Food and eating

What is Healthy Eating?

Healthy Eating is about making sure your body gets the food it needs in order to work properly. Your body does an important job and it needs nutrients and energy from food.

Think of your body like a car (this might seem weird but bear with us!) A car needs, water, oil and fuel. Without each of these things, parts of the car begin to stop working as they should, the car slows and begins to break down.

Food gives us energy and fuel for:

• Growth
• Mental activity – including thinking and memory
• Physical activity
• Looking after your body and repairing it after you have been ill or injured
• Caring for your muscles (remember your heart is a very important muscle)

Healthy Eating is not about skipping meals, eating less or cutting out everything you like. Healthy eating is about eating a varied and balanced diet.

Everyone needs to eat regularly.

A healthy diet

A healthy diet means that you eat many different kinds of food across all of the food groups. The main groups are:

Carbohydrates ,Protein ,Dairy foods ,Fruit and Vegetables

The easiet way to explain the function of these food is

• Carbohydrates = energy
• Protein =muscle function and repair
• Dairy = vital fats and oils
• Fruit and vegetables = vitamins, minerals and fibre

We all need foods containing fat and sugar in our diets. Vitamins A, D and K can only dissolve in fat.

On the subject of Breakfast

Some people sometimes don’t eat breakfast because they got up late, they don’t feel like it, or because they think skipping a meal will help them to lose weight. But breakfast is really important.  If you look at the word breakfast (break    fast) it actually tells you why it's so important. You need to have it to get your body going after the break of food it has had over night.