Our body in like an engine and the food we eat is its fuel. It burns up the food to provide energy for work and thereby maintains its various functions. Again like an engine our body requires food for the growth and repair of its tissues, worn out by normal activity. Food is a complex fuel made up made up of a number of components each doing a specific job in our body. Natural food stuffs can be classified as cereal, pulses, nuts and oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, milk and milk products and flesh foods. These foods contain nutrients namely proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals in varying proportions.
Food stuffs can be grouped under three major headings depending on the relative concentration and function of the nutrients.
Energy giving foods: This group is rich in fats and carbohydrates and forms the primary fuel to provide the energy required for the body. The major sources of carbohydrates are cereals, millets, roots and tubers, sugar, honey, glucose, jaggery, sweets etc.
Body building foods: This group is rich in protein which is the chief cellular substance. These supply the building material to the body and also make good the wear and tear of tissues. Foods rich in protein from animal sources are milk, fish, meat, egg. Pulses and nuts are from vegetable sources. Proteins obtained from animal sources are of better quality than from vegetable sources.
Protective foods: This group is rich in vitamins and minerals. These nutrients in the food prevent the onset of various diseases and also help the body in fighting against infection, thereby helping to maintain a normal healthy life. Green leafy vegetables, other vegetables (preferably raw) and fresh fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals. However, most of the vitamins are lost in cooking and therefore to have sufficient amount of vitamins in the diet, they should be had when fresh, and cooked in a proper way.
Balanced diet: A well balance diet contains foods from all the groups in the reco m m e n d e d amounts. A well nourished person is much more likely to be alert both mentally and physically and to have a happy outlook on life. He is more able to resist infectious diseases than the undernourished person. Proper diet not only makes him a healthy person but also extends the period of his normal activity by many years. Besides the above mentioned nutrients, focus is on dietary fiber in today’s world of nutrition. One may well ask “what is dietary fiber?”
Dietary fiber is that part of the plant which remains undigested by the Human Digestive system. It is commonly termed as roughage, but is quite distinct from crude inedible fiber. Again, how does fiber from diet help? Firstly, the most important role played by fiber, in our diet is to regulate the bowel movements and thereby prevent constipation. Secondly, fiber in the diet may help to reduce the level of blood cholesterol thereby reducing the risk of coronary diseases. Thirdly, when a high fiber diet is consumer the blood glucose level is raised slowly thereby helping diabetic patients.
What are the sources of fiber in our daily diet? Fiber is largely present in vegetables and fruits, and to a smaller extent in cereals, pulses and nuts. It is negligible in foods from animal sources, for example meat, milk cheese and egg.
The fiber content of dhals is always lower than the corresponding wholegram. The extent of dietary fiber in cereals depends largely on the degree to which the cereal is refined or milled. The outer sections (peel) of vegetables and fruits contain more fiber than freshly inner parts.
- by Satyam Bhuyan, Iowa State University,
Ames, Iowa.
- Log in to post comments