2.1.3

Carbohydrates

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Carbohydrates

Carbohydrate is a food group. Carbohydrates are the starchy or sweet foods made by plants.

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Examples of carbohydrates

  • Potatoes.
  • Cereal.
  • Bread.
  • Sugar.
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People need carbohydrates

  • Everyone needs carbohydrates for energy.
    • A child’s balanced diet would contain 3 to 5 servings of carbohydrate spread through the day.
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One serving of carbohydrate

  • One serving of carbohydrate might be:
    • One slice of bread.
    • One medium potato.
    • A cup and a half of pasta.

Carbohydrates in a Diet

A child’s balanced diet would contain 3 to 5 servings of carbohydrate spread through the day. If someone eats more carbohydrate than they need, it is stored in their body as fat.

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Sugar

  • A balanced diet does NOT contain a lot of sugar.
    • Sugar is a form of carbohydrate.
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What foods contain sugar?

  • There is a lot of sugar in:
    • Sweets.
    • Biscuits.
    • Cakes.
    • Soft drinks.
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Hidden sugar

  • 'Hidden sugar' is in foods that we do not think of as having a lot of sugar.
  • There is ‘hidden sugar’ in:
    • Tomato sauce.
    • Yoghurt.
    • Soup.
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Looking out for hidden sugar

  • You can spot hidden sugar in your food by looking at the ingredients on the packet.
  • On food packet labels, ingredients that end in '-ose' are types of sugar. For example:
    • Fructose.
    • Dextrose.
    • Glucose.

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2Year 3: Animals (Including Humans)

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6Year 4: Living Things & Their Habitats

7Year 4: Animals, Including Humans

8Year 4: States of Matter

9Year 4: Sound

10Year 4: Electricity

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