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KS2 · Cooking and nutrition · Year 6

Health and wellbeing

Healthy eating in action

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Your learning goal

I can apply healthy eating tips to what I cook and eat.

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Health and wellbeing: slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.

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What you’ll learn

I can apply healthy eating tips to what I cook and eat.

Key learning points

  • The 8 tips for healthy eating provide simple messages for us to follow.
  • Being active is important for health, making the body fitter and stronger. 
  • There are a number of simple healthier ways to plan, prepare and cook food.

Words to know

healthy eating
eating a balance and variety of foods to be healthy
active
engaging in a physical activity
inactive
not engaging in any or much physical activity

Common mistakes

Being active is only good for my physical health, such as healthy bones, muscles and heart.

While being active is good for your bones, muscles and heart, it can also make you feel fitter and happier, make new friends and try something new.

Read the teaching transcript

Hello, I'm Mr. Ballam. Thanks for choosing this lesson. This lesson is all around health and wellbeing. Let's get started, shall we? So what are we going to learn? Well, by the end of this lesson, you'll be able to apply healthy eating tips to what you cook and eat. And what I want to do, first of all, is to go through three keywords which we're going to cover in today's lesson. The first one is healthy eating, and this is all about eating a balance and variety of foods to be healthy. The next one is active, and this is engaging in a physical activity. And the last one is inactive, and this is not engaging in any or much physical activity. So let's get started with the first part of the lesson, all around eight tips for healthy eating. Now, eating a healthy balanced diet is an important part of being healthy. And the Eatwell Guide, which I'm sure many of you have seen before, helps us to achieve this, and it shows us the types and proportions of foods that we should have. And in addition to the Eatwell Guide, there are the eight tips for healthy eating, and these are practical tips for healthy eating for everyone to help us all make healthier choices. So let's have a look at the eight tips for healthy eating. And the first one is base your meals on starchy foods. So if you look at the food group here, you can see all the different types of foods here. So things like potatoes, bread, rice, and pasta, and perhaps cassava, or yam too. So we should have some of these foods every time we have a main meal. The next one is eat lots of fruits and veg. So at least your five a day, but also we should eat more fish. And for most of us, we should have more fish in our diet, at least two portions a week, at least one of which should be oily. Other tip is number four, which is cut down on fat and sugar. And these are foods that are high in fat and sugars. And we don't really need them in the diet, but if we do have them, we should have them less often and in small amounts. Also, we should eat less salt. So that's not using salt in cooking or putting salt in our dinner when we have it. Tip number six is to get active and just to be more generally active every day. Also, do not get thirsty. And do you remember, we should have at least six to eight drinks a day, more when it's hot or we've been active too. And number eight is do not skip breakfast, and have a lovely, healthy breakfast with a drink too. So let's have a look at these in a bit more detail, shall we? So the first one, base your meals on starchy foods. So we need to try and include one of these foods with at least each main meal. And these are an important source of energy, and we need to choose foods, that whole meal bread or perhaps brown rice too. And these foods have fiber, which helps your digestive system to work properly and keeps you feeling fuller for longer too. And just a reminder, just have a look in the food group here. You can see lots of different foods that are starchy foods. Not only potatoes, rice, pasta, and so forth, but also breakfast cereals, for example, too. The next one was eat lots of fruit and veg. And remember, we need to have at least five portions every day. But remember, potatoes don't count as they are starchy food. Also, fresh frozen, canned, dried, and juice varieties all count. And we need to have variety of different types every day. Think about a rainbow of different fruits and vegetables. So let's have a quick check for understanding, shall we? So true or false, potatoes count as one of our five a day? Well, that's false isn't it? And why is that? Well, potatoes are a starchy food, so they do not count towards our five a day. Great work. The next one is eat more fish, and we need to eat at least two portions of fish a week, and including one of those should be oily. And the reason for that is oily fish contains healthy fats, which may help to keep your heart healthy. The next one was cut down on fat and sugar. Now, food and drinks high in fat and sugar can be bad for your teeth and your body too. And these foods includes things like cakes, biscuits, crisps, fatty meat, ice cream, and sweets. And if we do have these foods or drinks, we should have them only occasionally and in small amounts. And also we can use food labels to make healthier choices too, just like the traffic light labeling just over to the right-hand side. So let's have another quick check, shall we? So how might fish be good for us? A, B, or C? Yes, that's right. It's C, isn't it? To keep our heart healthy. Brilliant work. Well done. The next one is eat less salt. And eating too much salt can be bad for our health. And around 75% of the salt we have is already in the food that we buy, such as breakfast cereals, soups, breads, and sauces. So we shouldn't add any salt to the food that we eat. And again, we can use food labels to help us make healthier choices. We can compare similar foods and pick those lower in salt. Get active, that's a really important one. As well as eating healthily, we all need to take regular exercise. And being active can help reduce the risk of getting ill, for example. Being active is important for our overall health as well as our wellbeing too. So which sandwich label here is the lowest in salt, A, B, or C? Yes, that's right. It's B, isn't it? If you look very closely, it's the amber one salt, 1. 8 grams, where the others are two and three. Brilliant work. Well done. You've read a label successfully. And number seven is do not get thirsty. And we all need to drink plenty, six to eight glasses every day. And things that count are water, lower fat milk, and lower sugar drinks too. They're all healthier choices and we need to drink more when the weather is hot or when you've been active too. And number eight is do not skip breakfast. And a healthy breakfast can help you get the nutrients you need for good health. And we need to go for cereals and breads high in fiber. We also need to have fruits and vegetables with our breakfast too. And also, we should always include a drink. So let's have a quick check, shall we? So what would be a healthier drink at breakfast time? A, B, C, or D? Well, that's right, A, water. Is there anything else? Yes, orange juice could be a good drink too. One more. Yes, lower fat milk too. So these all could be a healthier drink at breakfast time. Okay, so I've got a task for you now. What I want you to do is for each of the eight tips for healthy eating, I want you to give Laura and Jacob practical advice about what they could do. So for each tip, go through it and give them some advice. So pause the video and we'll come back very soon to see how you've got on. Good luck. Okay, so how did you get on? Well, let's go through each of the eight tips in turn to see what advice you could have given to Laura and Jacob. So the first one is base your meals on starchy foods. So this could've been about having a starchy food at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, like cornflakes, pasta, and potatoes. And eat lots of fruit and veg. Well, go for five a day every day. How about eat more fish? Well, make your own fish fingers or fish cakes in a wrap. Well, that's a good practical piece of advice. And number four, cut down on fat and sugar or go easy on these foods and only have a few now and again. How about number five, eat less salt? Well, here, we could use food labels and pick the ones that are lower in salt options. Plus we won't use salt when we're cooking either. Number six, get active. Well, we're gonna sit less and move more. Walking and using the stairs helps. Number seven, do not get thirsty and always have six to eight drinks a day and more when it's warm. And number eight, do not skip breakfast. That's right, we need to have a healthy breakfast and have a range of different foods. So let's move on to the second part of the lesson all around being active. So as well as eating healthily, we all need to take regular exercise. And being active can help the risk of us getting ill. And it's also important for our overall health and wellbeing too. We should all move more. So here we are. That's not moving more, is it? It's actually sitting, watching the telly, but that's moving more. That's swimming, being active. And being active helps us to have strong bones, strong muscles, and a healthy heart. And being active can also make us feel fitter, can make us feel happy, and can help us make new friends too, as well as provide new experiences which we may never had before. Let's have a quick check, shall we, that you've been listening. So true or false? Being active is only good for my bones, muscles, and heart. Well, that's false isn't it? And why is that? Well, being active is good for our bones, muscles, and heart, but it can also make you feel fitter. It can help you make new friends and try something new. Brilliant. Well done. It's why we said we should all move more. And being active includes everyday activities such as just walking, for example, or gardening, or perhaps just taking the stairs rather than being in a lift or using the escalator, for example. And being active also includes recreation, such as break dancing or dancing, or perhaps swimming, or perhaps just general exercising too. Also, this could include things like skateboarding or skipping or cycling. There are lots of things that we do for recreation. There are also being active too but it also includes organized sport too. And it might be things like netball, football, or perhaps tennis. Let's have a quick check, shall we? So which one of these is an everyday type of activity A, B, or C? Yes, that's right. It's C, isn't it? Taking the stairs. Brilliant. Well done. So we've looked at being active, but we could also be inactive. And being inactive means not doing very much physical activity at all. And being inactive could include things like sitting down or laying down and reading, for example, or perhaps just watching the TV or perhaps playing games like computer games, for example, that you can see here on the screen. But sometimes it's important to sit. Now, when do you think it might be important just to sit? Well, there could be lots of different reasons, couldn't there? So for example, it might be something like working at school or perhaps eating a meal. This is when we need to sit properly so we can study and eat. So which one of these is an inactive activity, A, B, or C? Yes, that's right. It's B, isn't it? Watching TV. Great work. Well done. Now, children and young people should be active for 60 minutes a day. And this should include things like playing tennis or playing team games too. And being active makes us feel warmer, breathe harder, and makes our heart beat faster. And every day we should sit less, we should move more, and we should be active for at least 60 minutes. So let's have a quick check, shall we? So how long should children and young people be active for each day, A, B, C, or D? Yes, that's right. It's C, isn't it? 60 minutes. Brilliant work. Well done. Okay, so I've got a task for you here, and I want you to think about how active you were yesterday. So in the chart, I want you to list all your different activities that you did, and I want you to know how long you did each activity. Then afterwards, I want you to think about, were you active for 60 minutes yesterday? And what could you do to be more active in a day? So good luck. We're going to pause the video and we'll come back very soon to see how you got on. Okay. How did you get on? Well, let's look at an example together, shall we? Let's look at an activity from yesterday. So for example, it could be 10 minutes walking to school, or 10 minutes maybe skipping in the playground, or how about games in the playground for another 10 minutes? Also, I walked home for 10 minutes and then I had a quick walk with the dog too for another 10 minutes. So I was okay. I felt that I was fairly active yesterday, but I was only active for 50 minutes. And remember, I should be active for 60 minutes a day. So I need to be more active. So I did play my computer games quite a bit, so I could've played football instead with my friends outside. So there are lots of other things I could have done to be more active too in the day. So for example, I could have asked my parents that we could all go swimming together or perhaps I could have walked the dog just for a little bit longer too. Great work. Well done. I'm sure you've come up with some great activities how you were active yesterday, as well as how you could be more active in the future. Okay, so let's move on to the third part of the lesson, which is all around healthier cooking. So there are a number of simple, healthier ways to plan, prepare, and cook food. And healthier ways can include things like planning healthier meals, perhaps using healthier ingredients, or perhaps removing the fat and skin from foods, not adding salt to our food, and changing the cooking method too. These are all things that we could do to have healthier meals. Now, before we cook, we could use the Eatwell Guide, which I'm sure many are familiar with, to help us plan healthier meals. And do you remember the Eatwell Guide shows us the variety of foods that we should eat in the proportions too? Plus we should also follow the eight tips for healthy eating, which are the practical tips for us all. So for example, things like eat more fruit and veg or eat more fish too. We can also choose healthier ingredients too. So for example, we could look at food labels and pick those that are lower in fat, sugar, and salt, or perhaps we could include more fish in the foods that we eat, or perhaps having more brown bread or rice, and having lots of fruits and vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds too. And we could also swap ingredients too. So if I'm making a simple sauce perhaps for a salad, I could swap and use yogurt rather than mayonnaise. So it's low in fat. So let's have a quick check for understanding, shall we? So which of these are healthier ingredients? A, B, C, or D? Well, that's right, beans are a healthy ingredient, aren't they? Anything else? Yes, brown rice. Brilliant. Well done. So these two have been chosen because they're healthier. Mayonnaise is sometimes quite high in fat and white rice is not as good as brown rice, but it's still delicious too. So when we're preparing some foods, we can remove the visible fat or skin. So for example, this means things like we could remove the fat from a pork chop before cooking, or we could remove the skin from a roasted chicken after cooking. And removing the fat means that it's not eaten and therefore there's less fat in the diet so it's healthier. Also, when we're cooking, we should not add salt. And it's interesting that most people automatically add salt to boiling vegetables, but it's not needed, and salt should not be added at the end of the meal either. And this is because most of us have too much salt in our diet, and we're all advised to eat less salt. So just like Laura's saying here, we should also choose lower salt ingredients. So things like lower salt soy sauce or ketchup for example. Another way we eat healthier is that we can change the cooking method. So examples can include things like grilling, for example, or baking or air frying or stir frying or steaming. Now, all of these methods here use less oil or fat to cook the food. So for example, in grilling, we don't really use fat at all. But for example, the sausages are cooking here and the fat from the sausages drips through the grill pan. Or baking, I could be baking some fish fingers here, for example. So I'm not frying them in oil, for example, or where I'm stir frying, I only use a little bit of oil in my saucepan or my wok. Brilliant. Well done. So which of these is not a healthier cooking method, A, B, or C? Yes, that's right. It's C, isn't it? Frying. And why is that? Do you remember? Well, frying uses quite a lot of oil. You can see here, those are the chips in the fryer there. And the others don't use any oil at all. So we've got the air fryer and also we've got steaming. Brilliant. Well done. So I've got a task for you here. And what I want you to do is to plan a healthier breakfast and lunch for yourself. And I want you to highlight the healthier ways that you will plan, prepare, and cook food. So in the chart, we've got the different meal times, so breakfast and lunch. We need to think about the food that you're going to have, and then tell me all the healthier ways that you're gonna plan, prepare, and cook the food. I'm sure you're gonna do really well. Just think about what we've learned in today's lesson. So pause the video. I'm gonna come back very soon to see how you get on. Good luck. Okay, how did you get on? I bet you had quite a lot of fun doing that one, didn't you? Well, let's look at an example together. Just a sort of thing that you could have done. So we're gonna start with breakfast first. So I, for breakfast, have put. I've got cereals with chopped banana, and I'm gonna have apple juice too. Plus I'm gonna have some toast with some spread on it. So what are the healthier ways I could have planned, prepared, and also cooked the food for breakfast? Well, I'm gonna have a higher fiber cereal. I'm gonna use skimmed milk, and also I'm gonna include the banana which is one of my five a day. So there's lots of healthier aspects there. Also, I'm gonna have apple juice, and that's also part of my five a day. But do you remember, we shouldn't drink too much, only a maximum of 150 milliliters a day. And lastly, well, I'm gonna have wholemeal bread, wholemeal toast, and I'm gonna have some reduced fat spread. So you can see here, I've been thinking about the different ways that I've planned it because I've thought about the different cereals or bread I could have. I though about different ways I can prepare it and also the ways I could cook it, for example, too. How about lunch? Well, I'm gonna have stirred fried chicken with vegetables and brown rice. And I'm gonna have a peach yogurt with berries. Mm, that sounds delicious, doesn't it, for lunch? And also I'm gonna have some water. Now, the healthier ways, there's quite a lot here, but I've removed the skin from the chicken so there's less fat. I'm using stir frying, which is a healthier cooking method. I've got vegetables which are part of my five a day. I've got brown rice, which is a healthier rice compared to white rice. And also, I'm gonna use reduced salt, soy sauce, and I'm not gonna add any salt either. I'm also gonna have a lower fat yogurt. There's less fat. And also, I've got the berries, which again, part of my five a day. And also with my water, I'm gonna drink plenty throughout the day. Remember, we all need to have six to eight drinks every day. Well, I'm sure you come up with some great ideas here, and it's really interesting how easy it is for us to plan healthier meals, thinking about the planning, the preparing, and cooking too. Brilliant work. Well, I really hope you enjoy today's lesson all around health and wellbeing. Let's have a quick summary of what we've learned today, shall we? Well, the first thing is that eating a healthy balanced diet is an important part of being healthy. Also, the Eatwell Guide and the eight tips for healthy eating provide simple messages for us to follow and to eat more healthily. We also know that being active is important for health, making the body fitter and stronger too. And also, there are a number of simple ways that we can plan, prepare, and cook food, and you've shown us these today. Well, great work, well done and I hope you come back very soon for another cooking and nutrition lesson with me. Thanks a lot. Bye.

For parents, carers and teachers
  • For each part of the lesson, ask pupils for practical examples for their lives and experiences. For example, for each of the '8 tips for healthy eating', or diffrent types of activity, use their examples to provide clarification and context, helping to bring learning to life.
IllumED Slides adapts “Health and wellbeing”, Cooking and nutrition, by Oak National Academy ↗. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Slides and recall practice adapted by IlluminatED; no publisher endorsement. Restricted lessons have listing information only.