Healthy eating - eat well plate

The eatwell plate is based on the five food groups.

• Fruit and vegetables
• Bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy foods
• Milk and dairy foods
• Meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein
• Foods and drinks high in fat and/or sugar

We should choose different foods from the first four groups every day (including snacks), to help ensure you obtain the wide range of nutrients your body needs to remain healthy and function properly.

Foods in the fifth group are not essential to a healthy diet. If a child is not given sweets and fatty foods then they will not ask for them.

Fruit and vegetables

These should make up about third of the food you eat each day. It's important to eat a variety of different fruit and vegetables (eat the colours of a rainbow). Aim to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day.

Bread, rice, potatoes pasta and other starchy foods

These should make up about third of the food we eat. Most people should be eating more starchy foods. Starchy foods are a good source of energy and the main source of a range of nutrients in our diet. As well as starch, these foods contain fibre, calcium, iron and B vitamins. Some people think starchy foods are fattening, but they contain less than half the calories of fat. You just need to watch out for the added fats used for cooking and serving, because this is what increases the calorie content.

Milk and dairy foods

These should be eaten in moderate amounts and adults should try to eat lower fat versions. The fat content of different dairy products varies a lot and much of this is saturated fat, which can raise cholesterol and is linked to heart disease. Most cheeses (eg Brie, Stilton, Cheddar, Lancashire and Double Gloucester) contain between 20 and 40g fat per 100g.

Advise the group that you need to limit the amount of cheese you eat and to choose reduced fat hard cheeses or reduced-fat cottage cheese and quark. Cream and butter are high in fat, so try to use them sparingly. You can use plain yoghurt and fromage frais instead of cream, soured cream or creme fraiche in recipes. And low-fat spreads can be used instead of butter. Some flavoured and malted milk products and shakes tend to contain added sugar, which can be bad for our teeth.

Meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein

These should be eaten in moderate amounts and choose lean, low fat options whenever you can. Meat is a good source of protein and vitamins and minerals, such as iron, selenium, zinc, and B vitamins. It is one of the main sources of vitamin B12, which is only found in foods from animals, such as meat and milk.

Cutting down on fat

Some types of meat are high in fat, particularly saturated fat, which can raise cholesterol levels. Having high cholesterol increases the chances of developing heart disease. The type of cut or meat product you choose (and how you cook it) can make a big difference. Advise the group to go for the leanest option whenever they can. As a general rule, the more white you can see on meat, the more fat it contains. So, for example, back bacon has less than half the fat of streaky bacon.

Cutting down on fat when cooking meat

It's a good idea to cut off any visible fat and skin before cooking because fat, crackling and poultry skin are much higher in fat than the meat itself.

Here are some other ways to reduce fat when you are cooking meat:

• Grill meat rather than frying
• Try not to add extra fat or oil when cooking meat
• Roast meat on a metal rack above a roasting tin, so fat can run off
• Try using smaller quantities of meat in dishes and more vegetables, pulses and starchy foods

Foods and drinks high in fat and/or sugars

We only need a small amount of these foods. These should be treat foods. It's important to have some fat in our diet because fat helps the body absorb some vitamins, it's a good source of energy and a source of the essential fatty acids that the body can't make itself.

But having a lot of fat makes it easy to have more energy than we need, which means we might be more likely to put on weight. So if you want to eat healthily and keep a healthy weight, look out for lower fat alternatives wherever possible and try to eat fatty foods only occasionally.

Sugary foods

We should all be trying to eat fewer sugary foods such as sweets, cakes and biscuits and drinking fewer soft drinks. Sugars occur naturally in food such as fruit and milk, but we don't need to cut down on these types of sugars. It is food containing added sugars that we should be cutting down on.

Sugar is added to many types of food such as:

• Fizzy drinks and juice drinks
• Sweets and biscuits
• Jam
• Cakes, pastries and puddings
• Ice cream

Food and drinks containing added sugars contain calories but few other nutrients so we should try to eat these foods only occasionally.

Sugary foods and drinks can cause tooth decay, particularly if you have them between meals. This includes fruit juice and honey. The sugars found naturally in whole fruit are less likely to cause tooth decay because the sugar is contained within the structure of the fruit. But, when fruit is juiced or blended, the sugar is released. Once released, these sugars can damage teeth, especially if fruit juice is drunk frequently.

Fruit juice is still a healthy choice, and counts as one of the five portions of fruit and vegetables we should be having every day, but it is best to drink fruit juice at mealtimes. Dilute the juice down for children and limit to one cup per day.

See our resources page for posters, leaflets and activity sheets.

[Back to top]