Food is broken down into the following five accepeted groups:

1.Bread, cereals and potatoes 2.Fruit and vegetables 3.Milk and diary foods 4.Meat, fish and alternatives 5.Fatty and sugary foods

To get the wide range of nutrients the body needs to remain healthy it is important to choose a variety of foods from the first four groups every day. Foods in the fifth group (fatty and sugary foods) are not essential to a healthy diet but add extra choice and taste. The proportion of each food group in the diet is shown by the different area occupied by each of the food groups on the plate in the diagram below.