HEALTHY LIFESTYLE – Orange and Pear Facilitator
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A. A Healthy Diet
A healthy diet will keep you looking good and feeling energetic. On the
other hand, a diet of junk food could lead to serious illnesses such as
cancer and heart disease.
A balanced diet
A well-balanced diet means eating more of some foods and less of
others. There are three simple rules for a balanced diet:
1.
2.
3.
Eat mostly fresh fruit and vegetables, whole meal breads,
cereals, grains and legumes (dried peas and beans, lentils).
Eat a moderate amount of lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy
products and unsaturated vegetable oils.
Eat only a small amount of sugar, saturated fats (found in butter,
fatty meat, some margarine), alcohol and salt.
Eat your greens
Food from plants such as fruit, vegetables, grains and legumes are
low in fat and provide us with a variety of vitamins and minerals. For
example, orange-coloured fruit and vegetables such as carrots and
mangoes provide us with vitamin A and citrus fruit gives us vitamin C.
Increase your fibre intake
It’s important to eat lots of fibre in your diet in order to avoid
constipation and other more serious bowel disorders. The main
sources of dietary fibre are wholegrain breads, breakfast cereals,
brown rice and whole meal pasta.
Fruit and vegetables also provide us with fibre. Replacing processed
white bread with wholegrain or whole meal bread will increase your
fibre intake.
Limit your sugar and salt intake
Sugar has no food value and adds calories to your diet. It can lead to
tooth decay and weight gain. Too much salt in your diet could lead to
high blood pressure.
HEALTHY LIFESTYLE – Orange and Pear Facilitator
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Eat a variety of foods
In order to obtain all the nutrients the human body needs to stay
healthy, it’s important to eat a wide variety of food.
B. Make a move (Regular Exercise)
Recent research shows that we can improve our health with regular
exercise, even if we are usually couch potatoes or work in a sedentary
job.
Regular moderate activity has many physical and psychological
benefits. Firstly, exercise reduces blood pressure and decreases the
risk of heart disease. Secondly, it also minimises the chance of getting
several types of cancer.
Thirdly, it decreases the risk of elderly people falling and injuring
themselves. On the psychological side, regular moderate activity can
help with depression and anxiety.
Exercise is particularly beneficial to people who already have risk
factors for heart disease. People who smoke, or have high cholesterol
or high blood pressure are more likely to die early. However, if these
people take up regular exercise and become fit they can substantially
reduce their chances of premature death.
The good news is that you can accumulate your exercise. You can
exercise bit by bit, 10 minutes at a time, as long as you do about half
an hour of moderate exercise a day.
Some ideas for increasing your physical activity are:




take the stairs instead of the lift
park your car further away from where you’re going and walk
do some active gardening
walk to the local shop instead of driving. So make a move. Even
a little exercise can help to decrease your risk of major illnesses.
You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to be healthy!
HEALTHY LIFESTYLE – Orange and Pear Facilitator
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Facilitators: The answers are from the reading above. My
suggestion is to give them some time to discuss in pairs before
sharing the answers with the entire group at your table.
1. What are the factors of a healthy diet?(balanced diet, eat
your greens, increase your fibre intake, limit sugar and salt
intake, eat a variety of food)
2. What are some ideas to increase your physical activity?(take
the stairs, park your car further away, do some active
gardening, walk to the local shop)
3. What does a balanced diet mean?(eating more of some
foods and less of others)
4. How is exercise helpful for preventing diseases?(controls
blood pressure and thus decrease heart diseases)
5. What are the consequences of too much sugar and salt
intake? (diabetes and heart problems)
6. What will happen if you have less fibre intake?(constipation)
7. Why do we have to eat a variety of foods?(to get nutrients,
vitamins and minerals)
HEALTHY LIFESTYLE – Orange and Pear Facilitator
Exercise B: Choose the best answer
1. Which of the food below is high in fibre? (a. eggs b. white
bread c. cereal d. all of the above)
2. Which of the fruits below are high in Potassium which
prevents heart illnesses? (a. banana, kiwi b. dried figs,
rhubarb, pears c. berries, oranges, apple d. all of the above)
3. Excess intake of junk foods will affect your? (a. muscles and
bone b. heart and kidney c. lungs d. all of the above)
4. Excess intake of sweets may lead to? (a. weight gain
b. blindness c. toothache d. sweet person)
5. Which food below are high in protein? (a. lean beef and veal
b. chicken c. fish d. all of the above)
Exercise C: Identify the correct meaning of the words in bold
letters.
1. heart illness (a. disease b.deficiency c.well-being)
2. fast food (a. hurry b. easy c.quick)
3. moderate activity (a. extreme b.modest c. violent)
4. major illnesses (a. important b. minor c.chronic)
5. a wide range (a. limited b. long c. broad)
6. accumulate (a. acquire b. disperse c.collect)
HEALTHY LIFESTYLE – Orange and Pear Facilitator
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Exercise D: Health idioms
Many English expressions contain health words but their meanings
sometimes have no relationship to health. Match the expressions to their
meanings.
Expression
Meaning
1. fit as a fiddle - d___
a. annoying person
2. coming down with something – i
b. not feeling well
3. feeling a bit off colour - b__
c. exactly what is needed or
4. my back is killing me - f__
wanted
d. in good health
5. .a taste of his own medicine -
e. a very bad headache
j__
6. .just what the doctor ordered – c
f. my back is very painful
7. sick and tired – k__
g. something difficult and
8. cough up – m___
unpleasant to experience
h. to have a high body temperature
9. a bitter pill to swallow – g___
i. becoming sick
10. splitting headache – e__
j. the same treatment that he
11. run a fever – h__
gives to others (usually this has
a negative meaning)
k. very annoyed
12. pain in the neck-a__
l. too unwell
13. in bad shape-l
m. to pay money unwillingly
Discussion:
Do you pay much attention to what you eat?
What improvements in your lifestyle would you like to make (or need to
make) to be a healthier person?
Do you think there is any connection between a person’s lifestyle and the
duration of his life?