Nutrition and Balanced Diet

Nutrition or nourishment refers to the provision of required materials (nutrients) to the cells or organisms in the form of food. Our body needs various nutrients in varying amounts for day to day functioning and development. Nutrition or feeding is the one of the main characteristics of a living being. The human body needs various types of nutrients. Nutrition not only helps growth and activity but also boosts up our immune system to fight against diseases. The human body consists of elements and compounds ingested, digested, absorbed and circulated through the bloodstream to feed that cells of the body. Except in the unborn fetus, which receives processed nutrients from the mother, the digestive system is the first system involved in breaking down food prior to further digestion. Digestive juices, excreted into the gastrointestinal tract, break chemical bonds in ingested molecules, and transform them into energy. Unabsorbed matter, along with some waste products of metabolism, is eliminated from the body in the faces. Most foods contain a mix of some or all of the nutrients classes, together with other substances, such as toxins of various sorts. Some nutrients can be stored internally (e.g., fat soluble vitamins) while others are required more or less continuously. Lack of required nutrients or, in extreme cases, too much of a required nutrients results in poor health.

There are six major classes of nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, minerals, protein, vitamins, and water. These nutrients classes can be categorized as either macro- nutrients (needed in relatively large amounts) or micro- nutrients (needed in smaller quantities). The macronutrients include carbohydrates, fats, protein and water. The micronutrients are minerals and vitamins.

Among these nutrients, an absolute inadequacy of both salt and water causes illness whereas too much intake of the same may even result in death.

1. Carbohydrates and fats are energy giving nutrients.
2. Proteins and mineral are body building nutrients.
3. Vitamins and water are required for regulating body process.

Methods of having balanced diet from the available foods

In our community, the most common food product is rice, maize, wheat, millet, barley, mustard, potato, green vegetables and some vegetables. These foods provide nutrients according to the nutrition available in those food products.

Bodybuilding, body protecting and energy giving food are essential to our daily diet which are provided by above mention food. A balanced diet provides the nutrition needed in our body. We must analyze and calculate the right amount of food and eat balanced diet accordingly. Only rice and pulse doesn't fulfill the daily requirement of nutrition. As, rice is energy giving food and pulse are body building food. We must include body protecting foods i.e food with the mineral.

We must include the rice, maize, corn, wheat, millet, barley, pulse, beans, green leafy vegetables and fruits in our daily diet. We can get protein from milk and carbohydrate from the potato. We cannot include all the diet in one meal so we must prepare different meals for breakfast, dinner and lunch. Variation in meals helps to include most of the nutritious food required for our body. We must include the easily available foods in our daily diet.

Methods to preserve the nutrition while cooking food

1. Cover the food while cooking.
2. Do not mix up the cooked and uncooked food.
3. The kitchen should contain all the ingredients or elements needed.
4. Food should not be fried all the time.
5. Leafy vegetables should never be washed after cutting.
6. Soda should not be used to stimulate the taste bud. Soda degrades the nutrients of the food.
7. The leafy vegetable should not be cut into small pieces.

Disadvantages of packet foods:

• It does not provide us the required nutrients to our body.
• Due to the mixing of different colors, tasting powder, east, and other inedible products that affect our health.
• The expiry date may have exceeded and turned into poisonous food.
• We suffer from jaundice, diarrhoea and high blood pressure due to the consumption of plastic foods.
• Plastic foods have low quality.