| Course | NS325 Nutrition Through the Life Cycle |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Meal plan and rationale |
| Length | About 940 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Nutrition Science |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NS325 Unit 9
Pasta, Bananas, Yogurt and Crackers: A Unit 9 Seven-Day Meal Plan and Rationale for a Three-Year-Old Who Refuses Most Things Green
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NS325: Nutrition Through the Life Cycle
Unit 9 Meal Plan and Rationale
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The child, family, budget and daycare are composite; the dietary guidelines, feeding relationship article and food exposure studies cited are real.
Profile
Leo is three and lives with his parents and an older sister in Lafayette, Indiana. Both parents work, and the family uses SNAP. On weekdays he eats lunch and an afternoon snack at a home daycare, which follows its own menu. At home he reliably eats plain pasta, bananas, vanilla yogurt and crackers, and he will sometimes eat chicken nuggets, cheese and apple slices. He refuses vegetables that are green or mixed into other foods. He is growing along his channel, and his pediatrician has no concerns.
Targets
The Dietary Guidelines pattern at 1,000 calories for ages two to three calls for about 1 cup of fruit, 1 cup of vegetables, 3 ounce-equivalents of grains, 2 ounce-equivalents of protein foods and 2 cups of dairy each day, with added sugars kept below 10 percent of calories from age two (U.S. Department of Agriculture & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2020). The home meals in this plan, breakfast, dinner and an evening snack, aim to supply about two thirds of each target, with the daycare supplying the rest.
Physiology Behind the Approach
Growth slows sharply after infancy, so a three-year-old's appetite drops and varies from day to day; one large meal followed by a day of picking is normal. Wariness of new foods commonly peaks between two and five. The plan treats both as expected, not as problems.
The feeding approach is the division of responsibility: the parent is in charge of what food appears, when it appears and where, while Leo is in charge of whether he eats it and how much (Satter, 1986). Every dinner therefore includes at least one food Leo already accepts, so he can always eat something, alongside the family's meal.
The plan does not try to make Leo eat vegetables this week; it tries to put a small amount of the same vegetable in front of him many times, calmly, because repeated tasting rather than pressure is what has been shown to change a young child's preferences.
In a classic study, two-year-olds' preference for unfamiliar foods rose with the number of times they had been offered them (Birch & Marlin, 1982), and a later review found that repeated exposure was one of the most consistent ways to increase children's acceptance of vegetables (Cooke, 2007).
The Week
Each line gives breakfast, dinner and evening snack. Green peas and broccoli are the week's two repeated vegetables, each offered in a small amount beside foods he accepts.
1. Monday: yogurt with banana slices; whole-wheat pasta with butter and parmesan, three peas on his plate, chicken strips baked at home; crackers and milk.
2. Tuesday: oatmeal with banana; bean and cheese quesadilla, two broccoli florets, apple slices; yogurt.
3. Wednesday: whole-grain toast with peanut butter, milk; pasta with meat sauce on the side, peas, orange segments; crackers and cheese.
4. Thursday: yogurt and a few crackers; baked chicken drumstick, rice, broccoli, banana; milk.
5. Friday: scrambled egg, toast, milk; family pizza night with a plain cheese slice for Leo, peas, apple; yogurt.
6. Saturday: pancakes made with milk and egg, banana; pasta with butter, tuna mixed in for the family and served separately for Leo, broccoli; crackers and milk.
7. Sunday: oatmeal with applesauce; slow-cooker chicken and beans, rice, peas, orange; yogurt.
Rationale Notes
1. Accepted foods anchor every meal. Pasta, bananas, yogurt and crackers appear daily, so there is always a safe choice.
2. New foods are small and repeated. Three peas or two florets are easy to ignore and cheap to waste; the same two vegetables return all week so each exposure builds on the last.
3. No bribes or rewards. Dessert is not used to get him to eat vegetables, since that teaches him vegetables are a chore.
4. Milk is limited to about 2 cups a day, so it does not crowd out food.
5. Iron comes from meat, beans, eggs and fortified cereal, since toddlers who drink much milk and eat little meat can run short.
Working With the Daycare
The daycare serves lunch and an afternoon snack on weekdays, so the plan asks the family to request its weekly menu each Friday. When the daycare serves a vegetable Leo has met at home, such as peas, the family notes it on the tally, since every exposure counts wherever it happens. The parents also tell the daycare provider about the approach, so that Leo hears the same calm message at both tables: the food is there, he may taste it, and no one will insist. Consistency between the two places matters more than any single meal. If the daycare uses dessert as a reward, the parents can ask, politely, whether that could stop for Leo.
Budget
The week relies on SNAP-friendly staples: pasta, rice, oats, eggs, dried and canned beans, frozen peas and broccoli, bananas, apples, whole chickens and store-brand yogurt. Frozen vegetables cost less than fresh, keep for months and come in small portions, which suits a child who may eat three peas.
Monitoring
The family keeps a simple tally of how many times each vegetable is offered and whether Leo touches, licks or eats it. Acceptance is expected to take ten or more exposures; progress is measured in small steps, not clean plates.
References
Birch, L. L., & Marlin, D. W. (1982). I don't like it; I never tried it: Effects of exposure on two-year-old children's food preferences. Appetite, 3(4), 353-360. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6663(82)80053-6
Cooke, L. (2007). The importance of exposure for healthy eating in childhood: A review. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 20(4), 294-301. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-277X.2007.00804.x
Satter, E. M. (1986). The feeding relationship. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 86(3), 352-356. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-8223(21)03940-7
U.S. Department of Agriculture & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2020). Dietary guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 (9th ed.). https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov
NS325 Unit 9 instructions, in plain terms
The Unit 9 assignment asks students to write a meal plan for a person at a particular life stage, with a rationale for each choice. Prompts usually require a profile, targets, the plan and the reasoning. Set targets from the Dietary Guidelines pattern for the child's age and energy level. Explain the physiology that shapes eating at this age before writing menus. Name the feeding approach and cite it. Build every meal around foods the child already eats. Repeat new foods in small amounts rather than introducing many. Fit the plan to the family's budget and schedule. Coordinate with any child care setting. Expect the plan and its rationale to fill five or six pages.
How the NS 325 Unit 9 example is put together
A profile describes the child, his accepted foods, the family's SNAP benefits and the daycare. Targets list the food-group amounts at 1,000 calories. A physiology section explains slowed growth, variable appetite and food wariness, and names the division of responsibility. The highlighted sentence states that repeated calm exposure is the plan's mechanism, supported by two exposure studies. Seven days of breakfast, dinner and evening snack follow, with peas and broccoli repeated. Five rationale notes explain the choices. A section on the daycare, a budget section and a monitoring tally complete the plan. Each day's vegetables are portioned small on purpose. The rationale explains why milk is limited to about two cups.
Reading the NS325 Unit 9 grading rubric
Meal plans for young children are usually graded on meeting food-group targets, sound rationale, practicality and an evidence-based feeding approach. Points go to explaining preschool physiology before the menus. Naming and citing a feeding approach shows understanding beyond menu writing. Building around accepted foods while repeating new ones reflects current evidence. Budget and schedule fit are often weighted. Coordination with other caregivers shows application. Format and citations count. Plans that rely on rewards or pressure usually lose credit. A realistic monitoring method is often noted. Explaining how iron needs are met in a child who drinks milk well is often credited. Clear daily grids that a parent could post on the refrigerator are a plus.
NS325 Unit 9 help: mistakes that cost points
Meal plans for picky eaters often fill the week with foods the child refuses. Another weakness is introducing many new foods at once. Some plans use dessert as a reward, which research discourages. Physiology is skipped, so normal behavior is treated as a problem. Targets are not stated, so the plan cannot be checked. Budget is ignored for families using SNAP. The child's other caregivers are left out. If you know the child's accepted foods but are unsure how to start, put one of them on every plate. A writer can build the week from those anchor foods. Keeping new foods to one or two for the whole week makes repeated exposure possible.
Get an NS325 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Who is the eater at the center of Unit 9: a picky preschooler, a teenage athlete, an older adult living alone, or someone else? Send that description, any budget or cultural detail it gives, the instructions and the rubric. Seven days of meals, each carrying its rationale, arrive within 24-48h; a first custom sample is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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NS325 Unit 9 questions, answered
Does the plan need nutrient analysis software?
Only if the prompt requires it. Many sections accept food-group totals checked against the Dietary Guidelines pattern for the child's age and energy level, which is what this sample uses. Where software is required, the output belongs in an appendix and the rationale should interpret it rather than paste it, naming the database and its version.
Is hiding vegetables in food acceptable in a plan?
As one tactic among several, yes, and the rationale can say so. The research on acceptance points to repeated visible exposure as what builds liking, so a plan that only hides vegetables adds nutrients without changing what the child will eat later. Pairing a hidden serving with a small visible one covers both aims.
What if the child in my case has a food allergy?
Then the plan works around the stated allergen, with substitutions that replace its nutrients, and says that allergy management itself belongs with the pediatric clinician and, often, a registered dietitian. Milk allergy in a toddler, for example, changes the calcium and vitamin D sources for the whole week, and the rationale should show where they come from instead.
Where can I find a free NS325 Unit 9 sample paper?
This page has a complete Unit 9 seven-day meal plan with rationale for a three-year-old who accepts only a few foods, using repeated exposure and the division of responsibility.
How many times should a new food be offered to a toddler?
Often ten or more. Studies show children's acceptance of unfamiliar foods rises with repeated, low-pressure exposure.