Why can't I eat only my favourite food?

Think of the food you love most of all. Maybe it is warm pasta, crunchy pizza or a sweet ripe banana. Can you almost smell it now, drifting in from the kitchen?

If you could, you might eat that food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day. Grown-ups keep putting other foods on your plate, though. So why can't you eat only your favourite food?

Your body works hard all day long. It runs and jumps, it grows a little taller, and it fixes a scraped knee. For all those jobs, your body uses nutrients, which means the tiny parts of food that help it work and grow.

Each job needs its own kind of nutrients. Some nutrients give you power to run and play. Others build strong bones and muscles, and others help a cut heal and keep you from getting ill.

Here is the tricky part: every food carries only some nutrients. Bread gives you power for running, milk helps build your bones, and an orange helps a cut heal. Now, what do you think happens if you eat only one food, every single day?

Your body would get plenty of the nutrients in that one food, and too few of all the others. Then some jobs would be left waiting. You might feel tired, and a cold might take longer to get better.

That is why your body needs variety, which means many different kinds of food. Each new food brings nutrients that the others are missing. Together they fit like pieces of a puzzle.

Picture a plate with your favourite pasta, some green peas, a piece of cheese and a slice of apple. The pasta gives power, the cheese helps your bones, and the peas and apple help keep you well. With that variety, every job in your body gets its helpers.

Nutrients, variety. Your body needs many nutrients for its jobs, and one food carries only some, so you need variety.

Sleep well tonight, and tomorrow see how much variety you can spot on your plate.