LET'S LEARN - HEALTHY FOODS AND BODY BUILDING FOODS.

Lets start this discussion with : WHAT IS A HEALTHY DIET & WHY WE SHOULD EAT HEALTHY FOODS?

A healthy diet contains adequate calories of energy to keep us active and for growth. It has a balance of major and minor nutrients derived from different types of food. It also includes proper quantity of water intake.

By following a healthy diet, we become physically fit. We can measure this using factors like height, weight, age, gender, dimensions of chest and hip(waist) etc.If we are below the prescribed standard rates, we are under weight.This is malnutrition. When we are above the standard range, we are overweight. This causes many life style diseases.An advance of overweight leads to obesity.

Healthy foods are those that give us sufficient nutrients, vitamins, minerals, energy for body functions and growth. This is not attained by one meal. So we have to arrange our daily intake over different meals and snacks so as to achieve this.

Carbohydrates, proteins, fats are components that give us lot of energy. So they are called macro or major nutrients. eg.cereals, millets, pulses, meat, fish, egg, milk etc.

Vitamins, minerals, anti oxidants, fibre etc are required by human body in small quantities and are called minor or micro nutrients.eg. fruits and vegetables.

BODY BUILDING FOODS:

Proteins, minerals and water are the components that are considered useful for body building. These help in development of bones and muscles. Generally, body building diets help in growth and repair of body tissues and internal organs. ( muscles, blood, skin, hormones and enzymes ) So proteins are required for good health. Minerals are inorganic substances essential for metabolism. We get them from tubers, fruits, vegetables and 'greens'. Water is essential for digestion, distribution, of joints, body cooling, waste disposal, etc.Children need to consume foods that provide 1 to 1.5 grams protein per kilogram of their body weight. There are many sources of proteins. Some of them are listed below:

                           

• Egg Whites:   

1. Purest form of protein.
2. Easily absorbed by body
3. Low ratio of protein to fat ( 60:1)
4. Good source of vitamins and minerals too.

•  Fish:

1. Especially small fishes that contain Omega-3- fatty acids
2. The fats in fish are healthy( Vegetarians Cod Liver Capsules!)

• Lean Meat:

1. Chicken lean or breast are high quality proteins. Low in saturated and trans fat.
2. Turkey meat has higher proteins than Lean Chicken meat. ( 73%- 48%) and is lower in fat content too(22% than 48%)                                      

LET'S LEARN (5): FOOD

1. Food gives us energy to do various activities.
2. The energy that we get from food is measured in units called calories.
3. We get nutrients from food.
4. We need carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, fats, fibre etc.
5.  We get carbohydrates from cereals, millets and tubers.
6. Some of the most common cereals are rice, wheat, maize [com] and oats.
7. Common millets are ragi and barley.
8. Tubers are parts of plants that grow under the soil.
9. They are tapioca, potato, yams, and amorphophallus.
10. Human-being get proteins mainly from pulses, legumes, milk, fungi like mushroom and non-vegetarian food like egg, fish and meat.
11. Common pulses are dhal, green gram, red gram, black gram, cowpea, Bengal gram, groundnut, cashew nut etc.
12. The main sources of fat are creams and oils.
13. We get vitamins, minerals, fibre etc.
14. Foods are mainly divided into three types.
15. They are vegetarian, non-vegetarian and junk foods.
16. Vegetarian foods are the best, natural; most popular form of food.
17. They are of plant origin.
18. Non-vegetarian foods are supplementary foods.
19. They are of animal origin.
20. Junk foods are those foods do not give us nutrients. 
21. These are processed foods.
22. They contain additives and preservatives for longer shelf life.    
23. Junk foods give us excess energy and leads to diseases.
24. However, children are fond of junk and fast foods. They are attracted by the colour; taste of unwanted chemicals in these items.
25. The common junk food are ice-cream, chocolates, noodles, soft drinks, coco colas, sweets, cakes, pastries, snacks, biscuits, wafers, fried foods, baked items and cookies.
26. Fried foods are banana roast, onion bajji, vadas, papads, fryums, chips, puffs, French fries, samoosa etc.
27. Food items like biriyani made with vanaspati are also not good foods.
28. Spices and condiments are those plant-based products that are added to foods to improve taste and flavour.
29.  Indian foods are generally spicy.
30. Common spices are chilly, turmeric,ginger, pepper, tamarind, clove nutmeg, cardamom etc.
31. Water is very essential for proper digestion of food. It also helps to eliminate toxins from human body. Therefore, we should drink lots of pure water everyday. 8 glasses for children and 20 glasses for grownups.
32. For good health, we should eat nutritious food in balanced diet for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner.