Nutrition And The Importance Of Food

Hello steemians 👋. I would like to talk about food and nutrition.

I designed this image on Snappa.

Nutrition is one of the life processes that involves feeding to sustain good health. All living things need to feed or eat in order to stay healthy and promote other life processes. Humans, plants and animals all need to feed.

However, in today’s edition I would focus on nutrition in humans.

Food is anything we take in to supplement our body with important nutrients to help the body perform its functions. Food can be anything ranging from liquids like water to solids like bread.

Foods can be classified into body building foods, repair foods, energy giving foods and protective foods.

Body building foods are foods that give the body nutrients to build body muscles and body tissues. Some of these are eggs, beans, meat, milk, groundnuts, etc.

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The energy giving foods are foods that give the body nutrients to provide energy for work. These foods help the body move about and also maintain body temperature. Some of these foods are grains, margarine, oils, etc.

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Protection providing foods or better put protective foods are the foods that provide the body nutrients to help protect the fight diseases and protect it from contracting diseases.

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Protective foods are fruits and vegetables that mostly provide the body with vitamins. Some of these foods are oranges, bananas, cabbages, carrots, melons, apples, cocumbers, etc.

Importance of food.

• Foods help the body fight against diseases.

• Foods help the body generate energy.

• Food helps the body grow.

• Food helps the body build strong bones and muscles.

• Food helps the body get rid of hunger.

I’ve made mention of the word nutrients a lot and I think it’s best I say something brief about it.

Nutrients are materials or substances supplied to the body from digested foods that help the body perform its functions.

Nutrients are derived from foods and so like foods they perform three main functions; to provide energy, build the body and repair tissues and cells as well as regulate the body processes and protect it from harmful substances.

Carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins, minerals are some nutrients found in food.

Proteins are nutrients responsible for repairing and maintaining body cells. Proteins are either first class or second class. First class proteins are the more important proteins called animal proteins and second class are plant proteins. However both proteins are important for human growth.

Proteins help the body repair worn out tissues and help the body maintain growth. Lack of proteins in the body can result in a disease known as kwashiorkor. Kwashiorkor

Carbohydrates are nutrients responsible for energy production. Carbohydrates are sugars and starch produced by plants during photosynthesis.
Carbohydrates are also vitamins which help the body in metabolism and also help in body growth.

Lack of vitamins in our body leads to diseases like night blindness, week bones, anaemina, loss of apetite, haemorrhage, poor growth, skin disorders, headaches, diarrhoea, fatigue, hair loss, inability to heal from wounds, among others.

Minerals are nutrients needed by the body to help proteins, carbohydrates , fats and oil in their functions. Minerals help the body function well. Minerals include calcium, iron, potassium, iron, magnesium, among others.

Lack of minerals in the body can cause goiter, fatigue, anaemia, rickets, weakness, etc.

All of the above and many more are reasons we should eat well and take our health seriously.

Thank you.

Reference: Some information obtained from the hard copy of “A Basic Design and Technology for Junior High Schools by Frank F. Aidoo, Theophilus Ashitey, Philip K.Incoom, Emmanuel M.Ofori, Walker”.