* 1. Find out about osteoporosis

Find out about osteoporosis by finding out what it means, what causes the disease, the roles calcium and exercise play in promoting bone health and preventing the disease, and other steps to take that will decrease your risk of developing osteoporosis. How much calcium should you have in your diet each day? First, do the Bone Busters .. Get Away activity sheet. This will serve as a way to introduce you to many issues and help you get started. Discuss the above questions and then have the girls share things they learned about osteoporosis.

Refer to "Bones are Building" and "Banking on Strong Bones" to clarify questions. Use the Bone Busters activity sheet at a troop meeting to introduce this subject. Each member of the troop question can have a chance to determine if a word is a Bone Builder or a Bone Buster. Show the Girl Scouts the list of Organizations interested in osteoporosis or related issues in the Resource Materials.

* 2. Record your activity choices

How active are you? Use the "My Activity Record" worksheet to write down the activities you usually do in one week. Think about the activities you do during school, after school, and on the weekends. Include everything from watching television to playing soccer. For each activity, record how often you perform it, if it is hard or easy to do, and how long the activity lasts. Are you participating in weight-bearing activities, for example, playing soccer, jumping rope, or riding a bike, every day for at least one hour? If not, how can you change your activity?

Instruct scouts to use the "My Activity Record" to record the activity/sport, how often it is done (frequency), how hard they play (intensity), and length of time they are active. Use the bottom of the chart for activities the scout might want to include as new activity/sport they are going to begin. Activities they may want to trade to make room for the added ones should be crossed out with a red line. Encourage scouts to trade inactive time for active time.

* 3. Record your food choices

Keep a journal for one day of everything you eat and drink. Indicate the number of servings and to which food group they belong. Chart them in the "Filling My Pyramid" worksheet with the extras (candy, sweets) on top. Indicate where you are lacking servings in your pyramid. What foods could you add to complete the recommended number of servings in your pyramid? Circle the high-calcium foods on your food records. Did you meet your requirement for calcium?

Give the scouts an idea as to what one serving is: One serving from the meat group in the size of an adult's fist. One serving from the milk group is one cup of milk, 1 1/2 ounces of cheese. 1/2 cup of vegetables counts as one serving. In the grain group, one slice of bread or one cup of cereal is one serving. One small apple, one small banana or one box of raisins are all single servings. Everything eaten should be written on paper (a master copy "Food Record" worksheet is provided). Instruct students to translate this into the "Filling My Pyramid" worksheet. Make sure they write in how many servings they ate from each food group.

* 4. Make a bone-building snack

Make a high calcium drink like a shake or smoothie to be used as a breakfast food or a quick snack at your troop meeting. Include at least two of the food groups in the drink. Determine the calcium content of each serving of the drink. How much calcium does someone your age need? How would you change ingredients to make a drink containing more calcium?

Have the scouts list the ingredients and measurements of their recipe. Make sure they include the calcium content per serving. You can point out to the Girl Scouts that they can use calcium fortified orange juice or dry non-fat milk to add additional calcium to the shake.

* 5. Talk with your family

Talk to your parents, brothers, sisters, or friends. Ask them about the high-calcium foods they eat and compare their choices to the high-calcium foods you choose. Look at the recommended number of servings of high-calcium foods for their age group on "Bone-Building Foods". Read the "We Will Make an Effort" pledge with your family and friends. See if they will make the pledge - and sign the pledge sheet.

Discuss the "We Will Make an Effort" worksheet with scouts. Have them take the worksheet home to share with family members. The scout should ask if family members and friends will make the pledge. If they will sign the pledge, the scout should be urged to bring back the pledge to share with the troop. The pledge should be brought back home and placed where the family members will see it.

* 6. Talk with your parents / grandparents

Ask your parents/grandparents or your friend's grandparents what their activities and diet were when they were younger. Did they eat calcium-rich foods? Did they walk a long way to school as children? Do they have good posture now? Have they broken any bones? You can compare this information with other members of your troop. List at least two ways each person can reduce the risk of osteoporosis and discuss it with the family member or friend. Be sure to interview at least one older person (who may already have osteoporosis). See if you can figure out if they have osteoporosis and, if so, why? Was there a lack of calcium? Lack of exercise?

Review the "Test Your Bones" questions with the scouts. Discuss the reasons for each question. The questions about menopause and missed menstrual periods might be premature for some girls in this age group. This activity does not require the scouts to ask their parents/grandparents to complete the Test Your Bones form.

7. Plan school lunches

Plan two different school lunches. Make one from a school lunch menu you create and another a bag lunch. Work with your troop leader to have school lunches that are based on the "Food Guide Pyramid". Try to include at least one food from each food group. Your menu should have variety of food choices. Create art-work to put on the menus. Identify the high-calcium foods on your lunch menu.

Refer to the "Food Guide Pyramid" and inform the scouts that the school lunch provides about one-third of their recommended daily allowance for important nutrients. Supply pens, posterboard for menus, scissors and magazines to cut pictures from.

8. Taste bone-building foods

Taste unfamiliar foods with your troop such as tofu, flan, grits, kale, turnip greens, unusual cheeses, etc. Try to figure out which food group these foods belong to. You may do this activity in a group - see what foods your friends like! Which of these unfamiliar foods are high in calcium?

Refer scouts to "Bone-Building Foods" for information on unfamiliar high-calcium foods

9. Talk about eating disorders

Talk about eating disorders with your troop. Discuss some of the reasons that people develop eating disorders. Discuss how and why these disorders are so damaging to your body and your health. Specifically discuss what things are important for healthy bones and how eating disorders might affect those things.

Eating disorders is a sensitive topic. See the Leader Resource - Girl Scout Publications for references to materials on eating disorders, body image and self-esteem. Refer to your leader's guide for some insights into this problem. Review self-esteem and image issues with the scouts. Refer to "Out of Order When Food Becomes More Than Something to Eat" to clarify questions and correct misinformation the scouts may report.

10. Taste popular beverages

Taste a panel of popular beverages: soda, fruit juice, fruit-flavored tea, nonfat milk. Use "Thinking About Your Beverage Choices" and the nutrition labels to discuss with your troop the important nutrients and calories each drink provides. Compare the beverages to determine which ones provide the most nutrients. Which ones contain calcium? Which drinks do you prefer? When are you most likely to drink each beverage?

Girls in this age group typically consume more soda-type drinks than high nutrient milk and juice. This is the time of their life when they need sufficient calcium to build their bones. Teach the scouts that dairy foods are not always high in fat and high in calorie. Nonfat and lowfat options area available. Nonfat milk has as much calcium as low fat and whole milk.

11. Make a display

Make a display for your school cafeteria, library, classroom or troop meeting room to go along with a presentation explaining why we need more calcium as our bodies grow. The display should show the age groups (pictures or drawings) and the corresponding amount of calcium needed at this age. The display can be created on posterboard. Each scout can make her own poster to put with the display.

Using posterboard, have scouts develop their own or small group collages. These collages could include pictures, descriptions, drawings, artwork, etc.

12. Learn the bones

Learn the bones in the Skeleton. Find out which bones most frequently break because of osteoporosis. Why do these bones break?