Nutrition and Mind

Overview

This lesson examines how food choices can influence mental wellbeing, building on the unit focus on resilience and mental health strategies. Students will connect nutrition to wellbeing elements and practise planning practical, realistic eating actions.

Learning intentions

• Students will investigate how nutrition can affect mental wellbeing and resilience.
• Students will explain links between nutrition, mood, energy, and stress regulation.
• Students will identify personal nutrition needs that may support mental health.
• Students will draft a short, achievable nutrition action to trial in the next week.

Success criteria

• I can describe at least two nutrition factors that may support mental wellbeing (for example, blood sugar stability, gut health, micronutrients, hydration).
• I can connect nutrition choices to one or more wellbeing elements (Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment, or “+” objective elements).
• I can identify one nutrition need or pattern in my daily routine.
• I can write a realistic action step with a goal, how I will do it, and how I will measure success.

Curriculum links

• QCAA Health: Unit 1 (Stage 2) — Plan for action in a personal health context by synthesising information about mental wellbeing and resilience as a personal health resource.
• QCAA Health: Unit 1 — Investigate and synthesise information to develop an action strategy to influence resilience in a personal health context.
• QCAA Health — Unit 1 (PERMA/PERMA+) framing to support personal skills development (including the objective “+” elements such as nutrition and sleep).

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Welcome and hook. Teacher displays four snack/meal options (high sugar/high caffeine, balanced, high fibre, dehydrating choices) and asks: “Which option would you expect to affect mood and energy most—and why?” Students respond in a quick think-write, then share one idea with the class.

2. 5–15 min · Mini-lesson: How nutrition supports mental wellbeing. Teacher explains key concepts: how stable eating patterns can support steadier energy, how hydration affects concentration and mood, and how nutrients (including fruit/vegetables) contribute to physical and psychological wellbeing. Students complete a “Link it” table: nutrition factor → possible mental wellbeing effect → one real-life example.

3. 15–25 min · Class guided thinking: PERMA+ connection. Teacher introduces nutrition as part of the “+” wellbeing objective elements, and revisits PERMA/PERMA+ briefly to show where nutrition fits alongside emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Students choose two PERMA+ elements and write one sentence for each: “How nutrition could support this element for me.”

4. 25–40 min · Personal needs snapshot (worksheet). Teacher provides a simple personal needs assessment prompt: typical eating times, fruit/vegetable intake, hydration habits, frequency of sugary drinks/snacks, and barriers (time, cost, preferences, stress eating). Students complete the snapshot privately; they only share what they feel comfortable sharing.

5. 40–52 min · Synthesis and action drafting. Teacher models using evidence from the mini-lesson to turn a need into an action strategy: choose one change, make it specific, achievable, and trackable (goal + method + measure + timing). Students write a “Nutrition Action Plan” for one week, targeting one area such as: adding one serve of fruit/vegetable daily, swapping sugary drinks for water/unsweetened options, planning a balanced snack, or improving meal timing.

6. 52–57 min · Share and refine. Teacher facilitates a short round of feedback using sentence starters: “Your goal is clear because…”, “A detail that would help is…”, “How you will measure success could be…”. Students read their action plan aloud (or paraphrase) and adjust one improvement based on feedback.

7. 57–60 min · Exit ticket. Teacher asks three prompts: Students complete on paper: (1) One nutrition factor that supports mental wellbeing, (2) the element of PERMA/PERMA+ it connects to, (3) one success measure for their plan.

Resources

• Nutrition and Mind “Link it” table printable (teacher-made)
• PERMA+ connection prompt sheet
• Personal needs snapshot worksheet
• Nutrition Action Plan template (goal, method, measure, timing, barrier)
• Markers/board or slides for the hook options
• Exit ticket slips or a single-page response sheet

Assessment

• Formative: teacher circulates during “Link it” and checks for correct cause-effect reasoning.
• Formative: review personal needs snapshot for clarity and relevance to mental wellbeing.
• Summative-for-learning: collect Nutrition Action Plan and exit ticket to evaluate whether students can synthesise information into a realistic personal strategy.

Differentiation

• Support: provide sentence starters for cause-effect statements and action steps (for example, “This may help my mood by…”, “I will track success by…”).
• Support: offer a choice menu of action options (fruit/vegetables, hydration, balanced snacks) so students can match actions to their circumstances.
• Extension: students who finish early can write a “barrier plan” (what they will do if they miss a day) and a second backup action.
• SEN/EAL: allow responses using diagrams/icons (serve count, water glasses) and accept simplified language while preserving the action goal and measurement.