The importance of diet for health and fitness

Preparing for your project!

When you are working on your project at the end of this course, you will need to be able to demonstrate that you know and understand the key nutrients and what a balanced diet consists of. This includes:

  • Key nutrients
    • Fat
    • Carbohydrate
    • Protein
    • Vitamins
    • Minerals
    • Fibre
    • Water
  • Balanced diet guidance
    • Eatwell Guide
    • Food pyramid
    • Recommended daily allowance

You will also need to know and understand how to recommend changes to a diet to support a healthy lifestyle. This includes:

  • Portion size
  • Eating habits

You’ll find lots of useful information over the following pages to help you complete this part of your project.

The food we eat acts as fuel for our body and, in order to have a healthy lifestyle, you need to choose a diet made up of the right types of food.

Think first

Do you know what makes up a healthy diet? Use the box below to list out some key steps you could take to achieve a healthy diet.

A healthy diet is one that contains all of the nutrients your body needs in order to stay healthy and have enough energy each day. A healthy diet is a balanced diet – this means that it should include a variety of different foods from different food groups (for example, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, bread, eggs, and also plenty of water).

By eating a healthy, balanced diet, your body gets the vitamins and minerals it needs to function properly, to stay fit and healthy, and to grow and develop.

Activity

The Eatwell Guide defines government recommendations on eating a healthy and balanced diet. Take a look at this guidance.

Based on the information provided in the Eatwell Guide, think about your current diet. Are there any foods that you eat too much of or not enough of? How healthy do you think your diet is overall?

Make some notes in the box below.

In summary, the Eatwell Guide states that a healthy diet should include:

  • At least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day
  • Meals based on starchy foods, such as bread, rice, pasta and potatoes
  • Some dairy foods (or alternatives), such as milk, cheese and yoghurt
  • Sources of protein, such as fish, eggs, meat and pulses
  • At least two portions of fish every week (one of which should be oily, such as salmon or mackerel)
  • Only small amounts of unsaturated oils and spreads
  • Only small amounts of foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar
  • Plenty of fluids (6-8 glasses a day) – water, low fat milk and low sugar/sugar free drinks including tea and coffee all count (as do fruit juices and smoothies, but these drinks should be limited to a combined total of 150ml per day due to sugar content)

It is important to remember that this information is a guide and our nutritional requirements can change in different stages of our life (for example, a growing teenager’s nutritional needs will be different to that of a 70-year-old woman. In addition, be aware that the Eatwell Guide outlines dietary recommendations for adults, not children – children have different nutritional needs.