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Junk Food Pyramid

Junk Food Pyramid
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grade 9
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.96

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    arbitrary, assiduous, chicken-like, grades-how, gregarious, hairnets, impetus, lo-carb, mega-meal, noncompliance, on-paper, overcooked, peachy, pimply, respectively, sallow
     content words:    Miss Ima Peach, Miss Peach, Ima Peach, Chubby Susan, Mega-Burger Pit

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Junk Food Pyramid
By Colleen Messina 		  
1     Susan climbed up a squishy mound of yellow pasta laced with parmesan cheese until she reached a tremulous glacier of green peas. Using her toothpick walking stick, she stabbed her way to safety. Susan found it helpful to hang onto the sporadic potato chip boulders, which were covered with sparkling salt crystals. Her next obstacle was a river of hot fudge dotted with marshmallows. Susan waded through the thick, oozing chocolate. A glorious vanilla ice cream hill loomed temptingly ahead. Suddenly, just as Susan reached the gooey rainbow sprinkles, she...
 
2     "We are finished with our discussion about the food pyramid. Any questions? Good!" said Miss Ima Peach, the health teacher.
 
3     A loud rumble punctuated the silence. Susan imagined a potato chip landslide in her food world, but the sound came from her own ravenous stomach. Everyone snickered because the noise was so inappropriate. Susan's face flushed pink behind her wire-rimmed glasses, and her brown eyes watered. This was terrible!
 
4     "Your homework assignment is to document your food consumption for a week. Everyone's diet will be up for discussion. I exhort all of you to eat well. One deserving student will receive a prize next week," Miss Peach said in a shrill, disciplined voice. The skin on her cheekbones looked like the sallow shell of an overcooked potato.
 
5     Susan groaned as she exited the classroom. What kind of diet would be acceptable to Miss Ima Peach? Her teacher's name was luscious, but her appearance was less than appetizing. Chubby Susan crashed through life and enjoyed sweets, French fries, and junk food of all kinds. In sharp contrast, Miss Peach's self-discipline was obvious in her smooth, precise movements. Her chicken-like legs stuck out from under a sensible tweed skirt, and she looked as if she had eaten salads for fifty years.
 
6     Susan entered the noisy cafeteria and glanced over at the frantic lunch line. Overweight women wearing hairnets scooped out mottled mounds of mushy food to the hungry mobs. A soda can sailed past Susan and hit the wall with a loud clang, missing the garbage can by two yards. Susan sighed as she picked up the can and tossed it into the trash. Barbarians! She was glad she brought her own lunch so she didn't have to do the lunch line battle today. She glanced around to find a seat until she saw a vacancy next to her friends, John and Shelley.
 
7     "Hey, Susan! Nice shot-you should join the basketball team! Let's speculate about this health class assignment. I bet the prize is a coupon for the health food store," called John. John was tall, gangly, pimply, and gregarious. Susan loved his dry sense of humor. He offered Susan a greasy French fry dripping with ketchup as a gesture of good will.
 
8     "Do you think we'll get a lower grade if we don't eat well? Shelley, you are proficient in excellent grades-how should we handle this?" Susan asked.
 
9     "I think it was a bad omen when Miss Peach told us that our diets will be up for discussion. I don't think that daily French fries are too impressive," said Shelley, the scholar of the group. Her intelligence was as scintillating as her snappy, green eyes. Susan relied on Shelley's help for many homework assignments.

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