• Nutrition Essentials
• What is a healthy diet?
• How much fruit and veg should I be eating?
• Starchy foods
• Dairy products
• Meat, fish and alternatives
• Healthy eating tips
• Build your own healthy lunchbox
• Links to other food sites

• more fruit and veg
• more starchy foods such as rice, bread, pasta (try to choose wholegrain varieties when you can) and potatoes
• less fat, salt and sugar
• some protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs and pulses

We also lose water through evaporation when we breathe and sweat. As the temperature rises and as we do more activity, this increases the amount of water the body loses.

To stay healthy, you need to replace the fluids you lose. And don't forget, if the weather is hot or you are exercising, you will be losing even more water.

We should drink approximately 1.2 litres (6 to 8 glasses) of fluid every day to stop us getting dehydrated. In hotter climates the body needs more than this.

The best drink to have is water, but fruit juice and semi-skimmed milk are also good. Smoothies made from fruit, fruit juice and milk/yoghurt are also good occasionally.

Crown copyright/Food Standards Agency

A healthy diet is a diet based on breads, potatoes, and other cereals and is rich in fruits and vegetables. A healthy diet will include moderate amounts of milk and dairy products, meat, fish or meat/milk alternatives, and limited amounts of foods containing fat or sugar.

No single food can provide all the essential nutrients that the body needs.

Therefore, it is important to consume a wide variety of foods to provide adequate intakes of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, which are important for health

1.  Fruit & Vegetables - we should be eating at least five portions of fruit and veg every day....
2.  Starchy foods ie. bread, potatoes, rice - Starchy foods should make up about a third of the food we eat...
3.  Dairy products - cheese, yoghurt and fromage frais are great sources of protein and vitamins
4.  Meat, fish and alternatives - We should be eating at least two portions of fish a week including one of oily fish.
5. Foods containing fats and sugars (the smallest section) - Did you know we should be trying to eat more unsaturated fats?

You can choose from fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or juiced. But remember that potatoes don't count because they're a starchy food.

How much fruit and veg should I be eating?

How much do I need?

Starchy foods are a good source of energy and the main source of a range of nutrients in our diet. As well as starch, these foods contain fibre, calcium, iron and B vitamins.

Some people think starchy foods are fattening, but they contain less than half the calories of fat. You just need to watch out for the added fats used for cooking and serving, because this is what increases the calorie content. If you're concerned about your weight, wholegrain varieties are an especially good choice.

They're also an important source of calcium, which is important for growing bones and keeping them strong. The calcium in dairy foods is easy for the body to absorb.

• Choose low fat milk i.e. semi-skimmed or skimmed milk
• Choose low fat yogurts and reduced fat cheeses

The fat content of different dairy products varies a lot and much of this is saturated fat, which can raise cholesterol and is linked to heart disease.

Meat is a good source of protein and vitamins and minerals, such as iron, selenium, zinc, and B vitamins. It is one of the main sources of vitamin B12, which is only found in foods from animals, such as meat and milk.

Some types of meat are high in fat, particularly saturated fat, which can raise cholesterol levels. Having high cholesterol increases the chances of developing heart disease.

When you’re buying meat, the type of cut or meat product you choose (and how you cook it) can make a big difference.

We should be eating at least two portions of fish a week including one of oily fish. But most people aren't eating enough fish. Fish and shellfish are rich in protein and minerals, and oily fish is rich in omega 3 fatty acids. Oily fish includes salmon, mackerel, fresh tuna (not tinned), trout and sardines.

Most of us should be eating more fish. It's an excellent source of protein and it contains essential vitamins and minerals, such as selenium and iodine.

These include nuts, tofu, mycoprotein, textured vegetable protein (TVP), beans such as kidney beans and canned baked beans, and pulses such as lentils. These foods provide protein, fibre and iron.

• Choose lower fat meat products
• Choose lean cuts of meat
• Cut visible fat including skin from meat and poultry and drain away fat after cooking
• Try to grill, roast or microwave meat and fish rather than frying
• Eat oily fish once a week

It's important to have some fat in our diet because fat is a source of some vitamins; it's a good source of energy and a source of the essential fatty acids that the body can't make itself.

But having a lot of fat makes it easy to have more energy than we need, which means we might be more likely to put on weight. So if you want to eat healthily and keep a healthy weight, look out for lower fat alternatives wherever possible and try to eat fatty foods only occasionally.

Different types of sugar
Sugars occur naturally in food such as fruit and milk, but we don't need to cut down on these types of sugars. It is food containing added sugars that we should be cutting down on.

Sugar is added to many types of food such as:

• fizzy drinks and juice drinks
• sweets and biscuits
• jam
• cakes, pastries and puddings
• ice cream

Food and drinks containing added sugars contain calories but few other nutrients so we should try to eat these foods only occasionally.

Sugary foods and drinks can cause tooth decay, particularly if you have them between meals. This includes fruit juice and honey.

The sugars found naturally in whole fruit are less likely to cause tooth decay because the sugar is contained within the structure of the fruit. But, when fruit is juiced or blended, the sugar is released. Once released, these sugars can damage teeth, especially if fruit juice is drunk frequently.

Fruit juice is still a healthy choice, and counts as one of the five portions of fruit and vegetables we should be having every day, but it is best to drink fruit juice at mealtimes.

• Eat small quantities of these foods
• Choose low fat or reduced sugar foods where possible
• Use spreads and oils sparingly – opt for vegetable fats and oils
• Try to limit consumption of sugar-containing foods and drinks between meals
• Try not to add fat to foods when cooking

<<Back to the top>>

<<Back to the top>>