AQA GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition: Student Book

What will I learn? Healthy, balanced diet : a diet that contains the correct proportions of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water necessary for good health, to grow properly, be active and maintain a healthy body Diet : the food that you eat every day. There are also special diets (e.g. a low-fat diet, a calorie- controlled diet, a vegetarian diet) Lacto-vegetarian : someone who does not eat meat or fish but will eat milk and milk products Key terms Making informed food choices for a varied and balanced diet 1.2.1 Dietary guidelines Health experts and the Government have worked together and produced a set of Dietary Guidelines and an Eatwell Guide to help people make informed choices when they are deciding what to eat. These are shown below. You will see that there are also guidelines about your lifestyle choices as well as what you eat. 1. Base your meals on starchy foods. 2. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables . 3. Eat more fish – including a portion of oily fish each week. 4. Cut down on saturated fat and sugar. 5. Eat less salt – no more than 6g a day (1 level teaspoon) for adults. 6. Get active and be a healthy weight. 7. Don’t get thirsty – drink plenty of water. 8. Don’t skip breakfast. In the previous section, you have learned about the nutrients in food. In this section, you will learn about: what is meant by a healthy, balanced diet how eating a variety of foods can give us a healthy diet how to choose an interesting and varied diet how to provide the right diet for different people at different life stages (e.g. young children, teenagers, adults, the elderly) and special dietary groups (e.g. vegetarian, vegan, coeliac). The Eatwell Guide is based on the five food groups. The size of the segments for each of the food groups shown in the Eatwell Guide matches the Government’s recommendations for a diet that would provide all the nutrients needed by a healthy adult or child (over the age of 5 years). From the age of 2–5 years, children should gradually start eating a greater variety of foods as shown in the Eatwell Guide (Ref: Public Health England ‘8 tips for eating well’, 2016). Chapter 1 Nutrients Section 1: Food, Nutrition and Health 38 2 N tional needs and health