School nurse – kirsty

Student -Jessica

J : hi miss im here to ask a few questions about a balanced diet , I think I don’t have the correct diet needed

K: that’s fine just sit down and I will explain everything about a balanced diet , firstly a balanced diet is having all the right amounts of food from the food groups
Do you know the food groups ?

J : yeh but I don’t really know the benfits of having them .

K: that’s okay , the benefits of having carbohydrates is that is provides energy , prevents, controls your weight , carbs are whole grains , some sugars and starch and fibre , you should have 33( in your meal .

J: oh so carbohydrates are good what food will I get carbs from ?

K: bread , pasta , limited amount of sugars , cereal , flour , potatoes if oyu decide to eat the naughty foods like fizzy drinks , dougnuts these are the ones which don’t have good carbs ,if you don’t have enough carbs your energy will be very low s carbs keep you fuller for longer which means no snacking .

J: that information is helping , whats vitamins ?.

K: vitamins is in fruit and veg , the vitamins are vitamin K, vitamin A and vitamin C.

J: what are the benefits of having vitamins ?

K: the benefits of having vitamin C is that it maintains healthy gums , vitamin K is essential for blood clotting while vitamin A maintains healthy skin , we get our vitamin C from citrus fruit like lemons , we get vitamin K from our leafy green vegetables while we get vitamin A from spinach.

J: oh I dint realise that we got all those vitamins from our fruit and veg

K: dairy products supply calcium and protein but can also be high in sugar and fat , 3 cups of dairy products per day is enough , cheese contains calcium the benefits of calcium is bone formation and normal function of the nerves .

J wow im learning so much but I still need more information

K: meat contains protein which keeps our hungar at bay , the benefits of having protein is that it is good for growth and maintanence of body tissues .

J: So if I eat meat , I wont feel hungary

K: yes also iron is needed in an balanced diet , iron is in eggs it helps with production of healthy red blood cells .

J: okay I feel more confident , but before I go could you plz tell me the risks of having an unbalanced diet

K: of course the risks of an unbalanced diet is weight gain / obesity
Increased conary artery disease , an increased cancer risk , high blood pressure / cholestrol , sleepiness , no energy , joint pain , improper nourishment / malnutrition , if your body does niot get enough of the proper nourishments needed you immune system is weakened and you could catch a cold or flu really easily and might be worse since there will be nothing to fight it

J: thankyou miss I feel more confident and im going to look after my body more