Balanced Diet

Key Stage 1

Meaning

File:BalancedDiet.png

Four plates showing a balanced diet.

Having a balanced diet means eating the right amounts of different food.

Singular Noun: Balanced diet

Plural Noun: Balanced diets

About a Balanced Diet

We need a balanced diet to stay healthy. Food allows us to move, grow, repair injuries and stay alive. If we do not eat certain foods this might make us tired trying to move, might stop us growing, might make injuries very slow to heal or make us so ill we could die.

In a balanced diet we need to make sure we get enough:

• Protein
• Vitamins
• Energy

Protein

We can eat any of these foods to get enough protein.

Meat provides lots of protein for a balanced diet.	You can help keep your diet balanced by eating lots of different beans.
Nuts are the seeds of trees and are part of a balanced diet.	There are many different kinds of peas that can help make sure you have a balanced diet.

Vitamins

We should eat lots of these different foods to make sure we get all the vitamins we need.

Fruit are very sweet and 2 - 5 portions of them everyday help make a balanced diet.	You should eat 3 to 5 portions of vegetables everyday to get the vitamins you need in a balanced diet.	Breakfast cereal has added vitamins in them to help make a balanced diet because some people are too fussy to eat enough vegetables.

Energy

We can eat any of these foods to get enough energy.

Bread makes part of a balanced diet because it has a lot of stored energy we can use.	A balanced diet might contain pasta for energy.
Potatoes are an excellent source of energy in a balanced diet.	Rice is a very important part of many people's balanced diet.