Food and Nutrition
Senior 1 · English
Food and Nutrition
Lesson 1 of 5
25 min
Let's begin
Think about the last meal you ate. Which part of it gave you energy? Which part helped your body grow? The article below explains how scientists group the useful parts of food, and how a Rwandan plate of beans, sweet potatoes and dodo can be a perfectly balanced meal. As you read, notice small words such as they, them and us: they are the grammar of this lesson.
Every cell in your body needs food to work, to grow and to repair itself. The useful substances in food are called nutrients. Scientists group them into six types: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and water.
A balanced diet contains the right amounts of all the food groups, with not too much and not too little of any one kind. In Rwanda it is easy to build a balanced meal from food grown on our own hills.
Energy-giving foods. Carbohydrates give us the energy to walk to school, play football and think in class. They come from starchy foods such as rice, maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes and cooking bananas. They should fill about a quarter of your plate.
Body-building foods. Proteins build and repair muscles, skin and blood. Beans, peas, groundnuts and soya are cheap sources of them; eggs, milk, fish such as sambaza from Lake Kivu, and meat are others. They should fill another quarter of the plate.
Protective foods. Vitamins and minerals protect us from disease and keep our eyes, bones and blood healthy. We get them from vegetables and fruit: dodo (amaranth leaves), cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, avocados, mangoes and passion fruit. These should fill half the plate.
Fats and oils, such as cooking oil and the fat in groundnuts and avocados, give a lot of energy, but the body needs only a little of them. Too much sugar and salt is harmful too.
Finally, water. More than half of your body is water, and you lose some of it every day when you sweat and breathe. Drink clean water throughout the day, especially after sport.
When a person eats too little of the right nutrients for a long time, he or she suffers from malnutrition. A child who does not get enough protein, for example, may grow slowly and fall ill more often. A balanced diet, clean water and regular exercise keep the body strong.
| Word | Meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| nutrient | a substance in food that the body needs to live and grow | Milk contains many nutrients. |
| carbohydrate | a nutrient in starchy and sweet foods that gives energy | Cassava is rich in carbohydrates. |
| protein | a nutrient that builds and repairs the body | Beans are a cheap source of protein. |
| vitamin | a nutrient, needed in small amounts, that keeps the body healthy | Oranges contain vitamin C, which helps wounds heal. |
| mineral | a natural substance such as iron or calcium that the body needs | Milk gives us calcium, a mineral for strong bones. |
| balanced diet | meals with the right amounts of all the food groups | A balanced diet keeps you strong. |
| malnutrition | illness caused by not eating the right nutrients | Malnutrition can make children grow slowly. |
| starchy | containing a lot of starch, a carbohydrate | Potatoes and rice are starchy foods. |
| source | the place or thing something comes from | Fish is a good source of protein. |
Definition
Pronoun: a word that takes the place of a noun, so we do not repeat the noun. Beans are cheap, and they are full of protein.
Subject pronoun: a pronoun that does the action; it usually comes before the verb (I, you, he, she, it, we, they).
Object pronoun: a pronoun that receives the action; it comes after a verb or a preposition (me, you, him, her, it, us, them).
| Subject pronoun | Object pronoun | As subject | As object |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | me | I eat beans every day. | Mama gives me a big plate. |
| you | you | You need water after sport. | The nurse told you to drink water. |
| he | him | He sells brochettes. | We bought two from him. |
| she | her | She grows carrots. | I helped her in the garden. |
| it | it | It gives us energy. | Cook it slowly. |
| we | us | We eat lunch at school. | The cook serves us at one o'clock. |
| they | them | They are rich in protein. | Mama cooks them every day. |
Worked example
Analyse the pronouns in: Beans are cheap, and they give us protein, so Mama cooks them every day.
Warning
Two people in the subject or the object. Use the take-away test: remove the other person and listen.
Tip
Spelling: protein breaks the rule "i before e, except after c". So do their and weird. Learn them as a group.
Pronunciation: in fast speech, object pronouns are weak and short. Cook them sounds like "cook 'em", and give us sounds like "giv'us". Stress the verb, not the pronoun.
Real Easy English: talking about food, BBC Learning English (6 minutes). Neil and Beth discuss their favourite foods. Note how often each of them eats their favourite, and every pronoun they use for the food.
Tell a partner everything you ate yesterday. Your partner sorts each food into a group from the plate diagram and says whether your day was balanced. Use pronouns so you don't repeat the names of foods.
A: For breakfast I had porridge and a banana. At lunch the cook gave us beans and rice, and I ate them with cabbage. In the evening my aunt made sweet potatoes and I had them with avocado.
B: Porridge, rice and sweet potatoes are energy foods. The beans gave you protein. The banana, the cabbage and the avocado are protective foods. So your day was balanced, but you didn't mention water. Did you drink any?
Plan a balanced menu for one day at a boarding school (breakfast, lunch and supper). Then write 80–100 words explaining why it is balanced. Use at least four object pronouns.
Breakfast: milk, bread and a banana. Lunch: beans, rice and cabbage. Supper: fish, sweet potatoes, dodo and an avocado.
This menu is balanced because every meal contains energy foods, body-building foods and protective foods. Bread, rice and sweet potatoes give students energy, so they can study hard. Milk, beans and fish give them protein, and the cook can buy the beans cheaply from local farmers. Cabbage, dodo, bananas and avocados protect us from disease; we should eat them every day. The menu uses little oil and sugar, and the school gives us a cup of clean water with each meal.
Practice
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
