Nutrition Facts
Give Me 5!
Fruit and Vegetables
Try to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables every day.
Fruit and vegetables are very low in protein and fat.
They are high in carbohydrate, dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Reasons for eating more fruit and vegetables:
Fruit and vegetables
provide vitamins and minerals which keep us healthy.
They are a great
source of fibre and help keep the digestive system healthy.
They may protect
against disease and prevent us from getting ill.
Protein
Protein is required for growth, repair and maintenance of the body.
It is needed to build our muscles and other tissue in the body.
Every cell in the body contains protein.
It keeps our bodies working properly and helps protect us from infection.
Protein also gives us energy.
Foods that have a lot of protein in them:
Meat
Fish
Dairy products
- milk, eggs, cheese and yoghurt
Cereals (wheat,
rice and oats) - bread and pasta
Pulses - peas,
beans and lentils
Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate is a very important source of energy.
We need energy for growth and physical activity.
Most of the energy in our diet should come from carbohydrate foods.
There are several types of carbohydrate including starch and dietary fibre.
Foods with a lot of carbohydrate in them:
Cereals
Grains
Seeds
Pulses
Vegetables
Fruit
Calcium
Calcium keeps our bones and teeth strong.
Foods that have a lot of calcium include:
Cheese
Milk
Yoghurt
Spinach
Sardines
Sweets are a treat - but healthy food is what you should eat!
Remember that sweet and sugary foods should not be eaten a lot because they are bad for our teeth.
Foods that can help keep our teeth healthy include:
Fruit
Milk
Yoghurt
Vegetables
Cheese
It is important to brush your teeth at least twice a day to help prevent tooth decay.
Balance of Good Health
Food gives us nutrients which help our bodies to work properly.
A mixture of food has to be eaten to give us all the nutrients we need.
The Balance of Good Health picture shows the types of foods and the amounts needed to give a balanced healthy diet.
Enjoy your food
Eat a variety of
different foods
Eat the right amount
to be a healthy weight
Eat plenty of fruit
and vegetables
Eat plenty of foods
rich in starch and fibre
Don’t eat
too much fat
Don’t eat
sugary foods too often
Drink plenty of
water every day
Quiz
The Healthy Body Quiz is an example of the type of activities that are available in the Kids Café Manual, Getting a Kids Café Started. There are two versions - hard and easy (this is the hard version!).
Use your mouse to reveal each answer. (The answers are also listed at the end of the quiz.)
1. Carrots are a good source beta-carotene (vitamin A) which help these work better.
3. Drinking milk and eating cheese gives us lots of calcium which we need to help make these grow and be strong.
4. Vitamins from fruit and vegetables help to keep this part of your body looking and feeling healthy and help stop you getting spots.
5. Meat, cheese and eggs in our diet give us protein which, with exercise, helps to make these grow stronger.
6. A balanced diet and less fat is needed to help keep this very important pump working.
7. By being more active and doing lots of exercise and not smoking will help make these stronger.
8. Vitamins from fruit and vegetables are needed in this liquid (which is found all over our body) to fight infections like the common cold.
9. Lots of fibre from bread, cereal, fruit and vegetables helps keep this part of the body moving well.
10. Could be a boy’s piece of fruit stuck in his throat.
11. We need about eight glasses of this drink per day to keep us from feeling thirsty.
12. You should wear a helmet when playing on your bike to help protect this if you fall.
13. This is where food is stored and mixed up before going into your gut.
14. Without any of this each night you will be grumpy and would not be able to play during the day.
15. This part of our body helps us chew our food and taste lots of different flavours.
1. Eyes
2. Teeth
3. Bones
4. Skin
5. Muscles
6. Heart
7. Lungs
8. Blood
9. Gut / Intestine
10. Adam’s Apple
11. Water
12. Skull
13. Stomach
14. Sleep
15. Tongue
