Course Sample for Our Growing Healthy in First Grade Homeschool Health and Fitness Course

What is nutrition?

Your whole body is made up of living cells, which are very tiny organisms you cannot see, but are the building blocks that make up your body. Here is a simple drawing of a cell:

Nutrition is when you give these cells in your body the food (the big word is nutrients) they need to grow and be healthy! Nutrients are things like proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. These are in the healthy food we eat like meat, fish, chicken, fruits, nuts, and vegetables.

Nutrition is not when you just eat a lot of sugar and sweets all the time, because those will not provide the nutrients the cells can use.

Why is it important to eat healthy?

Remember that your body is made up of a lot of cells. Some cells help you to see clearly, others make up your muscles and help you to move, some make up your bones, and some help you smell. Your skin is made of cells; even your blood has many types of cells. Most cells are inside your body where you cannot see them, but they are very important. Some of these are the cells that make up your heart, lungs, brain, and all the other organs your body has. So, you can picture these cells as little workers all doing different things like building, fighting, moving, restoring, messaging, and more.

When you feel hungry, you can fill your tummy with anything you like, even sweets and chocolates and a burger or two . . . but your cells will still be hungry if you eat these foods, since they can only work well if they are fed healthy nutrients. When you eat healthy food and drink enough water, the cells are able work like they should so that you can have a healthy body and mind and so that you can play and run around and think clearly!

What happens when you eat healthy?

Have you ever thought about what happens to the food in your mouth when you swallow? Let us try and explain: there may be some big words but use the picture on the next page as a guide.

First, you chew your food, and your teeth break the food into smaller pieces. Your spit (saliva) also mixes with the food so you can swallow it. This moves down your esophagus (throat area) into your stomach. There, it becomes a liquid solution (chyme). This chyme then moves to your intestines, and it is here where all the nutrients are taken up by your blood to deliver to all the other cells in your body! This process is called digestion.

To view a full sample of this course, click here.