why do we need food
Answers
Answer:
We need food to live food gives us energy,helps us to growand keep us got and healthy.
I hope it is help for you
Answer:
Eating good food, especially with family and friends, is one of the pleasures of life.We all know that people who eat healthy, balanced diets are likely to have:
plenty of energy to work and enjoy themselves;
fewer infections and other illnesses.
Children who eat well usually grow well.Women who eat well are likely to produce healthy babies. That is why it is important to know which combinations of foods make good meals and what the different food needs of different members of the family are.
Foods and nutrients
Foods provide nutrients so we can grow and be active and healthy
A food is something that provides nutrients. Nutrients are substances that provide:
energy for activity, growth, and all functions of the body such as breathing, digesting food, and keeping warm;
materials for the growth and repair of the body, and for keeping the immune system healthy.
There are many different nutrients.We divide them into:
Macro (big) nutrients that we need in large amounts. These are:
carbohydrates (starches, sugars and dietary fibre);
fats - there are several kinds (see Box 4);
proteins - there are hundreds of different proteins.
Micro (small) nutrients that we need in small amounts. There are many of these but the ones most likely to be lacking in the diet are:
minerals - iron (see Box 6, page 19), iodine and zinc;
vitamins - vitamin A, B-group vitamins (including folate) and vitamin C.
BOX 4 · FATS, FATTY ACIDS AND CHOLESTEROL
Fats and oils provide a concentrated source of energy and the essential fatty acids needed for growth and health. They aid the absorption of some vitamins such as vitamin A and improve the taste of meals. Some fatty/oily foods contain important vitamins.
Fats and oils contain different ‘fat-nutrients’. These include unsaturated fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids and cholesterol.
Unsaturated fatty acids
Two of the unsaturated fatty acids are called ‘essential fatty acids’ because the body cannot make them. They are needed for building cells, especially the cells of the brain and nervous system. Unsaturated fatty acids contain a group called ‘omega-3 fatty acids’, which help to protect the body from heart disease.
Examples of foods containing mainly unsaturated fatty acids are most vegetable oils, groundnuts, soybeans, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and other oilseeds, oily fishes and avocados. Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids are oily sea fish and some seeds and pulses such as linseed and soybeans.
Saturated fatty acids
Examples of foods containing mainly saturated fatty acids are butter, ghee, lard/cooking fat, whole milk, cheese, fats from meats and meat products (e.g. sausages) and poultry, red palm oil and coconuts.
Trans fatty acids
When vegetable oils are processed to make them harder (e.g. for use in margarine and other solid fats), some of the unsaturated fatty acids are changed into trans fatty acids. These behave like saturated fatty acids. We should eat as little of the foods containing trans fatty acids as possible.
Examples of foods containing trans fatty acids are margarine and lard (shortening), fried foods, such as chips (French fries) and others, commercially fried foods, such as doughnuts, as well as baked goods, biscuits, cakes and ice creams.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is found only in animal foods but the body can make it from other fatnutrients. We need some cholesterol for our bodies to grow and function properly.
There are two kinds of cholesterol in the blood.
High levels of ‘good’ cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein) seem to reduce the risk of heart disease. Eating foods containing mainly unsaturated fatty acids tends to increase the level of good cholesterol.
High levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein) seem to increase the risk of heart disease. Eating foods containing mainly saturated fats tends to increase the level of bad cholesterol.
Fat needs
Fat needs are expressed as ‘percent of total energy needs’ (see Appendix 2). The percent of total energy that should come from fat in a healthy balanced diet is:
30-40 percent for children on complementary feeding and up to the age of two years;
15-30 percent for older children and most adults; for active adults up to 35 percent is acceptable;
At least 20 percent up to 30 percent for women of reproductive age (15-45 years).
This means the diet of a woman of reproductive age who needs approximately 2 400 kcal/day should contain about 480-720 kcal from fat or oil. This is equivalent to 53-80 g of pure oil (or about 11-16 level teaspoons). Part of the fat in a diet is not added in the kitchen at home but is ‘hidden’ in foods such as meat, milk, groundnuts and oilseeds as well as fried foods.
Fat and health
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