Healthy Eating The Eatwell Plate Workshop 30-45 Minutes
The Eatwell Plate 30-45 Minutes What you need: 1. A Pictorial Eatwell Plate Poster or a slide of the poster. 2. The Eatwell Plate Worksheet (diagram with blank sections) 3. The Complete Eatwell Plate % slide/sheet (diagram showing sizes of sections for each food group).
Introduction and Background Information to the Session To be as healthy as we can be we must eat a balance of all foods. This will ensure that our body has everything it needs to function at its best and to carry out all the process that have to occur to keep us living. The Eatwell Plate helps those cooking food and those eating food to picture how to balance different food groups for a healthy diet. The different sections of the Eatwell Plate are: • Bread, Rice, Potatoes, Pasta and other starchy foods • Meat, Fish, Eggs, Beans and other non dairy sources of protein • Milk and Dairy Foods • Fruit and Vegetables • Foods and Drinks containing Fat and Sugar
Bread, Rice, Potatoes, Pasta and other starchy foods
Examples of these foods include: Pasta, Rice, Noodles, Pitta Bread, Sweet Potatoes, Yams, Breakfast Other Cereals. These foods are also known as Starchy Foods. Starch is a type of Carbohydrate. We need these foods to give us energy. The energy that we get from these foods provides our bodies with long lasting energy so we can keep active for long periods of time. Wholegrain (brown) varieties of these foods also provide us with Fibre. Fibre helps keep our digestive system healthy.
Meat, Fish, Eggs, Beans and other non dairy sources of protein Examples of these foods include: Chicken, Beef, Ham, Sausages, Bacon, Cod, Haddock, Baked Beans, Lentils, Kidney Beans
These foods provide us with Protein. Protein helps the body grow and repair itself. These foods also supple the body with essential Vitamins and Minerals.
Milk and Dairy Foods Examples of these foods include: Milk - skimmed, semi-skimmed and whole, Cream, Butter, Cheese, Yoghurt These foods are a source of Protein and Minerals. Minerals include Calcium, which keeps our teeth and bones healthy. These foods can be high in Fat, and we need to be thinking carefully how much of these foods we eat.
Fruit and Vegetables Examples of these include: Fresh, frozen or canned vegetables, Fresh, frozen or canned fruit, Dried fruit, Fruit juice
Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables helps to keep your body healthy and fight infections. These foods include lots of Vitamins, Minerals and some Fibre. You should eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Fruit juice only counts as one portion a day no matter how many times you drink it. Juice and dried fruits contain lots of sugar and are best kept to mealtimes to keep your teeth healthy.
Foods and Drinks Containing Fat and Sugar Examples of these include: Butter, Margarine, Biscuits, Cakes, Puddings, Chocolate, Sweets, Crisps Sugary Drinks These foods contain Sugar, which is a Carbohydrate. These foods provide us with energy; this energy is only short lasting unlike the starchy foods that provide us with long lasting energy. We need to be careful how many of these foods we eat as they are bad for out teeth and can cause us to gain weight. Therefore these foods should be eaten as a treat.
Suggestions for delivering the Session •
Vary the approach according to the level and prior knowledge of learners.
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Use the Introduction and Background Information to introduce the Eatwell Plate and the 5 food groups.
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Ask the learners to name the 5 food groups and to give examples of food products from each of the food groups.
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Choosing one food group at a time, ask learners why we need food from that group. Continue until all 5 food groups have been discussed.
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Ask learners to allocate a number (1 – 5) to each food group. (Give a 5 to the food group people should eat most of and 1 for the food group people should eat least.)
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Discuss answers and demonstrate a balanced diet by showing the Pictorial Eatwell Plate Poster (slide or full size poster) and then identifying which food groups we should be eating most of, the least of and which ones are in the middle.
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Remove the Pictorial Eatwell Plate Poster and hand out the Eatwell Plate Worksheet. Ask the learners to identify which food group belongs to each section of the blank diagram of the Eatwell Plate.
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Demonstrate the correct balance of food using the Complete Eatwell Plate % slide which divides the plate into sections, with the size of each section representing how much of that food group we should eat i.e. Fruit and Vegetables
33%
33%
Bread, Rice, Potatoes, Pasta and other starchy foods Milk and Dairy Foods Foods and Drinks containing Fats and Sugars Meat, Fish, Eggs, Beans and other non dairy sources of protein
12%
15% 7%
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As a summary show the Pictorial Eatwell Plate Poster (or slide) again and recap each of the Food Groups by pointing to each photo of a different food product and asking learners to call out the name. Once learners have identified all the photos, ask them to suggest other examples not shown.
A Pictorial Eatwell Plate Poster
The Eatwell Plate Worksheet Draw an arrow from each of the Food Groups to the correct section on the diagram.
• • • • •
Bread, Rice, Potatoes, Pasta and other starchy foods Fruit and Vegetables Meat, Fish, Eggs, Beans and other non dairy sources of protein Milk and Dairy Foods Foods and Drinks Containing Fats and Sugars
The Complete Eatwell Plate (%)
33%
33%
12%
15% 7%
Fruit and Vegetables Bread, Rice, Potatoes, Pasta and other starchy foods Milk and Dairy Foods Foods and Drinks containing Fats and Sugars Meat, Fish, Eggs, Beans and other non dairy sources of protein