Nutrients in a Healthy Diet

Activities to try

1. 1

   Nutrient job cards: source, role, and energy tag

   Why it works: Each nutrient has a distinct job, and only some nutrients supply energy; a healthy diet fills all seven jobs in the right proportions rather than sorting foods into 'good' and 'bad'.

   1. For each of the seven nutrients — carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, minerals, fibre, water — write or state one food source, the job it does in the body, and whether it provides energy.
   2. Sort the seven nutrients into two groups: 'main energy providers' (carbohydrates, lipids; protein as a secondary or backup source whose main job is growth and repair) and 'no or very little energy' (vitamins, minerals, water, and fibre, which our own enzymes cannot digest).
   3. Answer two myth-busting prompts explicitly: 'Do vitamins give you energy?' and 'Is all fat bad?', explaining your reasoning in a sentence each.
   4. Optionally use a balanced-plate illustration where tapping a food reveals its nutrient card (e.g. tap chicken → 'protein — building blocks for growth and repair'; tap oil → 'lipid — concentrated energy store and insulation'), with a colour/icon key tagging energy vs non-energy groups and a lift-the-flap reveal for the two myth questions.
2. 2

   Build a balanced plate

   Why it works: 'Balance' is felt as proportion across all seven jobs, not as eliminating a food group or eating less overall.

   1. Assemble a meal by choosing foods for a plate, aiming for the right proportions across the seven nutrient groups rather than maximising any single one.
   2. Watch a live feedback panel (e.g. seven nutrient bars that fill as foods are added) and adjust the meal so no group is overloaded or missing.
   3. Explain in one or two sentences why your finished plate counts as 'balanced' — which groups are present and roughly in what proportion.
3. 3

   Food-energy investigation (supervised)

   Why it works: In a fair comparison of equal masses, energy-dense foods (fatty/starchy and low in water) usually release far more measurable heat than watery foods. This challenges the idea that all healthy foods supply lots of energy and locates most dietary energy in carbohydrates and lipids.

   1. Before testing, PREDICT which of two equal-mass foods will heat water more and why — e.g. a crisp (or a peanut only if no one present has a nut allergy), which is fatty/starchy, versus a grape or lettuce leaf.
   2. Under adult supervision, burn an equal mass of each food at the same distance beneath a boiling tube holding the same volume of water at the same starting temperature, and measure the temperature rise; then repeat with the second food. Very watery foods such as grape or lettuce may barely burn, and that result itself reflects their high water content and low energy per gram.
   3. Compare the measured temperature rises to your predictions and explain what the result shows about where dietary energy sits.
   4. Answer the probing questions: which two of the seven components give most of your energy and which give little or none; if vitamins don't fuel you, why does eating no fruit or veg make a person ill (e.g. scurvy); is any food 'all bad' or does it depend on how much; and why can't you live without water even though it gives zero energy.