Unit 4: Nutrition: Food for Life

Unit 4: Nutrition: Food for Life

This unit explains how nutrients affect our bodies, how to make responsible food choices, and how to balance food and exercise for a healthy lifestyle.

Nutrition is how food affects the health of the body. Food is essential—it provides vital nutrients for survival, and helps the body function and stay healthy. Food is comprised of macronutrients including protein, carbohydrate and fat that not only offer calories to fuel the body and give it energy but play specific roles in maintaining health. Food also supplies micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and phytochemicals that don't provide calories but serve a variety of critical functions to ensure the body operates optimally.

Unit Focus

• nutrients our bodies need for growth, repair, and fuel
• food pyramid and its guidelines for a balanced diet
• why body composition is more important than body weight
• program for improving body composition
• healthy habits that help us control our weight
• eating disorders that affect teenagers