Dear Laurence,

I am always hungry. I eat three good meals a day but then I want crisps and biscuits too. Of course, now I am quite fat. Can you help me? Lois

Dear Laurence,

I know I have an unhealthy diet. I work about 10 hours a day and get home late, so I don’t have time to cook and I eat convenience food. What can I do? James

Dear Laurence,

I try to eat a good diet – I eat pasta and vegetable, and I don’t eat any meat, fish or cheese – but I’m always tired. What is wrong with my diet? Karin

Dear _______

It is horrible when you feel tired all the time. You need some meat, fish or cheese on your diet. They give you energy. Also, why don’t you take some exercise? That gives you energy too. How about a walk every evening after work? I hope that helps. Laurence (Total English, St’s Book, 39)

YI. People’s rubbish tells us about their lives. Here Laurence looks at the diet of two families. Do you agree with him about the diets of these families? Speak about your diet.

Hello and welcome to In the rubbish bin, the show where we look at people’s lives by looking at their rubbish. I am Laurence Redburn. Today we look at the diets of two very different families. I have their rubbish bins in the studio, with a typical day’s rubbish, so, let us start with the rubbish bin A. What does thus family eat and drink? We have some cans… cola cans – not very healthy. Mmm, instant coffee. Some boxes … cheese and tomato pizza, burgers. Some biscuits, and crisp packets – all fast food, and not very healthy. Do they eat any vegetables or fruit? I don’t think so. Oh dear, not a healthy diet. A lot of this food is bad for you, so this family is probably not very healthy.

Now let’s look at the rubbish bin B. This is very different – it’s good. The family eats a lot of fruit and vegetables … some potatoes, carrots, … bananas and apples. What do they drink? We have some juice cartons, some milk bottles ands we have a water bottle … two water bottles – very good, all very healthy so far. Tea bags … well OK. They eat some pasta, and fish – that is good. I can’t see any fast food here. I think it’s a very healthy family. (Total English, St’s Book, Typescripts, 152)

Key vocabulary:

Dishes: burger, fries, pizza salad sandwich

Meat and fish: (minced) beef, chicken, lamb, trout, tuna

Dairy: butter, cheese, cream, ice cream, milk

Fruit and vegetable: apple, banana, carrot, pineapple, potato, (water) melon, onion

Drinks: coffee, cola, fruit/orange juice

Other: biscuits, (white/brown) bread, cereal, crisps, mayonnaise, rice

Money: cheque, credit card, note, receipt

Adjectives: delicious, tasteless, tasty, disgusting, mouth-watering

Adjectives for physical ands emotional states: fit, happy/unhappy, healthy/unhealthy, hungry, thirsty, tired

Cooking and eating: cook for yourself, give (something) up, eat out, diet