Menza, V. (2013).

Eating Well For Good Health : Lessons

On Nutrition And Healthy Diets. Rome, ITA: FAO. Retrieved
from http://www.ebrary.com
1. Time constraints and convenience, religious practices
and cultural traditions, personal likes and dislikes,
everyday habits and lack of knowledge and skills all
affect peoples food choices. Whatever the reasoning
behind them, the food choices that people make can
have long-lasting effects on their health and wellbeing.
2. In fact, health is defined by the World Health
Organization as a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity. This means that to be in good
health, we must take care of our bodies, our minds
and emotions, and we must pay attention to our lifestyles and surroundings. This definition of health
recognizes that every person is complex and must be
valued for all of their dimensions, not just for their
physical ones. For example, people with a physical
disability or illness can still continue to grow and
improve mentally or socially, thus maintaining a good
quality of life and contributing to the family and
community. We have a chance to be in the best
health when we are aware of all dimensions of good
health and when we work toward improving ourselves
in as many of them as we can.
3. There are many personal choices we can make to
improve our physical, mental and social well-being.
What we eat, how we live and the physical and social
environment in which we live and work all affect our
health. Achieving and maintaining the best possible
overall health and well-being requires learning how to
make good personal life-style choices and continuing
these good practices throughout life. This means first
of all making good food choices for a healthy and
nutritious diet. It also means adopting behaviours
that are beneficial to health, such as practising
adequate levels of physical activity, and avoiding
harmful behaviours such as smoking, drug and

alcohol abuse and exposure to sexually transmitted

diseases
4. the conditions that are necessary for people to have
good nutritional status and what conditions can cause
poor nutritional status and malnutrition. It explores
the many things we need for good nutritional status:
enough food to eat to meet our nutritional needs;
clean water and living conditions to help us avoid
disease; medical care to help prevent and treat
disease; and the knowledge and ability to feed and
care for ourselves and our families properly.
5. Good nutritional status helps us maintain all
important body functions so that we can grow and
develop properly and lead healthy, active lives.
6. In order to have good nutritional status, we need
certain fundamental conditions.
7. Food provides the energy and nutrients needed to
support all body functions, maintain good health and
carry out everyday activities.
8. Carbohydrates are necessary for the brain to
function; they help muscles work better. Some of the
carbohydrates we eat are broken down and used for
energy the body needs for physical activity; some are
used for growth and overall maintenance and for the
renewal of body tissues.
9. Protein is also a major component of the bodys
transportation system that carries oxygen and
nutrients to all cells of the body.
10.
Protein provides amino acids for basic body
functions. Amino acids are combined in the body to
create protein substances needed to form body
tissues.
11.
We need energy for our heart to beat, our lungs
to breathe, our brain to think, our stomachs to digest
and our cells to ................................... food.

 Collins, M. (2006). Let's Learn about Healthy Eating.

London, GBR: SAGE Publications Inc. (US). Retrieved from
http://www.ebrary.com
1. In November 2004 Charles Clarke announced the
Healthy Living Blueprint for Schools
(www.apse.org.uk). The Healthy Living Blueprint for
Schools supports schools in working towards fi ve key
objectives: 1. To promote a school ethos and
environment which encourages a healthy lifestyle 2.
To use the full capacity and fl exibility of the
curriculum to achieve a healthy lifestyle 3. To ensure
the food and drink available across the school day
reinforces the healthy lifestyle message 4. To provide
high-quality physical education and school sport and
promote physical activity as part of a lifelong healthy
lifestyle 5. To promote an understanding of the full
range of issues and behaviours which will effect
lifelong health. A key theme of the blueprint is that

good health and effective learning go hand-in-hand; a

healthy body can lead to a healthy brain.
2. Pupils who eat meals made with fresh, unprocessed
ingredients and who have access to drinking water
have better concentration, improved attention spans,
are less likely to be hyperactive, and are calmer and
more alert in class. They also have an increased
capacity to learn and are less likely to be absent from
school.
3. Eating a healthy balanced diet not only helps children
to work better in schools. It serves to provide the
building blocks for future health as well as increasing
self-esteem and emotional wellbeing, as noted in
Spotlight (ibid): Children and young people who fail to
eat a balanced diet and meet recommended levels of
physical activity face a disproportionately high risk of
developing a range of life threatening conditions,
including diabetes, heart disease and circulatory
disorderscan also affect children and young
peoples quality of life and their emotional wellbeingcause low selfesteem and depression as well
as contributing to a range of behavioural problems.