Physical Health: Importance of Food in the Body

Children below the normal weight are considered underweight.  Children above the normal weight are overweight.  Both underweight and overweight children do not eat the right kind and right amount of food.  This is called malnutrition.

Underweight children are usually thin.  Those who are overweight are stout.  Both are considered malnourished.

Our body needs food to provide us with the nutrients for energy to work and play.  We also need food for growth, and to repair and replace worn out and damaged body parts.  Food helps the cells of our body do their functions and work.

A meal which contains the right amount of food nutrients that our body needs is a balanced diet.  Our body becomes physically healthy when we eat a balanced diet.

Balanced diet includes these three kinds of foods:

1.      Energy-building foods, or carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates are found in starchy or sugary foods, such as bread, rice, pasta, cereal, potatoes, peas, corn, fruit, fruit juice, milk, yogurt, cookies, candy, soda, and other sweets.

2.      Body-building foods or proteins such as whole milk, cheese, meat, poultry, eggs, beans, nuts, and seeds.

3.      Regulating food such as green-leafy vegetables, fruits, vitamins and minerals.

Vitamins and Minerals

Vitamins and minerals are protective foods because they help prevent diseases.

Vitamin A helps promote healthy bones, teeth, eyes, and skin.  It comes from milk, eggs, and green and yellow vegetables.

Vitamin B is found in whole-grain breads and cereals, most vegetables, meat, eggs, and milk.  It helps body cells use energy and oxygen.  It prevents beri-beri.

Vitamin C comes from citrus fruits and vegetables.  It helps keep bones, teeth and gums healthy.  It also helps in healing wounds.  It prevents scurvy, a gum disease.

Vitamin D promotes healthy bones and teeth.  It is found in sunlight, milk, liver, and eggs.  It prevents rickets, a bone disease.

Vitamin E helps remove poison from cells and promotes normal functioning of cell membranes.  Grains, meat, fish, vegetable oil, and margarine are rich in Vitamin E.

Vitamin K is important for blood clotting.  Good sources of this are green-leafy vegetables, tomatoes, and pork.

Calcium from seafood, vegetables, milk, and meat products help build tissues and regulate body fluids.  Calcium is also needed to maintain strong teeth and bones.

Iodine prevents goiter and mental retardation.  Iodized salt is rich with iodine.  Other sources are seaweeds, fish and shell.

Magnesium is another mineral for bone and dental health.  It is found in whole grains, nuts, legumes, and green leafy vegetables.

Water

Water is one of the most important nutrients needed by our body.  It absorbed by our body during digestion.  It is needed to keep our body function well.  It also regulates body temperature.  Water in our body comes from the water and beverages we drink.  We also get water from vegetables, fruits, and soups.

Water comes out of our body in the form of perspiration, urine, and in the moist air we breathe out and the water that comes out on our body should be replaced.

We need to drink at least six to eight glasses of water a day to replace the water that has been used up by our body.

Exercise

Exercise is an activity that uses all the muscles of the body.  It improves the circulation of blood in the body.  It helps make the muscles stronger and firmer.  It helps make the heart and lungs stronger. It also helps burn body fat.  We need at least 30 minutes of exercise daily.

After long hours of exercise or play, our body also needs rest.  Rest provides time for our muscles to gain or build energy.

Sleep is the best form of rest.  We need at least seven to eight hours of sleep daily.

Food, water, exercise and rest are physical needs.  They help our body physically healthy.

Tags: carbohydrates, exercise, food importance in the body, HEALTH, malnutrition, minerals, proteins, rest, vitamins, water

Category: HEALTH, Life Science