Current Intakes

Render the article.

Ponder on the underlined parts of the text.

1) Discuss the questions:

Which food or foods usually contain a lot of: salt (sugar; fat; fibre; calcium; iron; vitamin C)?

What do you think these things are (added sugars; saturated fat; oily fish; skimmed or semi-skimmed milk)? Do you think they are good or bad for you?

Do you think you have a healthy, varied diet? Give reasons.

Do you think teenagers in general in your country have a healthy diet? Give reasons.

Do you think teenagers eat too much or too little food that contains the elements listen in 1?

Do you have lunch at school, do you take a packed lunch, do you eat at home or do you eat out?

Do you think your lunch is generally healthy? Give reasons.

2) Read the text about British teenagers and nutrition. Find the words in the text to match the definitions: not allowing or permitting something, shops that sell meals that you can take away and eat at home, making smaller, serious and lasting for a long time, go further than, minimum levels of quality and obligations, amounts of food that you eat at a meal, problems when there isn’t enough of something that your body needs.

1. Complete the table with information you find in the text.

Short-term benefits of healthy eating …….	Long-term benefits of healthy eating ……….
British teenagers eat too much/ many ……..	British teenagers eat too little/ few ……..

Adolescents need a healthy, varied diet, incorporating all major food groups. In the short term, this will help with general appearance (e.g., shiny hair and healthy skin) as well as energy levels, while in the long term, it will help prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis.

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey of young people (aged 11 to 18) was published in 2000. This survey highlighted a number of areas of concern:

· Both boys and girls exceeded the recommendation that only 11 per cent of food energy should come from added sugars, consuming on average about 16 per cent of energy from them.

· Average intakes of fat were close to the suggested level of 35 per cent of food energy. But average intakes of saturated fats were at 14 per cent of dietary energy, higher than the recommendation of 11 per cent.

· Intake of dietary fibre was below the recommended level.

· Some adolescents had low intakes of some nutrients, such as calcium and iron, with more girls having vitamin and mineral intakes below the recommended intake level compared to boys. Intakes below the recommended level are likely to be inadequate and may lead to nutrient deficiencies.

· Low intakes of vitamin A, riboflavin and magnesium are also worrying in some adolescents.

· Excluding salt added during cooking and at the table, daily sodium intakes from food sources were already higher than recommended level. The actual levels, together with salt added during cooking and at the table, are likely to far exceed the current recommendation. Persistently high levels of salt in the diet can contribute to high blood pressure, which is a risk factor for heart diseases in later life.

What about you? Do you prefer fast food to healthy food? Do you think eating well is a question of individual choice or should governments and schools try to control what you eat?

What could a council or school do to make children give up junk food and have a healthier diet?

BETTER SCHOOL MEALS

Most British children have a hot lunch at school and can choose what they eat from a range of dishes in a canteen. As you might expect, when pupils are given a choice between junk food and healthy food, most of them choose chips, burgers and milkshakes. To promote healthier eating, the city council in Glasgow have decided to encourage children to change the way they eat in an unusual way.

3) Read the text given below to see what official steps have been taken in British Schools to improve the food eaten there. Find the words or phrases in the text which match the definitions:

a tiny computer storing hundreds of songs or video clips, reward (incentive, prize), reduce, a computer games player, a plastic card that stores information, reject (not be interested in), an internet bookshop, the women working in the school canteen, a type of healthy/ flat bread, rubbish (poor quality, not healthy), tried out (tested), forbid, terrible (really bad), long term (permanent), abandoning (getting rid of/ giving up).

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29