passage on food is health
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The Importance of Food
Food is an essential part of everyone’s lives. It gives us the energy and nutrients to
grow and develop, be healthy and active, to move, work, play, think and learn.
The body needs a variety of the following 5 nutrients - protein, carbohydrate, fat,
vitamins and minerals - from the food we eat to stay healthy and productive.
Protein - is needed to build, maintain and repair muscle, blood, skin and bones and
other tissues and organs in the body.
Foods rich in protein include meat, eggs, dairy and fish.
Carbohydrate - provides the body with its main source of energy.
Carbohydrates can be classified into two kinds; starches and sugars. Food rich in
starches include rice, maize, wheat and potatoes and food rich in sugars include fruit,
honey, sweets and chocolate bars.
Fat - This is the body's secondary source of energy. Fat actually provides more
energy/calories per gram than any other nutrient, but is more difficult to burn.
Food rich in fats are oils, butter, lard, milk, cheese and some meat.
Vitamins and Minerals - Vitamins and minerals are needed in very small amounts
and are sometimes called micronutrients, but are essential for good health. They
control many functions and processes in the body, and in the case of minerals also
help build body tissue such as bones (calcium) and blood (iron). To learn more about
specific vitamins and minerals see the Vitamins and Minerals information sheet
below.
In addition to the above nutrients Fibre and Water are also essential for a good
healthy diet.
A Balanced Diet
To stay healthy we not only need all of the above 5 nutrients in our diet but we also
need them in the correct quantities - this is what we mean by a balanced diet.
The consequences of not having a balanced diet are numerous: if you do not eat
enough protein, you will not be able to grow properly; if you do not eat enough
energy containing foods (eg carbohydrates and fat), you will feel very tired; and if you
eat too much energy containing foods you will become overweight.
Many people in the developed world eat too much of some types of food, for example
a lot of saturated fats, and become overweight. Obesity is becoming a big problem in the developed world. One third of all Americans are obese. Being obese has serious
health implications including increasing your chances of heart disease, diabetes, high
blood pressure, having a stroke or getting a number of forms of cancer.
In the developing world, on the other hand, many people suffer from:
Hunger, or under-nutrition, whereby they do not have enough food or
Malnutrition, which means ‘badly nourished’ and is as much about what you eat as
how much. Malnutrition is characterised by inadequate intake of protein, energy
and/or micronutrients and by frequent infection and disease.
FoodAid is a great opportunity for you all to learn more about these issues and to
help the hungry and malnourished overseas
Food is an essential part of everyone’s lives. It gives us the energy and nutrients to
grow and develop, be healthy and active, to move, work, play, think and learn.
The body needs a variety of the following 5 nutrients - protein, carbohydrate, fat,
vitamins and minerals - from the food we eat to stay healthy and productive.
Protein - is needed to build, maintain and repair muscle, blood, skin and bones and
other tissues and organs in the body.
Foods rich in protein include meat, eggs, dairy and fish.
Carbohydrate - provides the body with its main source of energy.
Carbohydrates can be classified into two kinds; starches and sugars. Food rich in
starches include rice, maize, wheat and potatoes and food rich in sugars include fruit,
honey, sweets and chocolate bars.
Fat - This is the body's secondary source of energy. Fat actually provides more
energy/calories per gram than any other nutrient, but is more difficult to burn.
Food rich in fats are oils, butter, lard, milk, cheese and some meat.
Vitamins and Minerals - Vitamins and minerals are needed in very small amounts
and are sometimes called micronutrients, but are essential for good health. They
control many functions and processes in the body, and in the case of minerals also
help build body tissue such as bones (calcium) and blood (iron). To learn more about
specific vitamins and minerals see the Vitamins and Minerals information sheet
below.
In addition to the above nutrients Fibre and Water are also essential for a good
healthy diet.
A Balanced Diet
To stay healthy we not only need all of the above 5 nutrients in our diet but we also
need them in the correct quantities - this is what we mean by a balanced diet.
The consequences of not having a balanced diet are numerous: if you do not eat
enough protein, you will not be able to grow properly; if you do not eat enough
energy containing foods (eg carbohydrates and fat), you will feel very tired; and if you
eat too much energy containing foods you will become overweight.
Many people in the developed world eat too much of some types of food, for example
a lot of saturated fats, and become overweight. Obesity is becoming a big problem in the developed world. One third of all Americans are obese. Being obese has serious
health implications including increasing your chances of heart disease, diabetes, high
blood pressure, having a stroke or getting a number of forms of cancer.
In the developing world, on the other hand, many people suffer from:
Hunger, or under-nutrition, whereby they do not have enough food or
Malnutrition, which means ‘badly nourished’ and is as much about what you eat as
how much. Malnutrition is characterised by inadequate intake of protein, energy
and/or micronutrients and by frequent infection and disease.
FoodAid is a great opportunity for you all to learn more about these issues and to
help the hungry and malnourished overseas
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