Personal Health and Etiquette
Senior 1 · Home Science
Personal Health and Etiquette
Lesson 5 of 5
22 min
Your eating habits are the patterns in what, when, how much and how you eat, repeated day after day. Many of them form in your teenage years and last for life. They affect how much energy you have in class, how well you grow, the health of your teeth, your weight, and your risk of diseases such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure later on.
Eating is also social. At a family meal, a wedding reception or a work lunch, your table manners tell people how much you respect them. This lesson covers both.
| Habit | Possible effect |
|---|---|
| Skipping breakfast | tiredness, poor concentration, overeating later in the day |
| Sugary drinks and sweets between meals | tooth decay, weight gain, higher risk of type 2 diabetes |
| Too much salt | high blood pressure in later life |
| Too few fruits and vegetables | constipation, too few vitamins and minerals |
| Eating very fast or very late | indigestion, poor sleep |
| Extreme dieting or eating to cope with stress | poor growth and health; talk to a trusted adult or health worker |
Table manners are the customs for eating with others. They differ between cultures, but everywhere they aim at cleanliness, consideration for others and the unity of the people sharing the meal.
The label of a 500 mL bottle of soda says it contains 10.6 g of sugar in every 100 mL. How much sugar is in the bottle, and how does it compare with WHO's advice?
Step 1: scale up. 500 mL is 5 × 100 mL, so the sugar = 5 × 10.6 g = 53 g.
Step 2: convert to teaspoons. A level teaspoon of sugar is about 4 g, so 53 ÷ 4 ≈ 13 teaspoons.
Step 3: compare. For someone eating about 2,000 kilocalories a day, WHO's limit of 10% is about 50 g of free sugar, and the ideal of 5% is about 25 g. One bottle (53 g) is more than the whole day's limit and more than twice the ideal amount.
Conclusion. Water, plain milk or fresh fruit are better everyday choices. Soda is an occasional treat, best shared or taken with a meal.
Keza plans her day: a banana at breakfast (about 100 g without the peel), cooked amaranth (dodo) at lunch (100 g), and at supper isombe (100 g), half an avocado (80 g) and a tomato (50 g).
Total: 100 + 100 + 100 + 80 + 50 = 430 g, which is more than 400 g. If she had counted her sweet potatoes at lunch instead of the dodo, she would have been wrong: starchy roots do not count.
Tip
Memory hook: "Regular, varied, less sugar, less salt, more plants." At the table: wash, wait, take a little, chew closed, thank. For label questions, scale the "per 100 mL" or "per 100 g" figure to the whole pack before you compare it with a limit.
Give three good eating habits and one reason for each.
Solution. For example: eat breakfast, for energy and concentration in the morning; drink water instead of soda, to avoid tooth decay and too much sugar; eat at least 400 g of fruit and vegetables a day, for vitamins, minerals and fibre.
A 330 mL carton of juice drink has 12 g of sugar per 100 mL. How much sugar is in the carton?
Solution. 330 ÷ 100 = 3.3, and 3.3 × 12 g = 39.6 g, about 40 g, which is most of the 50 g daily limit.
Byiringiro says, "I ate 300 g of cassava and 150 g of cabbage today, so I have had my 400 g of fruit and vegetables." Is he right?
Solution. No. Cassava is a starchy root and does not count. Only the 150 g of cabbage counts, so he needs at least 250 g more fruit or vegetables.
At a wedding buffet, Gatete piles his plate so high that food falls off, and picks up a sambusa with his fingers from the serving tray. What should he have done?
Solution. Take a modest first plate and return for more later, and use the serving tongs or spoon so that shared food is not touched by hands.
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
