Food for Health — Biology (Grade 7)

Define and explain Food for Health in your own words
Use key terms such as balanced diet accurately
Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic

This lesson focuses on Food for Health: sort foods into groups and build a balanced plate that keeps your body strong.

Definition: Food for Health

Sort foods into groups and build a balanced plate that keeps your body strong.

Key ideas

Staying healthy

A balanced diet gives the body energy and the nutrients it needs to grow and repair. Regular exercise strengthens muscles, bones and the heart. Good hygiene, such as washing hands before eating and brushing teeth twice a day, stops germs spreading and protects teeth. Enough sleep lets the body and brain recover.

The five senses

Humans detect the world with five senses: sight (eyes), hearing (ears), smell (nose), taste (tongue) and touch (skin). Each sense has a specialised organ. Smell and taste work together, which is why food tastes bland when your nose is blocked with a cold.

Key term — balanced diet: Eating the right amounts of different food groups, including fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates, protein and dairy, to stay healthy.

Build a balanced plate

Sort these foods into groups and check whether the meal is balanced: chicken, rice, broccoli, an apple, and a glass of milk.

Put each food into a group: chicken is protein, rice is carbohydrate, broccoli and apple are fruit and vegetables, milk is dairy. Check every group is represented on the plate. Look at the proportions: about a third of the plate should be fruit and vegetables, a third carbohydrates, with smaller portions of protein and dairy.

Answer: The meal is balanced: it contains protein (chicken), carbohydrate (rice), fruit and vegetables (broccoli, apple) and dairy (milk) in sensible proportions.

Common mistakes

Thinking bones are dead and dry Bones are living tissue with a blood supply. They grow, repair themselves when broken, and need calcium and exercise to stay strong.
Saying the skull protects the heart The skull protects the brain. The ribs protect the heart and lungs.

Practice

Name the four main food groups in a balanced diet.

Fruit and vegetables are one group.

Fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates, protein, and dairy (with small amounts of fats and oils).

Give two reasons why exercise keeps you healthy.

Think about muscles and the heart.

Any two of: strengthens muscles and bones; keeps the heart healthy; helps maintain a healthy weight; improves mood and sleep.

Give two jobs of the skeleton.

Think about protection and shape.

Any two of: supports the body and gives it shape; protects delicate organs such as the brain, heart and lungs; works with muscles to allow movement.

Why does food taste bland when you have a cold?

Which two senses work together?

Because smell and taste work together to create flavour, and a blocked nose stops you smelling the food properly.

Quick check

Food for Health — quick check

Which of these best defines "balanced diet"?

Eating the right amounts of different food groups, including fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates, protein and dairy, to stay healthy.

Why should you wash your hands before eating?

To remove germs picked up from surfaces, which could otherwise be transferred to food and cause illness.

Name the five senses and the organ used for each.

Sight – eyes; hearing – ears; smell – nose; taste – tongue; touch – skin.

Key takeaways

Food for Health: sort foods into groups and build a balanced plate that keeps your body strong.
Staying healthy: A balanced diet gives the body energy and the nutrients it needs to grow and repair.
skeleton: The framework of bones that supports the body, protects organs and works with muscles to allow movement.
Watch out for: thinking bones are dead and dry

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