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INTERVIEW
7
TUTORIALS
9
Food and Agriculture
Organization of the
United Nations
Student’s name:
Unit 2: Explaining
food, diet and
healthy eating
Student’s book
Contents
Student’s book
UNIT OVERVIEW 4
Section 1. Introduction 8
STUDENT’S KEY 71
GLOSSARY 90
Unit resources
1. Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) 3
2. Changing diets 6
4. References 19
Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
Student’s book
Abbreviations
gloss Glossary
Unit overview
UNIT SUMMARY
O
ne of your roles in nutrition education will be to change some of
people’s ideas of diet and food. You may need to reply to questions
and comments like
“Why should I change the way I eat?”
“What's so special about this food/food group?”
“What’s wrong with being fat?”
When you do try to give advice or make suggestions, you may be told
“You are just a young person. We know better.”
This unit will give you the knowledge and practice you need to deal with such
situations. You will also sometimes be asked to make links with your own
environment or your own food habits, and to answer flagged questions
(indicated by the flag icon ). Make sure you write down the answers, as
some of these will be discussed at the tutorials.
Section 1 ‘Introduction’ explains why you need to be able to make good
explanations to people regarding food, diet and nutrition. You will briefly
think about common misconceptions/wrong beliefs about diet: mistaken
food beliefs and practices are part of the ground on which new
perceptions have to be built, which is a large part of the task of nutrition
education.
Section 2 ‘Does diet really matter?’ briefly recaps the benefits of healthy
diets and the risks of unhealthy diets. You receive various tips to keep in
mind when giving explanations to the general public.
Section 3 ‘What is a healthy diet?’ looks at the common features of a
healthy diet, how to recognize healthy diets and explain the concepts to
others.
In Section 4 ‘Dietary requirements’ you will think about the different
nutritional requirements people have, with a focus on IYCF.
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In your outside activity you interview an older lady to find out about changes to
diet and food patterns in the last 10-20 years.
Keys to many of the activities are given in the ‘Student’s Key’ at the end of this
workbook. Many of them are not “right answers” but are simply advisory.
You may be tempted to read the question and go straight to the Key, but it is
essential that you take a little time to think of your own answers and write
them down before you check the Key. This is something your tutor will look for
when checking your workbooks.
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES
Main objective: Recognize and explain the need for a healthy diet
in all its aspects; describe and analyse diets and suggest areas for
improvement
This unit will help you to
recognize healthy/unhealthy diets and what they mean for people’s
health
explore the influences on diet
observe changes in food consumption patterns (globally and nationally),
and recognize their health and educational implications
and will give you practice in
explaining the need for healthy foods and diets
describing and assessing diets in terms of adequacy, variety, proportions,
meal frequency etc.
making suggestions for improving diets.
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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The purpose of the ‘Outside activity’ is to find out what people eat and compare
it with what people used to eat, to see if and how the diet has changed over the
last 10-20 years in your country.
To do this, you have to interview a lady of your mother’s age (it can be a family
member or someone from the community). At the tutorial you will compare
what you find out with what other students find out. You will find further details
in the section ‘Instructions for outside activity’ at the end of this document. You
may carry out this activity at any time, but it should be completed by the time
you reach Section 7 ‘Influences and change’.
NESA
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Section 1. Introduction
In Unit 1 you learned about
Wrong ideas/beliefs about diet
the main nutrition problems
in your country and you saw Do you see this belief in your country? Tick if yes.
that diet is one of the main
determinants of a person’s What matters is quantity, not quality. Food
nutritional status and overall should make you feel full.
health.
A healthy diet means one food from each
Yet there are many mis- food group every day
conceptions and gaps in
knowledge about diet across Fruit and vegetables are not essential to the
the world, and most likely in diet
your country as well. A few
A healthy diet has a lot of animal source
have been listed in the box.
foods
Put a tick next to those that
are common in your own Vitamin supplements are always the best
country. way to improve the diet
The important thing about
such beliefs is that they are Fatness is a sign of wealth
where people start from.
All food is good food
You need to understand how
people think of food and Fruit is nice but it is not really food; it
diet before you can explain doesn’t fill you up.
and illustrate the health
benefits of healthy diets and Insects were eaten long ago, because
the risks of poor ones. people were poor. They are not good food.
Read pp. 6-9 “…and many misperceptions and poor practices” of the Book of
Quotations in the Course Resources. Select one quote, which you think is
particularly relevant to your country and write it on the next page:
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Also copy the quotation in big letters onto a half-sheet of paper to show to your
colleagues at the tutorial.
Columbia University
Mistaken food beliefs and practices are part of the ground on which new
perceptions have to be built, which is a large part of the task of nutrition
education. In Section 7 ‘Influences and change’, you will be looking at other
factors that affect what people eat. Understanding people’s eating patterns and
what drives them will help you to enable people to improve their diets.
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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©FAO/Ivan Grifi
©FAO/Rodger Bosch
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©FAO/Daniel Hayduk
Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Activity 1 Benefits
Can you identify five health benefits of healthy eating mentioned by the people
you just saw? You can add some more of your own if you like.
People who eat well…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Activity 2 Risks!
Unfortunately, many people do not understand what a healthy diet is, and how
much it contributes to their health and their children’s growth and development.
In the table below are four cases. Match them with these risks:
Risks: Stunting Anaemia Diabetes Death
a. An infant is being fed on infant formula (mixed with dirty water) and is
living in unsanitary conditions where diarrhoea is common.
b. A 20-month-old baby has a very limited diet of cassava and watery soup
from a fish stew.
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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In this unit, to give you practice in explaining to people, you will regularly be
asked “What would you say?” in response to questions/comments from the
public. The public will be represented by a shadow and you will be asked to fill
the speech bubble with a suitable reply from the nutrition educator.
You will write your replies in these spaces. Write down the exact
words you think the nutrition educator should use.
©FAO/Cristina Álvarez
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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©FAO/Rik Moors
Some students wrote replies for the nutrition educator to give. Here are some of
them.
2. “If you eat like this, you will have low immunity that will
lead to opportunistic infections.”
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©FAO/Giulio Napolitano
Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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a. What do you think of these replies? Some of them give information that is
inaccurate or incomplete, have technical language or are hard to understand.
Some are very general or are not very motivating – do not connect with
people’s experience.
Say what is wrong with each of the students’ replies by writing one or more
of the following labels next to each reply. You may put more than one label.
Labels are:
Misleading (inaccurate, incomplete information)
Hard to understand/over-technical
Very general
Not very motivating
2. “If you eat like this, you will have low immunity that
will lead to opportunistic infections.”
3. “Eating like that will give you kwashiorkor!”
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Example: Nutrients Things that you get from food, which keep you
healthy and strong
Example: Suffer from disease Get sick
Monotony in meals
Dehydration
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c. What would your own answer be to the two labourers? Write it here. (Try to
avoid the mistakes made by the students in their replies above!)
©FAO/Roberto Faidutti
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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a. List the food groups as you see them, with a few food examples for each. If
there is a standard grouping in your country, use it.
Do this individually, then compare with a colleague to see if you agree.
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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b. Did your colleague have the same groups? Comment on similarities and
differences.
Similarities Differences
c. Are the food groups in ‘Food groups for a healthy diet’ (FAO 2004) the same
as your own grouping in Activity 4? Identify anything that is different.
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Take a look at the visual guide for Namibian FBDGs (Food-based dietary
guidelines (FBDGs), Unit 2 Resources, pp. 3-5). Compare it with the ‘Food
groups for a healthy diet’ (FAO 2004) (pp. 25 below). Can you find one thing
that is similar in the two diagrams and one thing that is different?
Similar:
Similar:
Different:
Different:
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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1
See Box “When cooking...” in Section 5.
For example, a healthy way of cooking sweet
potatoes is to boil/steam them, while a less
healthy way is deep fried sweet potato chips.
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Principle 2: Balance/proportion
The second principle is balance or proportion. All food groups
are important, but we need more of some than of others.
The diagram on the right shows what a balanced diet means.
What does “balance” mean? Study the diagram and answer the questions below.
b. What techniques are used in the diagram to show the importance of the
staple food?
c. What do you think happens if there is too much staple and very little of other
food groups in the diet?
d. Approximately how much animal food is required compared with the staple
food? (choose one answer)
1. Half the amount of staple
2. A quarter of the amount of staple
3. The same amount
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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...Very
Verygod. But
good. toto
But get allallthe
get thekinds ofoffood
kinds foodyou need,
you you
need, should…
you should...
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©FAO/Cristina Álvarez
Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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©FAO/Olivier Asselin
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Seasonality
Seasonality is also a critical issue because
meals can go down from three to two a day in the hungry season, or even
down to one in case of serious food shortages
fresh vegetables aren’t available in some seasons, or those that are
grown are all sold for cash and are not preserved
dried vegetables (e.g. green leaves) have a much lower content of some
essential micronutrients (e.g. vitamin A)
women’s workload is especially high in some seasons, and the mother
does not have time to prepare three meals a day or to prepare special
complementary foods for her young child.
We need to ask and think about these issues and discuss ways to get round them
when trying to help people eat better.
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Preventing diarrhoea
Poor sanitation and dirty hands can contaminate food: one of the most common
results is diarrhoea.
For young children, diarrhoea is one of the biggest dangers. Diarrhoeal disease is
the second main cause of death in young children, and is responsible for killing
760 000 children under five every year (WHO 2013).
Many people do not fully understand
how dangerous diarrhoea is for young children
what causes or contributes to it
the practices that will prevent it.
Here is some more of what people need to understand about children’s
diarrhoea.
Undernutrition Diarrhoea
Poor
nutrient
absorption
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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a. What advice can you give to families about rules to follow during food
preparation, storage and feeding of children, to make sure food is safe?
Suggest three things.
(Areas to consider are personal hygiene, clean and safe water, buying and
storing food, preparing food, hygiene around the home and toxins and
chemicals).
Make your advice practical, specific and easy to understand.
1.
2.
3.
Try to give a real idea of the risks, but in a way that everyone can understand.
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©FAO/Cristina Álvarez
Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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©FAO/Ivan Grifi
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Feeding children
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©FAO/Ivan Grifi
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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a. What sort of diet do the people below need? Match the statements with the
pictures. Write in the letters below the pictures. (You may write more than
one letter.)
A. frequent feeding
C. breastmilk only
E. foods rich in iron, folate and vitamin
G. not too many fats and carbohydrates
B. frequent meals and snacks for energy
D. plenty of animal source foods ©Ivano Grasso
F. soft, easily digested foods
1. School-aged children need ...
H. more food than usual
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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b. From your own experience, are people generally aware of these special
nutritional needs?
c. Who do you think needs educating most? Pick one group and justify why.
Pregnant women? Families of old people?
Lactating mothers? Old people themselves?
Husbands and families of Health workers?
pregnant women? Teachers?
Mothers of infants and young Parents of growing children?
children?
Group:
Reason:
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©FAO/Cristina Álvarez
Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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People’s food needs differ because they have different nutritional requirements.
Needs can differ due to age, gender, body type, activity levels and physiological
needs (e.g. during pregnancy, sickness etc.). For mothers and young children in
particular, the right foods are essential for life and health. It is important to
emphasise that whilst cultural hierarchies (e.g. household food distribution
patterns) are to be respected, the nutritional needs of mothers and young
children must be given priority.
Many people are unaware of these special nutritional needs.
©FAO
To get a healthy variety, get colour! Orange, dark green, purple and red.
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When cooking...
Buy or pick vegetables and fruits on the day you use them and store them
in a cool place.
Clean and cut vegetables and fresh starchy roots immediately before
cooking.
Cook vegetables in a little water or with a stew until just tender; other
cooking methods for vegetables that preserve nutrients are steaming,
stir-frying (i.e. frying very quickly over high heat), sautéing (i.e. cooking in
fat or oil in a pan or on a griddle); or blanching (dipping briefly in boiling
water).
Eat food soon after cooking. Vitamins B and C are lost if food is kept
warm for too long.
Vitamin A in plant foods is absorbed better when the food is cooked (but
not overcooked), and when it is eaten with fat.
Try to avoid...
undercooking meat, eggs and beans
overcooking, especially vegetables
adding too much salt or sugar
leaving food to get cold before eating it
reheating food that has been cooked before.
(Adapted from FAO 2004, and Food and Nutrition Council of
Zimbabwe/FAO/UNICEF n.d.)
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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©FAO/Giulio
©FAO/Giulio Napolitano
Napolitano
"Healthy foods”
Is it possible to say that any particular food is “very healthy”?
Decide after you do the next activity. You may be surprised by the nutritional
content (or lack of nutrients) in some of your favourite foods! Knowing which
foods are particularly healthy will be useful for your work as a nutrition educator,
as it will help you decide which foods to promote.
Look at ‘Information sheet: vegetables, fruits and other plant foods’, Unit 2
Resources (pp. 10-18), which gives information on the nutritional content,
benefits and ways of processing and eating some commonly grown plant foods in
Africa.
a. From the list of foods, pick one that is found in your country (n.b. A food not
a dish!) which you think is rich in nutrients. n.b. You don’t have to read
through all the foods, just make a quick choice!
b. Read through the nutritional data for your selected food. Collect information
about it to complete the table below.
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Name of food
Give both local name(s) and English
name
Food group
Give food group as in the diagram
“Food groups for a healthy diet” (FAO
2004)
Which macronutrients and
micronutrients is it rich in?
What dishes are made with it in your
country?
c. Compare the information you find with that of a colleague. Together decide if
There is a model
we can say that some foods are “particularly healthy”. Justify your answer.
answer in the
‘Student’s Key’.
Answers will be
discussed in the
tutorial
If you are interested, you can find more food composition information (including
national food composition tables) at http://www.fao.org/infoods/infoods/tables-
and-databases/en/. If you wish to learn more about food composition, you could
take the ten-hour FAO/INFOODS e-Learning Course on Food Composition Data,
which covers all important issues
(http://www.fao.org/infoods/infoods/training/en/).
2
For example, people may simply like it or value it (or not) because it is expensive, traditional,
high-class/low-class; because it is used for special dishes or belongs to their own region; because
they are not used to it; or because they have a false (or true) idea of its nutrition value. Try to
give an idea of this here.
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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“Unhealthy foods”
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a. Look around you. Identify the three most commonly available unhealthy
foods and drinks that should not be eaten in excess. (Be sure to list specific
foods or drinks, not food groups.) Rank your choices from 1-3
(1= most unhealthy of the three foods.)
1.
2.
3.
b. Compare your three items with a friend’s. Are they the same/different? (e.g.
choice of foods, order). Explain.
c. Name a highly processed food product that you ate during the last week.
Answers will be
discussed in
the tutorial
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d. How popular are highly processed foods? How important are they now to
people’s lifestyles?
You need food to satisfy your hunger. However, a feeling of hunger does not tell
you what to eat. That’s why basic knowledge about nutrition and having the skills
to grow, select and prepare a healthy diet are essential for good health and
development.
Animal foods, fruit, vegetables, legumes and nuts provide a lot of
micronutrients. Many people are not aware of the need to eat a good
variety of vegetables, fruit, legumes and nuts.
Sometimes fortified foods, especially fortified cereals and iodised salt,
may be needed to provide particular micronutrients lacking in the diet.
We should avoid eating too many unhealthy foods that fill us up but don’t
provide many nutrients, and often contain a lot of trans fat, saturated fat,
salt and sugar.
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n.b. You may discuss with a friend, but make sure to write the
answer individually, as this activity is assessed.
It is not easy to describe a national diet as it may vary according to region and
economic status.
Read the following description of the national diet of Mozambique, adapted
from the FAO nutrition country profile for the country. You may like to see if the
nutrition country profile for your own country is available: if so go to
http://www.fao.org/ag/agn/nutrition/profiles_en.stm.
Mozambique
The main staple foods are cassava, maize, millet, sorghum and rice. Maize,
cassava, sorghum and millet are prepared as a porridge, and normally eaten with
different stews made of green leafy vegetables, enriched with groundnut and/or
coconut milk, beans, fish (fresh and dry, from sea or river) or other seafood
when available. Meat (chicken and bush meat) is eaten only on festive occasions.
Matapa (green leafy vegetables, coconut milk and groundnut flour), bean stew
and mucapata (rice, mung beans and coconut milk) are among the traditional
dishes.
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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With the exception of green leafy vegetables, onion and tomatoes, consumption
of vegetables and fruit is low. The majority of households have on average two
meals a day (both adults and children). Normally all children eat from a common
pot; younger children eat with their mother.
In the capital Maputo, fast foods (hamburgers, hot dogs, snacks, etc.) have
become more common. In other cities, common street foods are fried cookies,
peanut/cashew nut sweets or coconut with sugar.
Check in the
‘Student’s Key’
for a model
answer.
Remember, this
activity will be
assessed
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Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Suppose you have five minutes to get a rough picture of a person’s diet, with
information on:
common foods consumed
quantity of different foods
balance of different food groups
food variety
meal frequency
seasonal effects.
Write the questions you would ask to find out the information to two of the
points above.
Your questions should be simple and easy for anyone to understand. You may
need to ask more than one question (i.e. ask follow up questions) for each point
you want to explore. (n.b. Avoid leading questions, which can influence your
interviewee’s answer, e.g. don’t ask Do you eat vegetables and fruits with your
main dishes?)
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Example: Is the food generally E.g. Yes, generally fresh - most foods are
fresh, and not highly processed obtained from home gardens.
Explain.
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b. Suggest two specific and realistic ways of improving this diet referring to the
type, amount and frequency of food intake.
e.g. include a small amount of animal source foods such as offal or small
fish at least twice a week
1.
2.
Dietary guidelines
You have seen some of the Food-based dietary guidelines which help
people make healthy food choices.
Look through the three sets of guidelines again: ‘Food-based dietary guidelines
(FBDGs)’ (Unit 2 Resources, pp. 3-5). In the light of the dietary assessment you
made for your region, and your observations through the unit so far, choose
three messages which you think are particularly suitable for the general
population of your country, and should be promoted there. Indicate the country
from which the guideline is taken.
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2. the tutorial.
2.
Be ready to say
why you chose
3.
3. these three as
your priorities
Here are four groups of people with four different sorts of diet. Pick one of the
groups.
They eat big They eat a lot of They eat one big They eat thin rice
meat meals staple food every cooked meal porridge every
every day with day every day day OR baby
a little sauce + greens + lots of sweets, formula mixed
+ chips, rice + groundnut biscuits, buns, with water.
a. Give the group you have chosen some advice to help improve their diet.
Make sure your advice is easy to understand. (Advice)
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b. Explain (for your tutor/colleagues) why you gave these people this particular
advice. (Reason)
Group
Advice
A diet description should include details of all foods consumed (including snacks
and drinks). Diets can be assessed in terms of general freshness (not highly
processed); balance/ proportionality of food groups; food variety; and meal
frequency and constancy (seasonality). FBDGs provide information to help
people make healthy food choices and thus achieve a healthy diet.
Many countries do not have FBDGs: nutrition workers and educators need to
agree on what particular messages are most needed for the general
population.3
3
Guidelines for specific groups such as infants and children are available (PAHO/WHO 2003,
2005). See also Essential Nutrition Actions (gloss).
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©Cristina Álvarez
Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Food choices
Why do people eat the foods they eat? Here are three categories of influence
(adapted from Contento 2007).
Categories of influence
1. Preferences and sensory factors (e.g. taste, pleasure)
“I like their taste.”
“My family won’t eat cassava, they say it’s slimy.”
2. Perceptions, habits, attitudes, beliefs, social norms, ignorance (e.g.
familiarity, established practices, cultural norms, ideas of food status etc.)
“All my friends eat lunch in the canteen too.”
“I feed my husband and my two sons first, then the women eat.”
3. Food availability and environmental influences/external influences (e.g.
price, availability, public policy, advertising etc.)
“I had to eat from the canteen, and this was the cheapest thing on the
menu.”
“Of course we would eat more meat if we could afford it. But meat is
expensive…”
Nutrition education can influence all these categories, but some of them will
need more time and effort than others:
Taste or preference is shaped by repeated experience with food and
eating. If people adopt diets that are low in salt for a long time, then they
will get used to such a diet, and may come to like it. So preferences can
be influenced by forming different habits and getting used to other
tastes, over time.
Although habits and perceptions may be most open to nutrition
education, it won’t always be easy to change, for example, if the social
norm is to feed the men and boys first and give them the best food.
Although external influences are usually out of people’s hands (i.e. no
choice), individuals can contribute to changing external influences and
the environment over time, for example, by demanding healthier foods in
schools and by growing a wider variety of food in home gardens.
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You came across some of the people below in Unit 1. Choose two of them and
fill in the tables on the next page. You can indicate more than one influence: the
reality is that often multiple factors determine our food choices and intake.
1. My daughter eats the school lunch (maize, beans, oil and salt) plus
some maize porridge in the evening. We grow mangoes but they are
sold to bring money for the family. Those that fall are left to rot.
(Mother of 5-year-old Mwende, who risks going blind due to vitamin A
deficiency)
3. I have fed him rice and cassava since he was born. This is what my
mother fed me, and her mother fed her. This is what we eat.
(Mother of 4-year-old Henintsoa, who is stunted)
4. My family loves sweet and fried foods. As the mother, it’s my duty
to provide them with what they want, and to eat it with them.
(Kagiso, a middle-aged lady who has diabetes)
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©FAO/Ami Vitale
Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
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Case Number:
Case Number:
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Read the document ‘Changing diets’ (Unit 2 Resources, pp. 6-9). This gives a
collection of observations on the nutrition transition. Find facts to complete
the questions below on how diets and dietary habits have changed:
a. People used to eat... OR How things used to be… (foods and ways of
producing, sourcing and eating foods)
n.b. Look for 3 points.
1.
2.
3.
b. People now eat... OR How things are now... (foods and ways of eating)
n.b. Find at least 4 points.
1.
2.
3.
4.
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Student’s book
Activity 19 In my country…
Is the nutrition transition happening in your country? Refer to your findings
from the outside activity, and look around you in the town/village where you
live.
a. Is it common to see very fat/overweight people?
d. What proportion of street foods would you say are unhealthy (e.g. very fatty
or full of sugar/salt)? (estimate a percentage)
e. How are these changes generally perceived by people? For example, what
did your interviewee think of these changes?
Check in the
‘Student’s Key’
f. Write a few lines to sum up the situation in your country based on your
answers above. for a model
answer to Qf.
Answers will be
discussed in the
tutorial
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Yes No
©FAO/Ramani Wijesinha Bettoni
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Your answers
will discussed
in the final
tutorial
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Many factors influence our diet. Changing diets have led to the nutrition
transition, which has negative health implications for people all over the world.
Global food advertising and promotion are among the drivers of this transition.
People are likely to be attracted to cheap tasty foods which are strongly
marketed. They need to know why these foods may be bad for them.
Review work
Check that all your activities have been completed as far as possible.
Make sure that you have not left any answer boxes blank.
Make sure your 'Outside activity' is finalized.
Look through the Guiding Questions and see if you have changed your
mind since the beginning of the unit.
Look through the flagged questions ( ), and fill in table below for
Activity 21. You may be called on to discuss your answers at the tutorial.
b. Traditional underutilised foods in your country: What are they? Why do you
think they are underutilised?
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c. Household food distribution practices in your country: Description and what Your
you think of them. answers will
discussed in
the final
tutorial
Learning to give good explanations was one of the main goals of this unit. In the
kind of role-play used here, you are asked to imagine that you are either yourself
or another person in a particular situation. You then behave exactly as you feel
that person would behave. As a result of doing this you or your audience will
learn something about the person and/or situation (adapted from Nestel &
Tierney 2007).
The role plays will help you to practise what you have learned about giving good
explanations. You may be asked to perform your role play during the final
tutorial. The role-play itself should not take more than two minutes, and the
preparation not more than 10.
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1. “I’m lucky. I can afford to eat 2. “It’s easy for them to say ‘add
three meals a day. I eat nsima4 some meat and fish to my
for all my meals” baby’s porridge’. Where do I find
the money to buy such food?”
7. “Their father works all day in the 8. “When my child asks for
field. He needs to be given all something to eat, I tell her to
the meat to eat.” wait for the next meal. I’ve
heard it’s bad to get used to
eating between meals.”
9. “What matters is quantity, not 10. “Fruit is nice but it is not really
quality. Food should make you food, it doesn’t fill you up.”
feel full.”
11. “Where I come from fatness is a 12. “All my friends are eating
sign of wealth.” samozas and chips. How can I eat
soup and beans when we go out
together…?”
c. Try out the role-play orally first. You need to experience the situation
directly, so it is essential to talk it through before writing anything down. Pay
particular attention to the nutrition educator’s replies to the member(s) of
the public. Refer back to the ‘Tips on explaining’ in Section 2 (subsection 2.3).
d. Write out your “act” (script), or make some notes, so that if you don’t have
time to act it out at the tutorial your tutor can still give you marks.
Remember to give the number of the role card you chose.
4
Or the staple food in your country
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See the
‘Student’s
Key’ for a
model script
Rehearse a little. n.b. Do not memorise your script or read it aloud – just say
what comes naturally.
The script or performance will be judged according to (a) accurate and complete
information, (b) simple clear explanation, (c) realism (remember convincing
people is not an easy task!) and (d) interaction.
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Purpose
The purpose of the outside activity is to find out what people eat and compare it
with what they used to eat, to see if and how the diet has changed over the last
10-20 years in your country. At the tutorial you will compare what you find out
with what other students find out.
Timing
You may carry out this activity at any time, but it should be completed by the
time you reach Section 7 ‘Influences and change’.
Instructions
Interview an older lady (50 years of age or more). It can be a family member, or
someone from the community. Ask her about her family’s current diet and any
changes in recent years.
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Guidelines for the interview (After the interview, you will come back to
these Guidelines and check () the points that you followed.)
Be polite
Show interest
The interview
Recording sheet
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(Note down where your interviewee lives, and where she used to live, and
any general comments on changes observed. You will be probing for specific
details on changes in food patterns later.)
2. What is your main (staple) food? (e.g. rice, nsima, injera, ugali/pap, banku,
kenkey, pumpkins, yams etc.)
4. Do you eat any snacks in between meals? If yes, what are they?
5. How often do you eat vegetables? (Clarify: Do you mean green leaves, or
also other vegetables?)
9. How often do you eat outside the home (e.g. street food, food from a
restaurant or café etc.)?
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10. Is there any way you would like to improve what you eat? What do you think
would be a better diet?
11. Do you sometimes have to stop eating certain kinds of food (e.g. because
you can’t find them/they cost too much)? (If yes, give an example.)
Which food?
Why?
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13. Compared with 10-20 years ago, are there new foods/drinks you consume
now?
Which foods/drinks?
Why?
14. Is there anything you used to do to get your food (e.g. grow it, buy it etc.)
OR to prepare food (methods of cooking/preserving) that you don’t do any
more?
Why?
15. Do you think any changes have been for the better or for the worse? Why?
“Miss/Mrs X, thank you so much for this interview. It has been very interesting
for us.”
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Self-evaluation
Go back and read the points in the Guidelines for the interview. Did you and your
partner follow them all? Tick () the ones you feel you followed well. Give an
example here of how you followed them.
Suggestions for how you can improve the interview next time:
a. Briefly describe the current diet of the interviewee. Try to include differences
in quantities and frequency of intake of foods from different food groups;
methods of cooking; meal frequency and any seasonal effects on
consumption; snacking habits/eating outside the home etc.
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b. What are the main changes in your interviewee’s diet in the last 10 years?
What are the reasons for the changes? Give examples to illustrate your
points.
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Student’s Key
a. Replies
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2. “If you eat like this, you will have Hard to understand/over-technical
low immunity that will lead to
Not very motivating
opportunistic infections.”
3. “Eating like that will give you Misleading (inaccurate, incomplete
kwashiorkor!” information)
Hard to understand/over-technical
Not very motivating
4. “Do you want to have adequate Hard to understand/over-technical
physical and mental growth,
Not very motivating
adequate energy and weight, and
a strong immune system, or risk
poor health, poor mental and
physical growth, illness and
death?”
b. “Nutrition dictionary”
Nutrients Things that you get from food, which keep you
healthy and strong
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Adequate physical and mental Body and mind developing properly (strong,
growth healthy, bright, full of energy)
Dehydration Not having the water your body needs. This
happens if you don’t drink enough water, or
if you have bad diarrhoea, and your body
dries out.
Add your own as you go
along…
c. What would your own answer be to the two labourers? Write it here. (Try to
avoid the mistakes made by the students in their replies above!)
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Legumes, nuts and seeds (some may separate Groundnut, cowpea, soya,
these into individual groups) pumpkin seeds
Animal source foods Egg, fish, meat, milk
Oilseeds Groundnut, soybean, shea nut
Sugar crops and sweeteners and derived Sugar palm, sugar beet,
products sugar, treacle
Functional e.g. energy-giving foods, foods for growth and development, health
protection foods (GO, GROW, GLOW). This classification, though popular, is an
over-simplification and can also be misleading because most foods contain a
mixture of different nutrients, not just one key nutrient.
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Staple food Roots and tubers like cassava, potatoes, or grains like
millet, sorghum, rice
Vegetables Potatoes, tomatoes, greens
Meat Meat, fish, seafood
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Staples provide energy, but having too few fruits, vegetables, animal
foods, legumes and nuts results in micronutrient deficiencies (“hidden
hunger”) (gloss).
d. Approximately how much animal food is required compared with the staple
food? (choose one answer)
Approximately a quarter of the amount of staple should be animal foods.
e. Why is such a large proportion of vegetables and fruit recommended?
Because they provide micronutrients that the body needs, and many people’s
diets lack these.
f. Which food groups provide a lot of different micronutrients?
Animal foods, fruit, vegetables, legumes and nuts
g. Which food groups provide very few micronutrients?
Sugars, fats
h. Do we actually need oil or fat in our diet? Explain your answer.
Yes, fats help absorb fat-soluble vitamins and give energy.
i. What would you say? Practising explanations (1)
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some help us maintain our weight, some help us think well, others prevent
us from falling sick. So in order to get these different nutrients we have to
eat different foods.”
a. What advice can you give to families about rules to follow during food
preparation, storage and feeding of children, to make sure food is safe?
Suggest three things.
Some possible answers:
1. Always wash your hands with soap and running water before preparing
food or feeding your child.
2. Always wash your child’s hands with soap and water immediately before
and after feeding.
3. Make sure the child doesn’t play with or touch dirt during feeding.
4. Store food and water in covered containers to protect them from dust and
pests which carry germs.
5. Use clean pots and pans to prepare and serve food.
6. Use fresh food, don’t use food that is old or rotten.
7. Cover cooked food to stop flies from getting onto it.
8. Serve the food shortly after preparation.
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9. Never put food into containers that have been used for chemicals such as
fertilizer, rat poison and insecticide.
10. Wash foods that have been sprayed with chemicals such as fertilizer.
Model answer:
Well.... it’s true that diarrhoea is common, but it can be very dangerous for a
young child. A lot of children die from it. You know that food gives us the
healthy things that our bodies need? When a child has diarrhoea, his body
can’t take in these things from food. So the child becomes weak. When he’s
weak he can get other illnesses also more easily. In some cases, if the body
doesn’t get enough water, the child can even die. And it is so easy to
prevent, for example, your family can follow a few simple rules at home, like
washing your hands with soap and water...
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b. From your own experience, are people generally aware of these special
nutritional needs?
Answers are subjective or personal.
c. Who do you think needs educating most? Pick one group and justify why.
Answers are subjective or personal.
Model answer:
If children regularly eat only thin cereal porridge they will probably… be
small for their age, and weak. They won’t have enough energy to play. They
will also get ill often. Thin porridge alone can’t give children what they need
to grow properly.
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n.b. These are poor answers because, first, the facts are incomplete; second,
they use technical language, and last, there are no examples and no
personalization.
Model answer:
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Model answer:
What dishes are made with it
The fruit can be used as a "thickener” in jams
in your country? and gravies, a sweetener for fruit drinks, or a
tangy flavour addition to hot sauces. The dry
fruit pulp, separated from seeds and fibres, is
eaten directly or mixed into porridge or milk,
and is also known as "monkey bread". The
fruit can also be dissolved in water to make a
drink.
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Tips:
Avoid asking closed questions e.g. do not ask “Is the food you eat adequate?” or
“Do you eat fruit and vegetables?” as the respondent can just say yes or no. Such
questions often provide only incomplete answers.
Try not to ask leading questions such as “Do you sometimes skip breakfast?” or
“You eat 3 meals a day, don’t you?” as such questions will direct the respondent
towards one answer. Instead try to ask neutral questions, e.g. “How many meals
do you eat per day? What are they?”
Common foods consumed Tell me what foods you eat often, both for
meals and between meals.
What do you usually drink?
Quantity of different foods When you eat vegetables, do you eat a lot,
or just a little in a sauce?
How about other foods (meat, fish etc…)?
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Case 1: 5-year-old Mwende, who suffers from night blindness due to vitamin A
deficiency
What food do/did they eat (OR not)? School lunch (maize, beans, oil and
salt) plus some maize porridge in the
evening. The family grows mangoes,
but don’t eat them.
What influences their food choice? External influences, and either
preferences or habits and
perceptions for why they don’t eat
the mangoes that fall down.
What food do/did they eat (OR not)? Other foods than milk, and water
(the mother said she didn’t have
enough milk).
What influences their food choice? Habits and perceptions (she followed
the neighbours’ wrong advice);
ignorance/lack of knowledge.
What food do/did they eat (or not)? Rice and cassava.
What influences their food choice? Habits and perceptions (habit,
established practices, cultural
norms).
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What food do/did they eat (or not)? Sweet and high-fat fried foods.
What influences their food choice? Preferences, probably habits and
perceptions as well, since she cooks
them to make her family happy.
Case 5: Meseret’s friend, who had anaemia and died giving birth
What food do/did they eat (or not)? (We don’t know, but we know she
was too poor to be able to afford
animal foods.)
What influences their food choice? External influences but possibly
habits and perceptions as well, since
they are probably unaware of how to
make the best use of available foods.
a. People used to eat... OR How things used to be… (foods and ways
of producing, sourcing and eating foods)
n.b. Look for three points
Buying food from small farmers’ markets, small shops, fresh food
Most calories were from food directly, not from food products
Simpler food, for example beans and vegetables (Mexico)
b. People now eat... OR How things are now... (foods and ways of eating)
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f. Write a few lines to sum up the situation in your country based on your
answers above.
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The following has been adapted from a role play by Ethiopian students. It
demonstrates the importance of accurate information being communicated in a
clear, practical and motivating manner, yet without being too patronising. It is
also entertaining. The same role-play, if addressed to the mother, could have
helped her consider other economical foods available locally in the area.
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“It’s easy for them to say ‘add some meat and fish to my baby’s
porridge’. Where do I find the money to buy such food?”
Context: the nutrition educator meets Tolosa at a bus stop.
Nutrition educator (NE): Good evening Tolosa!
Tolosa: Hey you, how are you?
NE: I am good. What are you doing?
Tolosa: I am waiting for a bus to go down town.
NE: Is it not late?
Tolosa: Well, I’ve got to do what a man’s got to do. Hang out with friends
and have some drinks…
NE: Hmmmm... How is your family? Are you following the advice I gave
you last time?
Tolosa: What advice?
NE: I told you to feed your baby a good diet by adding fish, meat and
vegetables in the porridge, to make it thicker.
Tolosa: Easy for you to say that! Meat, fish?! Now how can I afford that
with my income?
NE: I know it’s hard but it is very important if you want your baby to grow
well and stay healthy. If you want your child to be strong and bright, then
you have to make some sacrifices. For example, limit your own need for
unnecessary pleasure like what you are about to do now.
Tolosa: You are right, but I can't just go back now. I will make today my
last day.
NE: No no no... change starts right now. Buy some meat or liver tomorrow
morning using the money you were about to spend on booze. Go back to
your family now. Your wife will be so happy to see you.
Tolosa: Maybe you are right. If the bus doesn’t come soon I will go home!
Thanks a lot for your advice.
NE: Don't thank me, it’s my duty!
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Glossary
You can find further information about many of these terms in the main
glossary.
Colour coding of fruit and vegetables. Eating fruits and vegetables of different
colours gives a range of valuable nutrients and possible health benefits.
Food groups. There is no standard, accepted way of grouping foods. They can
be grouped according to nutrient content, use by consumers, origin (e.g. animal
source foods), botanical class etc. Some examples of food groups are cereals, oils
and fats, fruit and vegetables, legumes, meat and fish, milk and milk products
and sugars. What is important to remember is that most foods contain a mixture
of different nutrients, not just one key nutrient.
Food labelling. Food labelling on packaged foods can provide consumers with
the information they need to make healthy food choices, provided consumers
are taught how to interpret them.
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Hidden hunger. Hunger is “hidden” when the diet is sufficient in quantity but
not in quality (e.g. deficient in essential vitamins and minerals), and the effects
are not immediately seen or felt by those affected or by those around them.
Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are a group of fats which are essential
for healthy body functions and development. They are found mainly in fish oils,
eggs and some oilseeds and nuts. They are important in everyone’s diet but
especially for pregnant women and for young children.
Saturated fats. Saturated fat intake increases blood cholesterol levels and the
risk of heart disease. Saturated fats are found in animal fats, including fatty dairy
products like butter and cheese; in some vegetable oils (e.g. coconut oil), in
chocolate and many processed/prepared foods.
Trans fats. When vegetable oils are processed to make them "harder" (e.g. for
use in margarine and other solid fats), some of the unsaturated fatty acids are
changed into trans-fatty acids. These are also found in deep-fried and baked
foods. These trans-fatty acids increase the risk of heart disease.
Western diseases. Certain diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer etc.
are thought to be associated with a Western diet (a dietary pattern with a high
consumption of energy, sugar, refined grains and fat). The term is often used to
describe the changing pattern of disease due to the nutrition transition.
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Food and Agriculture
Organization of the
United Nations
Unit 2: Explaining
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Unit resources
Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
Unit resources
Contents
Unit resources
1. Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) 3
2. Changing diets 6
4. References 19
Unit 2: Explaining food, diet and healthy eating
Unit resources
Namibia
Source: Food & Nutrition Guidelines for Namibia: food choices for a healthy life
(Namibia Ministry of Health and Social Services 2000)
3
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Thailand
Source: Manual Nutrition Flag - Healthy Eating For Thais (Thai Ministry of Public
Health, Nutrition Division 2001)
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South Africa
Enjoy a variety of foods
Be active
Drinks lots of clean, safe water
Source: South African guidelines for healthy eating for adults and children over
the age of 7 years (South African Department of Health, Directorate Nutrition
2004)