake when choosing something to eat?
3. Do you think you have a healthy diet? What have you eaten so far today?
4. Do you agree that "we are what we eat"? Why?
5. Do you think a vegetarian diet is better than a diet that includes meat? Why or why not?
6. What are some foods that you know are healthy?
7. Why do you think obesity is becoming such a problem in the United States and throughout the world?
8. How many meals a day do you think should be eaten?
9. What do you think about super-sizing?
10. How often do you have unhealthy food?
11. Are food portions too big for our health?

Vocabulary

Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to Portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud.

DT   predator

DT   bunch

DT   meal

DT   snack

DT   gorge

DT   prey

DT   cattle

DT   grease

DT   feed

DT   grumpy

DT   fix

Video

Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet.

After watching the video do this listening exercise.

Reading practice

Read the following transcript then do the associated reading comprehension exercise.

Transcript:

Narrator: We recently spoke with J. Stanton about what we eat. Now we wanna talk to him about how we eat and how that affects us. So J., we've all heard you should eat a bunch of small meals throughout the day to lose weight, but is there any truth to that? J.S.: Absolutely not, you don't lose weight by eating, you lose weight by not eating. By analogy, you can look at how animals eat: Predators, which are uniformly lean and muscular, they'll gorge on their kill and then fast for extended periods of time, sometimes only eating once every day or every few days. The other extreme, prey animals like cattle, graze constantly and they get very, very fat doing that. So by analogy to humans, not that we should eat once every three days but it is better to eat like a predator than like prey. Narrator: So is it more about how often we eat or how much? J.S.: in my experience and I think in most people's experience it's much easier to limit the number of times you eat than to try and limit the quantity you eat when you do eat. Narrator: Huh, well I know for me if I don't eat something every couple of hours I tend to get pretty "hangry". J.S.: I used to be the guy you had to feed every three hours or he turned into an ogre. Oh, got to feed J. again, he is getting grumpy. Narrator: So you're saying your body eventually gets used to eating less often and if that's the case, what is the biggest difference we'll notice going from grazing like prey to eating like predator? J.S.: The most important change is that food doesn't run your life. Once you don't have to keep stuffing yourself with little snacks every couple of hours, you'll realize how much more time you have to devote to fixing yourself real food. Narrator: Really interesting stuff here. Again, thanks to J. Stanton for his insight into how and what we eat. And be sure to check out this website...

Writing practice

Write a couple of paragraphs commenting the information in the video. Do you agree with it or not? Make sure to use words you learned from the text and try to make it as long as you can. This is your opportunity to show off your writing skills.

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