We get to cook twice a week, everything from cinnamon rolls to potato soup. Our teacher also set up a "Fear Factor" day -- it's not any disgusting food, just food we haven't tried before, like chickpeas, star-fruit, Spam in a can, sardines, etc.

I've learned a lot about food in this class, and even more about nutrition. There are so many nutrients your body needs, and you don't have to go on a diet to be tinier. Personally, I think going on a diet is a bad idea anyway, but it's your own choice to make.

One of the things I learned about is all the bad things that people put in food to make it taste better, or look better. People even add GOOD nutrients; to me, that means that their product is not very good for you if they have to add things back into it to make people think its good!

Fact is, if you just eat from the four basic food groups, in moderation, then you can maintain a healthy weight. Exercising is also good for you. Exercise is not everything, though -- eating right is very important!

Did you know that the ingredients listed on the back of the food packaging go in order from the most-used to the least-used ingredient? Sugar is often at the stop of the list, especially in foods that us kids eat. Remember, any word that ends in -ose is a sugar, like sucrose or glucose. Molasses, syrup and honey are also forms of sugar.

One of the many bad things about eating sugar is that it causes tooth decay. Its not simply how much sugar and sugary foods you eat, but how often you eat them. Sugar in fruits or meats is all right as long as it isn't "added sugar", but is natural. That's because natural sugars are more complex, so your body works with them differently, in a healthier way.

Buying 100% fruit juices and skim or 2% milk is much better than grabbing a can of pop or having a sugary drink (lemonade is just an example). Home-made food is usually better for you than going out and eating fast food, or it is better if you don't add a lot of oil and sugar!

Spices even are great for adding to food, instead of a lot of sugar. They will give your food zing and a different taste, that you might like, and if you use a hot spice like red pepper, your body will probably feel more full faster.

As for those notorious carbohydrates, well, sugar is a simple carbohydrate, which just means that it is easily digested and absorbed into the bloodstream. Complex carbohydrates take longer to digest, and are usually called starches. All carbohydrates are a form of energy for your body; they are essential to you! Complex carbohydrates are found in legumes (a.k.a. beans), pasta, bread and cereals.

Eating too much sugar is obviously bad for you. I hope you know that and will eat less of them. Turn to healthier and perhaps better-tasting food, with less sugar. Advertising is what really promotes junk food... but good foods are just that, good foods. They don't need advertising, unless of course not enough people are buying them, like what happened with milk. Milk commercials are used to stress the importance of calcium.

Other foods -- like pizza pockets, chocolate chip cookies, and other types of advertised foods -- may be quick and easy to make, but in the end they're not very good for you. I hope you think about this and limit your sugar. I know I love chocolate, but I also know it should be a treat, not an everyday food.

Cloudzy