Build a balanced meal
Balanced meals combine energy, protein, fibre, micronutrients and hydration in proportions that fit the person and activity.
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Apply nutrition principles to meals
Key learning points
- • Food groups have jobs
- • Improve, do not moralise
This lesson at a glance
- 25 minutes
- 10 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 10
Watch first
Build a balanced meal
An English teaching video on this topic from Grammarsaurus. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Apply nutrition principles to meals
Explore the idea
Part 2 of 10
Learn
Food groups have jobs
Starchy carbohydrates provide energy; protein supports growth and repair; fruit and vegetables provide fibre and micronutrients; unsaturated fats support health in modest amounts.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 10
Learn
Improve, do not moralise
Nutrition is about patterns, variety and context, not calling foods good or bad. Adapt meals for allergies, culture, cost and access.
Quick check
Part 4 of 10
Quick check
Which nutrient supports growth and repair?
Quick check
Part 5 of 10
Quick check
Why include varied plants?
Quick check
Part 6 of 10
Quick check
A sound nutrition approach considers…
Challenge round
Part 7 of 10
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 8 of 10
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
____ is about patterns, variety and context, not calling foods good or bad.
Mastery quiz
Part 9 of 10
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Build a balanced meal
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Which nutrient supports growth and repair?
2. Why include varied plants?
3. A sound nutrition approach considers…
Lesson round-up
Part 10 of 10
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
Why the first prototype broke
A team designed a phone stand from 3 mm plywood. The brief said it must hold a 200 g phone at 60° and survive being knocked. The first prototype looked right but snapped at the joint after two knocks.
The team tested again and found the grain of the plywood ran across the narrowest part of the joint, so the wood split along it. They widened the joint from 8 mm to 20 mm, turned the piece so the grain ran along the load, and added a small fillet at the corner to spread the force.
The second prototype survived twenty knocks. It used 15% more material and took four minutes longer to cut — a trade-off the team recorded in their evaluation.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Name the fault in the first prototype and explain why it happened.
- List the three changes the team made and what each one does.
- Write an evaluation of the second prototype against the brief, including the trade-off.
Design sheet
DiagramSketch two ideas with measurements and notes, then photograph the sheet.
2 labelled sketches
Evaluation
WritingWrite how well your idea meets the brief and what you would change next time.
6–8 sentences
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 10 · Watch & discover