Nutrition and Food Safety

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Nutrition and Food Safety
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Your role in nutrition

• Your role may involve helping with your clients
  nutrition.
• Knowing what makes a healthy diet will help you
  to support your client.

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Nutrition

• A nourishing diet helps to
• prevent health problems e.g.
• constipation
• Osteoporosis
• Diabetes
• heart disease
• maintain a healthy body weight
• maintain quality of life
• improve longevity

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Healthy eating variety and balance

• Healthy eating involves variety and balance.
• Variety means
• eating a range of different foods so you get all
  the nutrients you need.
• Balance means
• not eating too much or too little of particular
  foods. It also means getting the right amount of
  exercise for amount of food you eat.

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A healthy diet

• A healthy diet contains the following
• carbohydrates
• proteins
• micronutrients
• water

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A healthy diet carbohydrates

• Carbohydrates are found in
• fruit and vegetables
• breads
• rice
• pasta
• nuts and
• beans
• Fibre is a type of carbohydrate that helps the
  bowel to keep regular. Fibre is found in fruit
  and vegetables, wholemeal breads and cereals.
  Its a good idea to eat plenty of fibre.

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A healthy diet proteins

• Proteins are found in
• meat
• poultry
• fish
• eggs
• soya beans and
• lentils
• Its a good idea to eat moderate amounts of
  protein.

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A healthy diet micronutrients

• Micronutrients include vitamins and minerals.
  They are found in all foods, especially
• fruit
• vegetables
• breads
• cereals
• dairy foods
• A balanced diet provides all the vitamins and
  minerals needed for good health.

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A healthy diet micronutrients (cont.)

• Foods also contain substances other than
  nutrients which may have health benefits e.g.
• antioxidants may help the bodys resistance to
  certain diseases.
• Vitamin D is one important micronutrient that
  cant be obtained through diet. Vitamin D is
• very important for good health
• is synthesised in skin in the presence of
  sunlight.
• Where possible, make sure that your clients are
  exposed to a small amount of sunlight each day.

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A healthy diet water

• Water is the most important nutrient for life.
• Unlike other nutrients, the body does not store
  water.
• You can survive for weeks without food, but not
  without water.

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Special Diets

• Some clients such as diabetics may have
  special diets.
• Check with your supervisor to find out about any
  such requirements and what you need to do.

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Diet and Culture

• It is important to respect any cultural or
  religious beliefs that affect clients food
  choices and eating patterns.
• For example, some religions prohibit certain
  foods and have set times for fasting.

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Meal Times

• For many people, dining is a social activity.
• eating should be an enjoyable part of the day.
• involve clients in decisions about their meal
  times and
• what they eat.
• Presentation is important.
• food should look appetising.
• the dining area should be pleasant and
  uncluttered.

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Meal times (cont.)

• If the meal is delivered, check that it meets any
  special dietary requirements your client may
  have.
• Clients should be upright during meals and where
  possible for 30 minutes afterwards. This allows
  the gut to work efficiently and minimises the
  risk of reflux.

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Food safety

• There are health risks in each stage of getting
  food ready for clients, including
• preparation
• cooking
• storing
• defrosting
• reheating

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Food safety

• If preparing food is part of your job, your
  organisation should have procedures to ensure
  food safety.
• Follow the procedures carefully.
• If you have any questions about preparing food,
  ask your supervisor.