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Can We Help?: Donuts and exercise

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Peter Rowsthorn eats a donut
Can We Help?: Donuts and exercise

SUBJECTS:  Health and Physical EducationScience

YEARS:  7–8


Peter Rowsthorn visits Dr Deborah Kerr at the WA Institute of Sport to answer the question 'How long does it take to walk off a donut?'

Join Pete as he walks, jogs, rows and swims to burn off the energy from a single iced donut.

As Dr Kerr takes Pete through his paces, learn how metabolic rate and muscle mass affect weight gain.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Our bodies need energy to keep warm and do work. This energy comes from the chemical energy stored in the foods we eat. What happens to the energy that our bodies don't use during our daily activity?
  2. 2.How long will it take Pete to walk off the donut? How long does he have to jog to burn the same energy? What happens to the fat from a donut you eat if you don't burn enough kilojoules that day? Dr Kerr suggests that, instead of eating foods high in fat, it's better to eat foods high in carbohydrate. What types of foods are high in carbohydrate?
  3. 3.Create a flow diagram illustrating the energy transfer as Pete eats an iced donut, then jogs. Label the different forms of energy. (Hint: Include the body heat produced during exercise.) Why does your body burn energy when you're resting? The amount of energy you burn at rest is called your basal metabolic rate (BMR). What factors affect a person's BMR?
  4. 4.Find a metabolic calculator online (or you may have an app on another device). Calculate your BMR and the energy (kilojoules) you require each day. Use a 'calorie counter' to calculate the energy you eat in a day. What can you learn from comparing your daily energy needs and your actual intake? How might this scientific knowledge be useful in health care and sports medicine?



Date of broadcast: 11 Apr 2008


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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