Nutritious Food
Presented by :- Dr janak Palta
The Importance of Nutritious Food
We all eat and drink daily because we want to live. It is necessary to know that we will live the way we eat. If we take care of our food, we will remain healthy. We risk our health by eating unhealthy food just because we like it. We will frequently suffer from illnesses such as stomach pain, headache, weakness, dehydration, and jaundice. We should understand that God has bestowed upon us the power of reasoning and knowledge to understand that life is valuable, and we should not waste it with unhealthy eating habits. We should always remember:
“The bounty of good health is the greatest of all gifts.”
Good health is the most important thing we could have in the material world.
Our soul resides in our body. This means that our body is like a vehicle and our soul is its passenger. If the vehicle is weak the passenger cannot depend on it. Our soul cannot be healthy if our body is not healthy. We all need food, but some of us need more food than others. This depends on a person’s age, gender, height, weight, growth rate and activity. Good food is needed for a person to grow and develop well, work hard and stay healthy. Many illnesses arise due to the intake of less food than the body needs. According to the Bhagwad Geeta our thoughts and actions are influenced by our food. Therefore, we should always eat healthy food.
The Meaning of Nutrition
Nutritious food is food that has all the necessary nutrients. Our body functions with food in the same way as a vehicle functions with petrol or diesel. From nutritious food we get all the energy we need during childhood for activities such as running, studying, and playing and during adulthood we need energy for activities such as hard work, producing children, dancing, singing and any physical activity. Nutritious food helps our body and mind to develop properly.
Our body is like a sewing machine. If we do not oil a sewing machine it won’t work properly and it may get rusted causing a tear in our cloth. Food works in our body as oil works in a sewing machine. Food is the fuel that keeps us healthy and gives us energy. Food helps to keep all the parts of our body healthy. In order to have strength it is necessary to have good food.
It is very important to know that nutritious food is not expensive and is easily available because we grow green leafy vegetables, grains, lentils, fruits in our fields and we get milk and butter from cows and buffaloes. Sugar and jaggery also contain nutritious elements that are easily available.
Food Groups
To be healthy and strong, our bodies need a balance of different nutritious foods every day. The food we eat satisfies many of our needs. First, it provides enough energy to keep us active and strong. It also helps to build, repair and protect the different parts of our bodies. To do all this we need to eat a combination of food that contains all these elements on a daily basis.
Nutritious food has been divided into the following three ‘food-groups’:
- Food that gives us energy (main food)
Food that provides energy to the body includes fats and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy. They give taste to our meals and provide fibre to aid digestion. Fats and sugars also give energy to our body. These are known as high energy foods and should be added to carbohydrates, especially for children. We can get fats from clarified butter, oil, butter, soybean, kaachra, cucumber and vegetables that are grown under ground.
- Food for growth and development (proteins)
Proteins are bodybuilding foods. They are necessary for proper physical and mental growth. Proteins make a person’s muscles strong and their brain healthy. They protect the body and help fight diseases. To grow strong and healthy everyone should eat enough proteins every day.
- Protective foods
Foods that prevent illnesses and diseases are foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals. Vitamins are protective foods that help our body to work properly. Minerals are needed for maintaining healthy blood, bones and teeth.
3 a) Vitamins
Vitamins are necessary for our growth, vitality and general well being. There are five types of vitamins: A, B, C, D and E. All these vitamins have different roles and are found in different foods.
- Vitamin A: Vitamin A keeps eyes and skin healthy, improves eyesight, and promotes the growth of strong bones, hair, teeth and gums. It prevents from diseases and infections.
The best natural sources are:
-drumsticks
-carrots
-milk, cream, curd, butter, ghee,
-green leafy vegetables
-pumpkin
-mango
-papaya
-eggs
- Vitamin B: Vitamin B aids digestion, increases appetite, improves eyesight and promotes body growth.
The best natural sources are:
-Groundnuts
-soybean
-lentils
-milk
-eggs
-green leafy vegetables
-pumpkin
-banana
- Vitamin C: Vitamin C keep gums healthy, improves the immune system, heals wounds and burns, and accelerates healing after surgery.
The best natural sources are:
-Citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruit and lemon,
-tomato
-potato
-mango
-spinach
-fenugreek
-cauliflower
-papaya
-strawberries
- Vitamin D: Vitamin D aids strong bones and teeth.
The best natural sources are:
-Sunlight
-butter
-fats/oils
-egg
-fishes liver oil
-milk and dairy products
-groundnut
-sesame
- Vitamin E: Vitamin E assists in producing red blood cells and protects the blood. It is necessary for the development of the baby while pregnant and prevents miscarriage. Without vitamin E, women cannot conceive. It also makes muscles strong.
The best natural sources are:
-Leafy greens
-spinach
-whole wheat
-eggs
-milk
-butter.
3 b) Minerals
- Calcium: Calcium helps our bones and teeth to stay strong. It keeps our heartbeat regular and prevents white spots on nails and skin.
The best natural sources are:
-Milk and dairy products such as cheese and butter
-green leafy vegetables
-pumpkin
-lentils
-beans
-soybeans
-groundnut
-meat/fish
- Iron: Iron cures and prevents iron deficiency and anaemia, helps growth, improves skin tone and reduces fatigue (tiredness). Iron and calcium deficiencies are very common in women because of the blood lost during menstrual bleeding.
The best natural sources are:
-Spinach
-beet root
-sesame
-groundnut
-soybean
-beans
-eggs
-meat/fish
The Right Method of Cooking Food
If we cook foods in the right way we will generally stay healthier and therefore may need less medication. While cooking food we should always remember not to loose its nutritional value. We get nutrients from vegetables, lentils, grains and fruits. Therefore, it is necessary that we cook fresh and clean foods. Food should also be cooked by covering it with a lid, so that its nutritional value remains. We should always wash vegetables before peeling and cutting them. If we wash vegetables after peeling and cutting, the nutrition value will be washed away with the water. This will remove all the food’s nutrients.
Nutritious Food for Healthy Living
Health and Nutrition
The progress of a nation, city or village is measured by the health and happiness of its people. A person can stay healthy only when they get nutritious food. Thus, we can say that nutritious food is essential for everyone. Everyone should eat according to one’s age. For instance, as a child grows, their eating habits change and so their dietary intake must be slowly and steadily increased. Similarly, adolescent girls need nutritious food and pregnant women need more dietary intake than normal, so they must take care of their diet. Pregnant women should especially care for their diet because if they eat food rich in nutrients, they will remain healthy and will have strong babies.
Points to be Remember While Eating Food
In our country it is customary that women first feed their husbands, in-laws and other male members of the family and then eat whatever is left. Female members of the family eat morning leftovers in the evening, and those of the evening the following morning. Even during their pregnancy and after the delivery, they continue eating stale and leftover food. When their children grow older the mother gives food first to her children and then eats herself. When there is less food available, she serves her husband, children and other members of the family and only if there is some food left she eats. Otherwise she remains hungry. Because of this, she becomes weak and malnourished. The loving and caring nature of mothers is praiseworthy but it is very important to understand that she can only care for her family when she is healthy.
Generally people think that food is to satisfy our hunger, so they eat whatever food is prepared in whatever way it is prepared. We shouldn’t eat anything just for the sake of its taste without paying any attention to its quality. Any food we eat can satisfy hunger but it doesn’t necessarily provide the required nutrients.
The Nutritional Requirements of Children
India is one amongst those countries with the highest child mortality rate. Below the age of 5, half of the children die because they are underweight. Growing children are mostly in need of nutritious food. Children should be given nutritious food from the beginning, so that they will remain healthy ever after. They should be given every type of food group so that they do not develop a dislike of any particular food.
The effects of malnutrition or under nutrition:
If a child does not get proper nutritious food, they will not develop properly. They may be underweight, be slow in walking, talking, and thinking, get depressed, lack strength, develop a potbelly, have thin legs and hands. They will often suffer from common diseases such as fever and cold, which may worsen leading to the death of the child.
In case of severe malnutrition, the child will get swelling in different parts of the body, lose hair, lose the colour of their skin, suffer from dryness of the eyes, suffer from night blindness or general blindness and weak eyesight, get pneumonia or cholera.
Nutrition for Girls and Women of 12 to 20
In India, 37 out of 100 women are weak. The main reason for this is malnutrition. Malnutrition has a greater impact on the health of women than men, because women need more nutrients. It is important for women to be healthy as they are the ones who menstruate, get pregnant and breast-feed babies. Girls undergo many physical changes from 12-18 and so they need a diet rich in nutritious food during this period. It is essential to care especially for girls from 15 to 25 years old, in preparation for having a healthy baby. During menstruation, it is especially important for women to eat food rich in vitamins and minerals.
Adolescent girls need extra nutrition because with lack of proper nutrition, girls will develop as weak mothers and may deliver weak babies. These babies may remain weak throughout their lives. During adolescence, a girl must be given cereals, lentils, milk, green leafy vegetables, sugar or jaggery, ghee or oil, seasonal fruits, etc. They could also be given eggs, meat, or fish. They must eat tomato, kaachara, and amla in good quantities and also include sprouts in their diet.
In India, people admonish girls to avoid eating certain foods, for example, hot or cold foods, as they are thought to be harmful for them during their menstruation. These are taboos that shouldn’t be practiced, as they don’t have any logical reasoning behind them. On the contrary, during menstruation, women need extra nutrients as they lose blood every month, which can be restored only through foods rich in iron.
Diet During Pregnancy
A pregnant woman should increase the quality and quantity of food intake as her baby develops. She should put aside her likes and dislikes of food and eat everything that is healthy. She should eat energizing food such as purified butter, oil, rice, lentils, green vegetables such as spinach, fenugreek, radish, and drumstick. She should eat additional energy giving foods such as banana, porridge, milk, and groundnut.
There are numerous myths regarding pregnancy. For instance, people believe that if a woman eats a lot her baby will be suppressed within the womb and her belly will get bigger, or if a pregnant woman eats milk, ghee, groundnut or sesame, her baby will get stuck in the womb. None of this is true. On the contrary, women should eat a lot more and gain about 10-12 kg of weight to nourish the baby while they are pregnant. In addition, purified butter, groundnut and milk are very nutritious for her and her baby.
Pregnancy is the time when a baby forms inside the mother’s womb. To grow and develop normally the baby depends entirely on the nutrition it gets from the mother. If the mother does not eat enough food during pregnancy, the baby is born weak and small. Small and weak babies are more likely to get sick and die than babies of normal size. The baby’s physical and mental growth may be hampered, she may develop a loss of appetite and may gradually become incapable of digesting nutritious food.
The Importance of Iodine
Iodine
Iodine is a compound that is essential for our body. Today much emphasis is given on eating iodized salt. People who don’t take sufficient iodine in their meals suffer with many problems such as goitre, which is explained below. Just as the function of the eye is to see and that of the nose is to breathe, similarly our body has a gland called the ‘thyroid’ whose function is related to the brain. This gland needs iodine to function properly. That is why when iodine is deficient in our body we may develop goitre.
Goitre (Rasla)
When our body gets too little or no iodine at all the thyroid gland enlarges resulting in a swelling of the neck. This is called goitre. A trained doctor can diagnose it. This disease can affect anyone, both children and adults. At the beginning, the disease is not seen from outside but later when the size of the gland increases it can be seen clearly. The patient will have problems swallowing and feel weak and lethargic. They have less capacity to work compared to other people.
Some Important Information on Iodine
Iodine is present in the upper layer of soil. When grains, vegetables or fruits are grown in this soil iodine gets mixed with them and so, when we eat them, iodine gets into our body.
Jungles are disappearing due to deforestation, which results in the erosion of the upper layer of soil during heavy rainfall, eventually eroding iodine from the soil. When grains, vegetables or fruits are grown in this soil they also lack iodine. People who eat this food are more likely to have a deficiency of iodine. Often, vegetables grown during the rainy season are also deficient in iodine.
In order to make up for this deficiency, we should eat iodized salt. Iodine should be present in both salt and rock salt. However, if rock salt is left open its iodine will evaporate in the air and water. Hence, always use iodized salt, that is, either packed rock salt or common salt.
Normally everybody should eat iodized salt, but it is quite important for the following people to eat iodized salt:
- Those whose family, village, or nearby villages have goitre.
- Those living in hilly areas, where iodine flows away during the rains.
Those living in areas of heavy rain.
The Importance of Iodine
Iodine is necessary in order for the thyroid gland, present in our throat, to work effectively. A deficiency of iodine can cause many diseases, some of which are given here:
S. No.Name of the diseaseSymptom of the disease
1GoitreSwelling on the neck
2DeafnessInability to hear
3DumbnessInability to speak
4SquintsBoth the irises of the eye remain in different directions
5DwarfShort height