Food and nutrition

Food and nutrition topics

Here are some topics related to food and nutrition that you may want to find out more about.

Five food groups: these are fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates, dairy, protein, and fats. They make up part of a balanced diet.

Vegetarian: doesn't eat meat.

Vegan: doesn't eat meat or animal products.

Gluten free: can't eat any foods with gluten.

Lactose free: can't eat any dairy products.

Obesity: when a person is very overweight.

Eating disorder: a type of mental and physical health illness that affects how someone eats or how they feel about food and their body eg Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, or Binge eating.

Epic Resources

EPIC is a collection of reliable databases covering lots of different topics. It’s put together especially for New Zealand school students and helps to answer questions like this.

Tips: To get to the EPIC resources you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or you can chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians between 1 and 6pm Monday to Friday and they will help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

Health and Wellness (Gale)

Health and Wellness is one of the Gale databases designed for learners of all ages.

• Go to Browse Topics.

• Choose a topic such as Diets, Fast Food, or Teen health and nutrition.

• This will bring up a page with an overview of the topic and other resources grouped by type eg Reference.

• Select an item to read or view it.

• Or you can use keywords related to your topic eg 'nutrition'.

Tip: If you look at the blue link under the title this will tell you where the article comes from. This will help you decide if its suitable for your needs without looking through every article.

High School (Gale In Context)

This is a database that encourages the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Results are grouped by type like reference, video, academic journals, and more.

• In the search box enter 'human nutrition' and select the reference articles.

• Try looking at some different articles that may help you to learn more about each topic eg Carbohydrates, Vegetarianism, Obesity and The role of foods.

Tips: Before searching it can be useful to come up with a list of words to use. These are sometimes called keywords. These will be words related to a topic eg 'nutrition' or 'carbohydrates'.

Britannica School Secondary

Britannica School is a trusted worldwide database for students with 1000's of topics like this one.

• In the search bar enter 'human nutrition'.

• Select human nutrition from the results.

• Here you will find lots of information about nutrients, food groups and dietary recommendations.

Tip: In the tabs at the top of your search results and under article headings, you will find Images and Videos and Related resources. Have a look at these as you might prefer to watch a video, look at a table of information or find some resources that have a similar theme.

General websites

There are many websites that have fantastic information about food and nutrition.

KidsHealth

KidsHealth is a great website with lots of information about topics like how the body works, growing up, and dealing with emotions and feelings. There are three sections on the site – one for kids, one for teens and another for parents. Each article includes the name of the person who wrote it and when it was written, which helps us know it’s reliable.

• On the tabs across the top select For Teens.

• In the drop-down menu choose Food & Fitness.

• There are several drop down menus for you to look through to find information about nutrition, exercise, diets and eating disorders.

• You can also do a search for topics such as 'vitamins and minerals'.

Tip: KidsHealth is an American site. While the information is excellent and reliable, it follows American food and nutrition guidelines. It is good to be aware that facts can vary slightly in different countries.

TED-Ed

TED-Ed is the youth and education initiative branch of TED designed for students and teachers. The information is good quality, reliable and in video or animated format.

• Select the Students start here button.

• Just above the video tiles select the subjects drop down and choose health.

• From the list select Nutrition.

• Select the filter by drop down menu.

• Choose Student level then High School/Upper Secondary.

• Your results will include a variety of videos on food, nutrition and diet that may be of interest to watch.

New Zealand sites

These websites from New Zealand also have good information about food and nutrition.

NZ Nutrition Foundation

NZ Nutrition Foundation is a professional not for profit organisation that aims to support New Zealanders to have a healthy diet regardless of income.

• Select the tab Nutrition facts to find links to information on energy, food groups and nutrition.

• Or choose the tab Healthy eating by lifestages.

• This has information about how and what people should eat during different stages of their life and will help you to understand why.

Tips: Websites that have .org or .net in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the organisation’s mission and values are.

Healthify

Healthify is a trusted and reliable New Zealand website with easy-to-understand health information. They recognise our need for a bicultural approach to health.

• In the search box enter 'nutrients'.

• Select Nutrients from the list.

• This has lots of drop-down boxes full of information about essential nutrients, nutrient types and sources, a table of daily energy requirements and related resources.

• Or browse topics under Hauora Wellbeing such as Food safety.

Heart Research Institute NZ

Includes articles written by university-qualified nutritionists and dietitians from the Healthy Eating Hub.

• Search for 'nutrition'.

• Look through the results for articles like All about fat, All about protein and All about carbs for great information including about why we need them.

• There is also information about Nutrition labels: how to read them.

• You can find information about authors a the bottom of the articles.

Books and Videos

Check out you local public and school libraries for books about food and nutrition. Here are some that we found:

• Eat well and feel great : the teenagers guide to nutrition and health by Tina Lond-Caulk

• Food and nutrition : sustainable food and health systems by Mark L Wahlqvist (editor)and Danielle Gallegos (editor)

• Food, health and well-being for New Zealanders by Patricia Bawden

• The science of nutrition by Rhiannon Lambert

• Nutrition for dummies by Carol Ann Rinzler

• Essential Nutrients created by Peer Health Educator, Rebecca Rinck

SCIS no: 5495868