In her charts and her conversation with the teacher, Sophie describes and discusses some positive adjustment strategies that she could take to meet her nutritional needs as an adolescent. She is also able to identify factors that could act as barriers or enablers to meeting her objectives.
Discusses some positive adjustment strategies to meet personal needs during pubertal change
Sophie uses a food-selection model to analyse her food intake and draws some valid conclusions about her feelings. She identifies some areas for change and begins to plan to make these changes. In her conversation with the teacher, she identifies and discusses the following enablers and barriers that affect her ability to carry out her plan.
Enablers
Sophie suggests some positive actions she can take to increase her intake of fruit, such as asking her mother to buy more and taking some for lunch. She identifies some adjustments to her routines to allow for breakfast. She also proposes a healthy snack to increase her consumption of fruit, vegetables, and cereals that she can make herself and will enjoy.
Barriers
Sophie identifies that the reasons she does not have enough bread and cereals
or fruit and vegetables are that she doesn't like them and that her family's
eating patterns influence her food choices.
At the end of the unit, Sophie discussed her analysis and conclusions with her teacher. The teacher focused on helping her to clarify the enablers and barriers that affect her ability to meet her goals:
Teacher:
Sophie, in your current food choice table, you've identified that you do not eat enough fruit and vegetables. As a class, we discussed 'barriers' – things that may hinder us from achieving. What are the barriers that prevent you from meeting the recommended daily servings of fruit and vegetables?
Sophie:
I don't like many vegetables. My parents don't like vegetables, specially my dad, so he doesn't make us eat them. My brother is a pain and makes a big fuss about having to eat vegetables. They eat pies, sausage rolls, pizzas, and stuff like that.
Teacher:
How do you think you may be able to make a positive adjustment to include more fruit and vegetables daily?
Sophie:
I suppose I could include fruit in my lunch, like an orange, that I could share if I didn't want it all. I could also ask Mum to buy more fruit so I could eat it after school instead of biscuits.
Teacher:
Another aspect you identified was the lack of breads and cereals in your diet. Is there something that discourages you from having the recommended servings?
Sophie:
Yeah. I know I should eat them, but I'm not that keen on cereals. Sometimes I have sandwiches for lunch, but I don't usually eat them.
Teacher:
Why don't you eat them?
Sophie:
I don't really know. I just sometimes don't feel like them, and Mum sometimes gives me yucky bread. I only like white, plain bread.
Teacher:
You have identified some really good issues about breads and cereals for your food choices. Is it possible to have toast for breakfast?
Sophie:
It depends what time I get up. Both of my parents go to work early, and my brother is usually still in bed, and I hate eating on my own.
Teacher:
How do you think you may be able to increase your daily intake of breads and cereals so that you increase your carbohydrate intake?
Sophie:
I'm not good at getting up in the morning. I guess I could get up earlier so I could have some fruit and cereals for breakfast. Maybe I could make toast some mornings.
Teacher:
Is there any way that you may be able to meet your needs by making a snack after school that would include food choices from both fruit and vegetable and bread food groups?
Sophie:
Yeah. I could try to make a bread roll or a Dagwood sandwich and have a choice of fillings.
