A balanced plate for the day
Plan a day's food from rice or roti, dal, milk or curd, vegetables and fruit. See how much energy and protein it gives against what an 11-year-old needs, and how many food groups are on the plate.
Core concept
In short: Fill a plate with food from every group to make a healthy meal.
A balanced diet gives enough energy and protein and has every food group: cereals for energy, dal and milk for protein, vegetables and fruit for vitamins, minerals and roughage, with water
Topic: Food and nutrition
Our food gives us energy: What is needed to make things move, heat up, light up or grow. All key words to move and grow, protein: A nutrient for growth and repair, found in beans, eggs, milk and meat. All key words to build the body, and vitamins and minerals to keep it healthy. A child of about 11 needs roughly 2000 kcal of energy and 40 g of protein a day. Rice or roti gives most of the energy; dal, milk and curd give protein; vegetables and fruit give vitamins, minerals and roughage (fibre), which keeps digestion healthy. A balanced diet is not just a lot of food: it has every food group in the right amounts, plus plenty of clean water. Eating only rice, or only snacks and fried junk food, can fill the stomach but leave the body short of what it needs.
What you will learn
- Name the food groups and what each gives the body.
- Compare a day's food with the energy and protein a child needs.
- Explain why a balanced diet needs variety, not just quantity.
Before you start
- Know the main nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals.
Materials
- A food diary for one day
Equipment
- None
Procedure
- Record the starting plate: 3 servings of rice and 1 of everything else.
- Take away the dal, milk, vegetables and fruit, leaving rice only, and record.
- Build a plate with 4 rice and 2 of each of the others, and record.
How this simulation is simplified
- Per serving: rice or roti 300 kcal and 6 g protein; dal 120 kcal, 8 g; milk or curd 150 kcal, 8 g; vegetables 50 kcal, 2 g; fruit 80 kcal, 1 g.
- An 11-year-old needs about 2000 kcal and 40 g of protein a day.