Read the passage carefully and answer ALL the questions.

HOW TO EAT SMARTER

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Its 6.45 P.M. After a bruising day at the office and a bone-crushing
commute on the subway, you are standing in the kitchen, preparing a
healthy, satisfying dinner for your spouse, your two school-age children
and yourself. Dinner will be spaghetti with a medium-size jar of
marinara sauce, 3 cups of green beans, a loaf of frozen garlic bread,
lettuce and tomatoes salad with a light dressing. Dessert will be two
scoops of frozen yogurt and a plate of assorted low-fat cookies for the
family to share. Sounds pretty healthy, right?

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Wrong. This meal is enough for a family twice the size of yours. In
addition it contains some nutritional traps that in the best-case scenario
will make you fat and in the worst will increase your chances of
developing diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer. Think
you know the pitfalls? Read on. You may discover some surprises.
Here are just a few of the problems : most light salad dressings are
too heavy on sugar and salt and too light on nutrition.
Youre serving your family too many highly processed foods. The
latest research shows that such foods wont keep them satisfied for very
long and may make them hungrier in the long run.

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Having different kinds of cookies to choose from makes it more likely

that your family will eat more cookies than they should.
Your portion sizes are far too generous. According to the U.S. Food
Guide Pyramid, youre serving a meal which contains 1,500 calories per
person, or 80% of the daily requirement for a sedentary office worker.

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It just goes to show that its hard to eat healthy even when we try.
Weve all heard that fruits and vegetables are good for us, that
restaurant portions are too big, that we should exercise more. But even
a casual glance at public-health statistics suggests that Americans and
Asians alike dont know how to put that information into practice.
There are now 1 billion people world-wide who are overweight, nearly
258 million of them spread throughout China, Hong Kong, Japan, the
Philippines and Thailand alone.
Alarmed by the worsening trends, health experts have unleashed a flood
of nutritional advice for consumers much of it contradictory. One
expert says red meat is bad. Another says bacon keeps you trim. And
lets face it, controversy sells. Diet books and magazine articles try to
grab our attention by telling us everything we thought was wrong. (Its
not.)

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The truth is that nutritionists have a fairly good idea about what
constitutes a healthy diet as well as plenty of solid evidence to back that
up. As a rule, they tell us, we should eat lots of fruits and vegetables,
favor whole grains over highly processed cereals and make red meat an
occasional treat rather than the daily centerpiece of our evening meal.
And we shouldnt eat any more than our body needs.
The rewards are worth the effort. Studies show that as much as 80% of
heart disease and 90% of diabetes can be tied to unhealthy eating and
lifestyle habits. Doctors have proved that a diet emphasizing fruits and
vegetables as well as small amounts of nuts and dairy products can
lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol as effectively as many
medications. And evidence is growing that adding fiber to your diet and
avoiding highly refined foods can help prevent or delay the onset of
Type 2 diabetes.
EVERYTHING IN MODERATION is a great motto until you realize
that moderate means different things to different people. But whether
you need to lose weight or you just want to maintain the figure you
already have, youve got to know a little something about calories.
At its heart, the rule for losing weight is simple : eat fewer calories than
you burn. As anyone who has ever tried to shed a couple of pounds
knows all too well, thats often harder than it sounds. Eat too little, and
your body ratchets down its metabolism so that it doesnt need as much
energy and you regain weight more easily. One way to counteract that
is to boost your level of physical activity to increase the number of
calories you burn.
But when it comes to weight control, exercise though necessary can
take you only so far. Think about it, and youll understand why. Food
is so plentiful and so readily available that youre always going to be
able to eat more than you can sweat off. The average American
consumes 530 calories more per day now than he or she did in 1970.
Thats roughly what youd get from eating 2 cups of cooked pasta.
You would have to walk an extra two hours a day to burn that off. That
doesnt mean you should forget about exercising the benefits to your
heart, bones and peace of mind are just too great. It does mean you
have to pay more attention to the calories in side of equation.
Even if youre happy when you step on the scales, you cant eat the way
you did when you were a teenager or even just a decade ago. As you
grow older, your body needs fewer calories to keep going. Certain
exercises like yoga and weight training help counteract the trend
because they build muscle, which burns more calories than fat. But at
some point, to avoid gaining weight, you will have to eat less.

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So, what are some smart ways of cutting back? Start by fooling both
your eyes and your stomach. As you reduce the amount of food you eat,
use smaller plates to keep your meals from looking skimpy. Begin a
couple of meals each week with an apple or a cup of soup. Either will
help curb your appetite. Several intriguing studies have found that other
liquids, like fruit juices or sodas which are often high in calories do
nothing to suppress the appetite.
Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, but limit your choices of
everything else, particularly snacks. Giving folks a wide choice of
foods in a single meal, scientists have shown, encourages them to eat
more.

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Eventually, you will have to become familiar with the calorie count of
your foods. Just a couple of days measuring or weighing what you eat
and calculating the calories you consume can be a real eye-opener. You
dont have to do this for the rest of your life, just long enough to get a
feel for it. Many nutritionists recommend eating healthy frozen dinners,
whose calorie counts are printed on the package, as a good way to make
the transition to smaller portion sizes. How many calories you should
eat in a day depends on whether you want to lose or maintain weight.
The basic rules for eating smarter couldnt be simpler. Watch your total
calorie intake. Burn off as many calories as you take in, and be choosy
about the foods you eat not just for a couple of weeks or months but
for the rest of your life.
So, whats for dinner?

Adapted from :
TIME Magazine
November 3, 2003

SECTION A (10 Marks)

Vocabulary
Find the meaning of the following words as used in the passage.
1. contradictory (line 33) ___________________
2. favor

(line 41) ___________________

3. onset

(line 50) ___________________

4. counteract

(line 60) ___________________

(10 x 1m = 10 marks)
SECTION B (10 Marks)
Reference
What do the following words refer to ?
a) them (line 17) ____________________________________
b) them (line 30) ____________________________________
c) that

(line 39) ____________________________________

d) that

(line 69) ____________________________________

e) this

(line 93) _____________________________________

(5 x 2m = 10 marks)

SECTION C (40 Marks)

Comprehension
Based on the passage, answer all the questions below.
1. What is wrong with the dinner mentioned in paragraph I ?
( 4 marks)
2. Why does the writer say that its hard to eat healthy even when we
try? ( line 24 ) ?
( 2 marks )
3. Explain in your own words what controversy sells (line 35) means.
( 2 marks )
4

4. Based on paragraph IX, fill in the table below regarding what

constitutes a healthy diet.
Food that we should eat more of

Food that we should eat less of

___________________________

__________________________

___________________________

__________________________

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(4 marks)
5.

What are the major causes of heart disease and diabetes ?

(4 marks)

6. What are the four types of food that are good for people to lower
blood pressure?
(4 marks)
7.

How can we modify our diet to avoid from getting Type 2 diabetes?
(2 marks)

8. Why is it difficult to lose weight by eating fewer calories than we

burn?
(6 marks)
9. Why does the author think that exercise alone is inadequate in
controlling weight ?
(2 marks)
10. Why cant an elderly man eat the same way as he did when he was
younger ?
(2 marks)
11. Based on the passage, tick the boxes which indicate the types of
food that can suppress ones appetite.
Orange juice

Carbonated drinks

Fruits

Clear chicken soup

(4 marks)
12. List the four ways to reduce the amount of food that we take.
(4 marks)