What People Eat

There is a wide range of nutritious foods in the world. However eating habits differ from country to country. At different times in different countries there have been different ideas of beauty. The rich would always want to look fat in a society where food was scarce and to look thin where food was plentiful. The current interest in losing weight is because of fashion as well as health. However, overeating causes a variety of illnesses.

What do we mean by a well-balanced diet? This is a diet that contains daily servings from each of the basic food groups: meat, vegetable and fruit, fish, bread and cereals. There's no doubt that food tastes and preferences are established early in life. No one is born a " sugar freak" or a salt craver. An incredible statistic is that between 30 and 50 % of all the calories eaten each day are consumed in the form of between – meal snacks. Unfortunately, the usual between–meal foods are low in nutritious value and too high in calories and refined sugar. Some excellent snacks that should always be available are plain yogurt, carrots, pieces of apple, cheese and natural fruit juice. Eating yogurt as a snack food is far healthier and more nutritionally sound than eating so-called " junk" foods, which are less nutritious and too high in sugar and calories. Salted peanuts seem to be the least popular snack today.

People who diet know that if they stick to a low – fat, high – fibre intake they will be able to eat well without putting on weight. " One should eat to live, not live to eat" instead of going on crash diets they are learning to educate their stomachs by eating sensible food. They can still enjoy chocolates and cream cakes once a week or so, but they know they have to cut down their intake slightly the next day.

Research is indicating that " we are what we eat". Recent work shows that Italians, who tend to eat lots of fruit and vegetables that contain vitamins C and E, have low levels of heart attacks. The Scots however tend to have a diet which is high in animal fat and lowin fibre.Heart diseaseis awidespread problem in Scotland.

Now evidence shows that it is especially vitamins C and E which control the probability of attacks of angina – the severe chest pains which are usually a warning of heart–disease. The value of vitamins C and E was shown in a recent survey of Scotsmen. Scientists studied 110 people who suffered chest pain but had not consulted their doctors or changed their diets. The results showed that the people with low levels of each vitamin had experienced three and a half times more angina than those in the control group of men who had consumed food with high levels of vitamins, they had not had chest pain. The answer seems to be cut down on meat, cheese, lard and butter and stuck to fruit, vegetable oliveoil and other vitamin C and E – rich foods.

There's nothing wrong with being healthy and keeping fit but with some people it's almost a religion.

Ex.5 Make up questions for these answers:

· Between 30 and 50 %

· Salted peanuts, I think.

· Heart disease.

· In Scotland.

· 110 people

· Vitamins C and E.

Ex.6 Match the words in column A with the explanation in column B.

snack * fermented liquor made from milk

stodge (sl.) * heavy and solid food

yogurt * light, hurriedly eaten meal

cereal * sort of food usually eaten (by a person, community)

diet * any of a number of organic substances which are presented in certain food stuffs and are essential to the health of man

calorie * any kind of grain used for food.

vitamin * unit of heat, unit of energy supplied by food

Ex.7 The text makes suggestions about different types of diet and preferences. Work in pairs / groups and discuss the following.

a) What are the main features of a well-balanced diet?

b) Are you getting enough vitamins?

c) What are the ways to boost your energy and stay healthy?

d) How often should you eat fruit and vegetables?

- at least once a day;

- three times a week;

- once a week.

e) Don't you think that if you eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and yogurt you'll continue to enjoy these foods as you grow old?

f) Have you read any recent articles devoted to the problem of healthy eating? What is their main message?

g) Do you know what illnesses are caused by overeating?

h) Are you overweight (average, underweight)? Does it worry you?

i) Have you ever been on a diet? What did you eat?

j) What should you eat if you want to lose (put on) weight?

Ex.8 This article is about the language used to label food products.

As a food label is often nothing more than an advert to attempt you to buy the product, you should pay particular attention to the choice of words used. Always watch out for the word ”flavour”, as this may mean that the product contains synthetic ingredients. Chocolate flavour topping, for example, will not contain chocolate, even though chocolate- flavoured topping will contain a small percentage – so read carefully. Many manufacturers also use a range of meaningless descriptions. Feel-good words, such as “wholesome”, “farmhouse”, “original” and “traditional” do not mean anything. Other words such as “farm fresh” and “country fresh” also intentionally blur the true nature of the product’s source. “Fresh egg pasta”, for example, means that the pasta was indeed made with real and not powdered eggs, but maybe months ago. Words that you can trust are “organic”, “wholemeal”, “natural mineral water”, “Fair trade”, “free-range” and the “V” vegetarian symbol.

Consumer pressure over GM foods has led to better labeling but loopholes still exists. GM product derivatives, such as starches, sugars, fats and oils where no genetically modified protein or DNA material still remains, still go unlabelled in many products such as cereal bars, fish fingers, jellies and vegetable burgers.

Take particular care over low-fat low-sugar products. Guidelines state that ‘low-fat’ foods must not have more than 5 per cent fat, while ‘reduced fat’ means that the total fat content is 25 per cent less than the standard versions of the same product. The terms ‘light’ or ‘lite’ are meaningless since they could refer to texture, fat content, sugar content of even colour.

Synthetic – made from artificial substances

Wholesome – good for you, physically or morally

Wholemeal – containing all the natural substances in the grain with nothing removed

Fair Trade – refers to products such as coffee, tea or chocolate marked in such a way that the small farmers in developing countries who produce them get the profits rather than large multinational companies

Freerange – relating to farm animals that are not kept in cages

GM – genetically modified, i.e. the genes(DNA) of natural product have been altered in some way

Loopholes – ways of getting round regulations(usually because they have not been written in a precise enough way)

Derivatives – things produced from

Study the labels on the food you eat every day, analyze them.

Ex.9 Give written recommendations to your partner on what he (she) should do to keep fit.

Ex.10 Read and discuss:

A) An English proverb says: " One man's meat is another men's poison". Do you agree with it?

B) In some societies certain foods are taboo. An eccentric millionaire once invited guest from several countries to a banquet and offered them this menu. All the foods are popular in some parts of the world, but are not eaten in others.

Menu

Starters Dessert