Health CAT by Maddie APSEY

Having A balanced Diet

msaps — 2025-09-12 00:12:55 UTC

Having a balanced diet is important so you're less likely to: become under or overweight, get heart diseases, diabetes and cancer. Eating a variety of foods that have less salt, sugars and saturated and industrially-produced trans-fats, are also essential for healthy diet. Having a balanced diet can protect you from these things because having a balanced diet means having the right amount of every food, so you have the right amount of everything in your body so it can do everything it needs like, give you energy, give you a better mood, stronger immune system and better physical and mental health.

What Does A Balanced Diet Look Like?

A balanced diet looks like having the right amount of things in your body.

Example:

_{In One day (for a thirteen year old girl) you should be having-}

2 serves of fruit (e.g. Apple, kiwi, mango)
5-5.5 serves of vegetables (e.g. Broccoli, carrots, celery)
3-3.5 of dairy (e.g. Milk, yoghurt, cheese)
5.5 serves of grains (e.g. Oats, rice, wheat)
2.5 serves of of protein (e.g. Lean meats, eggs, nuts)

_{In one day (for a thirteen year old boy) you should be having-}

2 serves of fruit
5-5.5 serves of vegetables
3.5 of dairy
5.5 serves of grains
2.5 serves of of protein

What Happens If You Have An Unbalanced Diet?

msaps — 2025-09-12 00:23:52 UTC

If you have an unbalanced diet it can lead to many things like, tiredness, weakness, weight changes, more likely to get infections, mood swings, and even poor wound healing. Having an unbalanced diet can lead to these things because your body doesn't get enough or it gets too much of something causing it not being able to create energy, which makes you tired all the time so you eat more of the foods that may not be healthy for your body which then causes weight changes, and that energy from the food doesn't last long enough so the cycle starts again.

What Does An Unbalanced Diet Look Like?

Sugary drinks (e.g. Mountain Dew, Coke, Fanta)
Processed and fatty foods (e.g. Chips, cakes, fast food)
Refined grains (e.g. white bread, certain cereals, pasta)
High-fat + high-salt meats (e.g. like bacon, hot dogs, salami)

The Five Food Groups

msaps — 2025-09-12 00:24:25 UTC

The Five Food Groups are a way to remember what foods you should be eating to achieve a balanced diet. The Five Food Groups are: fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy and protein. It is important to eat enough of these foods so you can have a balanced diet and your body can do and make everything it needs to, like energy and keeping a good mental and physical health. If we don't have enough of these essential foods our body can become unhealthy leading to mood swings, and not enough energy, (+ more).

The Five Food Groups

^{(For most of them) The 9 Most Common}

Fruits- Apples, oranges, watermelons, passion fruits, grapes, bananas, blueberries, mangoes, strawberries.
Veggies- Onions, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, potato, tomato, broccoli, capsicum, green beans.
Grains- Wheat, white rice, corn, fettuccini, rolled oats, brown rice, whole grain breads, I couldn't find anymore.
Protein- Chicken, beef, seafood, eggs, lentils, nuts, seeds, tofu, chickpeas.
Dairy- Reduced fat/ fat free milk, yogurt, cheese, soy drink, and again i couldn't find any other healthy options.

Pros And Cons Of Macro And Micronutrients.

msaps — 2025-09-12 07:10:48 UTC

What Are Micronutrients?

Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals that we need in small amounts (reason for the Micro part) for normal growth, development, stopping diseases, and overall mental/ physical health.

What Are Macronutrients?

Macronutrients are carbohydrates, fats and proteins the body needs these in daily large amounts to function, grow, and provide energy.

The Pros And Cons For Micronutrients

_Pros

Essential for the body to function
Support of the immune system
Helps growth and development
Helps with disease prevention
Overall health and mental wellbeing

_Cons

Deficiency- Not having enough essential micronutrients can lead to severe and life-threatening conditions, such as anemia (not enough red blood cells) from iron deficiency or getting curved legs from vitamin D deficiency. Deficiency can also lead to reduced energy.
Toxicity- Having to much of a certain vitamin leads to the harmful or poisonous effects that a substance, even an essential nutrient, can have on the body.

The Pros And Cons For Macronutrients

_Pros

Provides energy
Supports body functions
Helps weight management
Promotes help

_cons

Time consuming- Tracking macronutrient intake can be a time consuming process, involving measuring and keeping track of what your eating.
May not guarantee nutrient quality- Achieving macronutrient targets does not ensure a diet is nutrient-dense. It's possible to achieve macronutrients with highly processed, low-quality foods, meaning people would be eating processed, unhealthy food thinking it was healthy for them.

The Websites I remembered To Bookmark So I Could Put Them In here.

msaps — 2025-09-12 23:30:36 UTC

^{(I did use more websites I just forgot to keep them where I could find them again.)}

https://www.who.int/initiatives/behealthy/healthy-diet

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/micronutrients#deficiencies-and-toxicities

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK594226/

https://www.changeituptraining.com/blog/micronutrients

https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-guide-healthy-eating

Examples Of Macro And Micronutrients

msaps — 2025-09-12 23:57:19 UTC

Examples Of Micronutrients

Vitamins- Vitamins A, B (B Vitamins 1,2,3,5,6,9,12), C, D, E, and K
Minerals- Iron, zinc, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and iodine
Examples Of Macronutrients
Protein- Meat, fish, beans
Carbohydrates- Rice, oats, fruit and veggies
Fats- Nuts, oils, dairy

The Food Model I Chose

msaps — 2025-09-13 03:21:40 UTC

This food display shows you everything you need to know to have a healthy diet. It shows the Five Food Groups, fruit, vegetables, protein, dairy and grains. It also shows you things to use in small amounts like butter and different oils (canola, olive, peanut, coconut and even avocado!) The display also shows foods that are "sometimes" foods which include: processed foods, soft drinks, fast food, cup cakes, chips, ice-cream, chocolate, alcohol, cream, lollies, sweet and savory biscuits, and cakes.

A Limitation And A Strength

msaps — 2025-09-13 04:10:37 UTC

A Limitation

A limitation of the food display is that if you're an athlete you may need more of one thing that is averaged as not enough, some people also think the things on the display are the only thing you're aloud to eat so they find it very controlling. People also think that the "sometimes" foods can be whenever you want as long as you work them off. It also doesn't say how much of each food group you should be eating a day.

A Strength

A strength of the food display is that it shows you lots of the healthy foods you should be eating and what should be in your healthy balanced diet. Although it doesn't show you how much you should be eating a day you could easily figure it out for yourself or research it. It also shows foods you can sometimes have little treats and things to use in small amounts so you know that those aren't everyday foods/ things to be eating.