Are you a healthy eater?

Neil: So William, would you say you are a 1) ______________ eater, or are you
more 2)________________ with how good something tastes?

William: (Replies). And 3)_________ about you, Neil?

Neil: Well, 4) _________ for me I’m quite 5) __________, so what I eat doesn’t
really affect the size of my 6)___________. But actually I do like to eat healthy
food because I think, generally, healthier food 7) _________ better.

William: And talking of diet, here’s our first Word Fact.

Word Facts

Our first word is “diet”. It has four letters and four sounds: D-I-E-T. Diet. Diet can
be a noun or a verb. There are some important differences in meaning.
Firstly “diet” as a noun. This means the food and drink taken by a person or
group of people.

- Footballers have to eat a good diet in order to stay healthy.

- The Japanese diet is said to be very healthy. People live to an old age.

People often use an adjective before diet. For example you may here the
expression “a 8) ____________ diet”. It means eating a range of all the food
types necessary to keep healthy.

Secondly, we can use diet as a countable noun – a diet. It means when

someone eats less of certain foods so they can lose weight. It’s used in
combination with the words “to go on” or “to be on” a diet.

A: I’m getting really fat. I can’t 9) ________ into my trousers!

B: You should go on a diet.

Thirdly, we can use it as a verb – to diet. This is another, less common way of
saying “to go on a diet”. It means to eat less in order to lose 10)________.
- So many people diet these days. I’m not really sure if it’s good for them.

KEY:
1. healthy
2. concerned
3. how
4. luckily
5. skinny
6. stomach
7. tastes
8. balanced
9. fit
10. weight