Balanced diet

Contents

• Balanced diet servings
• Breads, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles
• Vegetables and legumes
• Fruit
• Milk, yoghurt and cheese group
• Meat, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, nuts and legumes
• Fats and oils
• Sweets, cakes, biscuits and soft drinks
• Balancing your diet
• Dr Kate says

Balanced diet servings

	Does a girl on a tightrope carrying a sandwich have a balanced diet?
	Well it depends what's on the sandwich!
	Eating a balanced diet just means that you choose foods in the right amounts from each of the food groups. Let me show you how it works.

Copyright with permission

This type of chart is called a "Pie Chart". It gives some ideas of which foods are good for you and how much to eat.

Breads, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles

Vegetables and legumes

Fruit

Milk, yoghurt and cheese group

Meat, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, nuts and legumes

Fats and oils

Even though you need fats and oils to grow and be healthy we haven't put a place on the table for fats and oils because you will get most of what you need from your other foods, such as meat, eggs, cheese, peanut butter and margarine on your bread.

It's a good idea to start the habit of eating mono-unsaturated fats (check out the label on cooking oils, margarines and spreads) light cheeses and low fat ice-cream.  Your heart will love you for it!

Sweets, cakes, biscuits and soft drinks

You may have one small serve of cake or chips, or 2 sweet biscuits .... but not all of them! Soft drinks usually have a lot of sugar in them which you do not need.

Try to make sweets a sometimes treat rather than every day.

Balancing your diet

Now see if you can use the tables above to see how your diet balanced out today.  Maybe you would like to plan a day's menu yourself then check if it fits with the idea of a balanced diet.

Be careful to keep an eye on the size of your serves.

• ‘Go for 2 & 5 website’
  Here you can find out about the benefits of fruit and vegies, nifty ways to get more fruit and vegies into your day, plus some super simple tasty recipes.
  http://www.gofor2and5.com.au/

• Check out this site to see how much sugar and fat really is in food
  http://www.human-race.org/community_new/wc.html

Dr Kate says

Eating a balanced diet and exercising every day will help your body to stay healthy. Have a look at our topics on Exercise and Fitness to find out more.

We've collected this information to help you to understand important things about staying healthy and happy. However, if you feel sick or unhappy, it is important to tell your mum or dad, a teacher or another grown-up.