Nutrition Facts

It is well said that we eat to live but has anyone thought that what to eat? It is a question that everyone should ask himself to live a healthy and a happy life. Eating anything is not a good habit as it invites diseases and makes us unhealthy. Therefore eating should be related to nutrition.

Now what is ‘Nutrition'? It is defined by different people in different ways. Some say it is the science of food, its factors, the nutrients, the action and reaction and the balance in context to health and disease. This nutritional requirement depends on the age, sex, height, weight, growth rate and the daily activity of the person. Others say it is that area that deals with the role of food in maintaining good health.

But what is good health? You must be wondering that all of us are living and working and enjoying a good health. But it is not so. One who eats may not be healthy. Health means a complete physical, mental, and social well being of a person. It is not only related to a disease free environment. So, nutrition is again related to developing a good state of health. Poor diet and sedentary lifestyle leads to a risky and disease prone environment.

Our food should contain all the nutrients in a balance way. For that you must know the composition of food and their usage. Basically the food consists of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, fibers, water, minerals and vitamins. These are broadly classified into two categories namely macronutrients and micronutrients. Fats, carbohydrates, proteins are the macronutrients while minerals and vitamins are the micronutrients. The macronutrients give energy and produce heat in the body. They are required for growth, maintenance and repair function. Whereas micronutrient are required for the other reasons but not energy giving. You can browse some sites like eguruguide, wikipedia and diethealthclub for getting information about nutrition and the health chart.

Some other phytochemical and antioxidants are also required by the body to maintain ones health. Lack of these in the food may lead to several deficiencies and then the diseases. Like deficiency of macronutrients may lead to diabetes, heat disease, hypertension, weakness, nausea etc. while mineral and vitamin deficiency can cause lack of blood, palpitations, birth defects, improper breathing etc. In such cases a proper diet chart should be maintained and physician should be consulted.

For getting a proper balanced nutrition our body needs fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses, diary, poultry, fish and meat products. A balanced diet should contain all these food groups in proper ratio. The serving size depends upon the factors like age group, body size and gender. All these should be taken alternatively if not daily. For the sports person proteins are required in more quantity whereas children need carbohydrates as well as proteins. As you know that everything in excess or less is bad so are the nutrients also. Malnutrition is caused by the insufficient or excessive or imbalanced consumption of nutrients. Therefore nutrition covers all the healthy and the deficient part of the food.