Food and Nutrition ESSAYS

 In the third chapter of Shreemat Bhagwat Geeta there is a line 'Anant Bhavati Bhootanee', which means 'the human being is made from food". This is a statement of fact. Everything in your body was once in the food you ate. The single cell from which you were conceived in your mother's womb, to your present size, food has become YOU. This process continues as long as you live. Your brain, muscles, your blood and bones are all made from the food you eat. Food gives you energy and stamina for work. It also gives you emotional stability and security. And don't forget, the right'kind and amount of food gives you the appearance and feeling of radiant good health. This is the result of good nutrition. Scientists are working constantly to increase our knowledge about food and nutrition, and to find ways to apply this knowledge in choosing the right foods, so that our body is well nourished. perhaps you are thinking how can you do this? Follow it carefully and confi...

Convenience foods play a very important role in our lives today. With more and more women going out of the house to work, the time and energy spent in cooking food needs to be decreased substantially. We look for foods called convenience foods which are easy to prepare and do not spoil on storage. Convenience foods are also known as ready-to-eat foods. They are not only convenient to use but can be stored for a long period of time. These foods add variety in the diet as well as improve the quality of food. Many items require only the opening of a package or a can, heating of the contents or simple steps like mixing before serving. A visit to your local market will show you the great variety of such foods which, are available in the grocery shop. Today, the trend is towards packed foods rather than bulky foods. Even simple foods have undergone some processing to make them more convenient to use. For example, milk was earlier available only from the local dairy; now pasteurised milk is a...

We all know that our body needs water for various purposes. We drink water directly as well as in the form of different beverages like tea, juices, milk shakes, etc. Not only do these beverages fulfil our requirement of water but they also perform many other functions. Don’t you feel refreshed after drinking a glass of chilled juice? Don’t you feel less tired after a hot cup of tea? Depending on the changes they bring about in our body, beverages may be classified into three categories : BEVERAGES Stimulating Beverages (Tea & Coffee) Refreshing Beverages (Fruit Juices) Nourishing Beverages (Milk Shake) Stimulating beverages are those which stimulate the nervous system. They make us feel more active and alert. Tea and coffee contain certain stimulants like theine and caffeine. Refreshing beverages like fruit and vegetable juices instil a feeling of freshness. Nourishing beverages are those which provide certain nutrients to our body.  Most milk based beverages like milk shakes, ...

By now you have studied the various kinds of foods and their use in our daily diet. You have also learnt how these foods can be made into many different preparations. But, do you think you would enjoy cereal, pulse, vegetable, meat and egg preparations if salt and spices were not added to them? Surely, you would not. If the food is not tasty, it is not liked and not accepted even though it may be very nutritious and well cooked. Spices and condiments are substances which give taste, flavour and colour to the food, thus making it attractive and acceptable. Spices are also important to promote appetite as they stimulate the secretion of digestive juices in our body. Some of them are rich in minerals, especially iron, and some are a good source of B-complex vitamins. But their nutritional contribution in the diet is not of importance because they are consumed in small quantities. We should not consume spices in excessive amounts as this can cause irritation and lead to problems like acidi...

You might have eaten some delicious apples of Kashmir, lichis of Dehradun, Langra and Dussehri mangoes of U.P. and oranges of Nagpur. Our country has in addition to the above a variety of fruits like apricots, grapes, pineapples, peaches, strawberries, plums, pears, guavas, papayas, banana, jack fruit and melons. Let us now see what fruits are. Fruits are the seed bearing parts of the plants consisting of edible tissue surrounding the seeds. The edible part is juicy, pulpy, fleshy, sweet or sweet-sour in taste. Most fruits have a ripened seed or seeds enclosed in them. Unlike vegetables most fruits can be eaten with minimum nutrient losses. Fruits are a great gift of nature to mankind. They are delicious, nutritious, ready-to eat foods. They have a nice flavour and texture. Fresh fruits have an attractive colour. Think, for example, about the colour of ripe yellow mangoes or rosy red apples. Children may sometimes be averse to milk and other nutritious foods. But they relish fruits ver...

 Spinach, cauliflower, carrot, potato, tomato, bhindi, french beans and other vegetables are all known to us. Are you aware of the fact that vegetables are important for us, that they improve our eye-sight, make our skin soft and protect us from many diseases? They are the most in expensive protective foods one can buy. Get our tendency is to neglect to use them daily in our diet. Vegetables many give variety to our diet. They make our meals more colourful, tasty and easily digestible. In spite of these benefits we consume very few vegetables. This is probably because we are not aware of the many benefits we can get from these vegetables. The knowledge about vegetables is very important for our health. We should know which ones are best suited for us. We must also know how best to buy, store and cook them. Vegetables are important to us as a source of essential nutrients like minerals and Vitamins. These help to keep the body healthy. Vegetables contribute variety, colour, flavour ...

As we have read earlier, eggs and flesh foods like meat, fish, etc. are very good sources of protein and belong to basic food group. Therefore they form an important part of the diet. These foods are required for body-building and are particularly important during periods of growth like childhood, adolescence and pregnancy. These foods are very expensive and it may not be possible for you to consume them in large amounts. However, we must try and include some of these foods in our daily diet unless one is a strict vegetarian. As presented earlier, eggs are a very important part of our diet, since they are a good source of protein, iron, vitamin A and other B-complex vitamins. While purchasing eggs a few simple tests may help us determine their freshness. Eggs are easy to use in our daily meals and a number of preparations like omelettes, custards, etc. can be made at home. Flesh foods are the meat of various animals, birds and fish. These are rich in protein, iron and B-complex vitamin...

Did you drink milk as such or take it in coffee or tea this morning? Our elders tell us that it is good for our health. Well, they are right. Milk contains almost all the nutrients as you have read in previous classes. These are: proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. You may have realised already that milk is the first food for the young ones of most of the animal species including man. You will be surprised to know that mother’s milk alone is able to meet the baby’s nutritive needs for the first few months of its life. No amount of commercial milk food can replace mother’s milk. Milk can be obtained from different animals for our consumption, the most common ones being the cow, buffalo and goat. It is not necessary to take milk as it is. There are a number of other preparations made from milk which you must be commonly consuming such as curds, paneer, cheese and khoya, etc. Milk is a very nutritious food and is suitable for every age group—the young and the old alike. ...

Pulses are an essential constituent of the Indian diet. All of us include some form of pulse in our diet. Rajmah, chana, besan, moong, arhar are all examples of frequently eaten pulses. Besides being good sources of proteins they are also rich in minerals and vitamins. Nuts and oilseeds are also very nutritious. We may not be eating them in very large amounts due to the high cost of these food items. However, groundnuts are commonly consumed and provide certain nutrients to our body. Pulses are a very important part of our diet. They provide protein, iron and certain vitamins. Since a number of pulses are available and they can be cooked in several different ways, it is easy to consume sufficient amounts of these foods in our diet. Nuts and oilseeds are also important because of their rich nutrient content. They are relatively expensive and therefore difficult to include in the diet. However, a variety of ways are suggested to include these in our diet.

 You would have enjoyed eating sweet preparations like burfi, gulabjamuns, rasgullas, ice-creams. These sweets and desserts form an important part of any feast or social functions like birthdays or marriages. All these preparations have sugar as an ingredient. Your tea, coffee, soft drinks and other beverages, also contain sugar. The main sweetening agent all over the world is sugar. This is made from sugarcane or sugarbeets. In our country sugarcane is used for making sugar, while in European countries, especially West Germany, sugar beets are used. Which ever source is used for the production of sugar, the product obtained is the same. Our country is one of the largest producers of sugar. Sugar is produced from sugarcane in the factories. In brief the process of making sugar is: the sugarcane is crushed. The juice so obtained has some impurities. It is then refined and concentrated to form sugar crystals. In our villages even now a large quantity of sugarcane is used to produce j...

We have already  read about different foodstuffs like cereals, pulses, vegetables, meat, eggs, etc. To make these foods into a variety of appetising and tasty preparations like vegetable curries, cutlets, pakoras, samosas, mathris, puris, halwas, etc., we need fats and oils. We use fats and oils for cooking and frying, and to give richness and flavour to our food. They are also an important concentrated source of energy and some essential nutrients. A number of fats and oils are available in the market. They are extracted from their natural sources and then refined. Some are more expensive than the others. Here we will discuss the various fats and oils commonly used in different part of our country. Fats and oils make our food rich in texture and taste. They also give food a good flavour and are a rich source of energy and some important vitamins. Different types of fats and oils like ghee, butter, vanaspati and vegetable oils are commonly used for cooking and frying of food. It is...

We have studied the functions and composition of food and its classification into various food groups. We will now learn about the nutritive value of various foods, their selection and use in our day-to-day meals to add to our understanding of foods. As we all know, chapatis, puris, paranthas, bread, rice, idli, dosa are some of the food items that we consume daily. These are made from cereals which are an important part of our diet. You may already know that cereals and millets are seeds of the grass family. The main cereal grains used as food are rice, jowar, bajra, barley, maize, ragi and kodri. We also use them to make flour, bread, breakfast foods, extruded products and various kinds of starches. Cereals form the bulk of our diets because:  they are a source of energy and other important nutrients to the body,  their cost of production is low and so they are not expensive,  they have a bland, mild taste which is acceptable to young and old people alike,  these combine well wit...

We preserve and store foods when they are produced and available in plenty so that we can use them when they are not in season, are less easily available and therefore expensive. We must have noticed that there is hardly any food that does not spoil over a period of time. Delay in the use of fresh foods alters the freshness, taste and nutritive value of these foods. Thus, they become less desirable and ultimately unfit for consumption. Depending upon the perishability, the foods can be divided into three categories: i) Non-perishable foods do not spoil easily and can be stored under proper conditions for several months e.g. whole cereals, pulses, oilseeds, etc. ii) Semi-perishable foods can be kept for about a week to a month’s time e.g. flours, roasted oilseeds, biscuits, potatoes, onions, etc. iii) Perishable foods cannot be kept for more than a day or two without affecting their quality e.g. milk and milk products, eggs, meat, fish, vegetables, etc. Depending on their degree of peri...

We know about the various functions of food, food consumption and basic food groups. We have also learnt earlier how to choose the right kind of food and prepare it using a variety of methods to ensure retention of texture taste and nutrients. Are we, however, aware that we have to do a number of additional things before we really consume the food? We go to the market, select and buy proper food, and perhaps store it for some time before we cook and eat it. At each stage the chances of food getting contaminated is very high. Therefore, if we wish to derive the maximum benefit from the money spent on food, we must take precautions in handling, cooking and serving of food so that it is safe to eat. We shall now learn about what steps we can take to ensure that the food we eat is safe and free from infections. Food is an ideal medium through which infections can be transmitted. This can happen directly through the contaminated fruits, vegetables, milk and water or indirectly through conta...

We have learnt what food is, why we eat it and how important it is for our health and well-being. We have also read that food provides us with the essential nutrients required by our body. Most of the foods like cereals, pulses, vegetables, meat, etc., have to be cooked before eating. Cooking makes them tasty, colourful, attractive and easily digestible. However, if proper care is not taken during cooking, certain nutrients may be destroyed even though food may be tasty, colourful and attractive to eat. It is, therefore, important to take care that the nutrients do not get destroyed while cooking the food. Only then would they be of nutritional benefit to us. We are going to see what are the methods of preparing, cooking and combining foods so that they are nutritious and attractive, as well as tasty.  Most foods require some kind of preparation and cooking before they are consumed. This is because: i) Most foods cannot be eaten as such in a raw state, and require to be washed, pre...

India, as you are probably aware, has an economy based mainly on agriculture. Though there has been a considerable increase in the production of food grains over the past several-decades, the concomitant increase in population has offset the balance. The nutritional status of the population is a reflection of their food consumption patterns. Thus, before making any attempt to improve the nutritional status of our people, it is essential to know how healthy our meal patterns are. A variety of cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables as also flesh foods like meat, fish, egg and poultry are available in India. Cereals are the staple food supplemented by pulses, milk and its products, seasonal fruits and vegetables. The diets of nonvegetarians, include cereals and pulses besides the flesh foods. If sufficient food from all the basic food groups is consumed, the vegetarian diets will not only be nutritionally adequate but also suitable for highly active individuals like athletes, runners, bic...

We know that food is necessary for life. If we do not eat adequate food, our body will not function properly and we will become prone to diseases. We have also read that we must eat a mixed diet, that is a combination of all types of food. We have studied the different food groups and the foods included in each group. In order to remain healthy, it is essential to consume foods from each group. The concept of food groups helps us decide which food-stuff to include in our diet. This helps to have variety in our diet and also take into account non-availability of certain foods. For example, in winter it may not be possible to eat mangoes as a source of vitamin A. However, a suitable alternative would be carrots. Therefore, it is not only necessary to know the types of food to eat but also to choose the right food. Besides the nutrient content, we have other factors which would help us choose the right food. Let’s choose the right food  * Seasonal foods * Locally available foods * Ine...

We know about the various nutrients present in food and the importance of consuming them in adequate amounts in our diet. If our diet is lacking in any of these nutrients, symptoms of different deficiency diseases are seen. Since the different nutrients are present in a variety of foods, it is important to include various foods in our diet. Only then would our diet be a balanced one. A balanced diet should contain all nutrients in sufficient amounts to meet our body’s requirements as well as provide a little extra for any emergency like an illness. It is easier to select a balances diet if these foods nutrients are divided into some categories. These categories are called food groups. There are various ways of dividing food into various groups. One of the simplest ways is on the basis of functions.  We get the various nutrients needed by our body from a variety of foods. The foods have been classified into three groups depending on their functions and nutrient content. They are bod...

We know that all nutrients are placed in two subgroups: micronutrients and macronutrients. We will now discuss about micronutrients. The dictionary meaning of word micro is minute or small, but here it means that even though they are essential for the body, their requirement is very small. There are two categories of micronutrients---vitamins and minerals. Here we will be discussing the sources, functions and the effect of the deficiency of these nutrients on the body (if these nutrients are not present in adequate amounts in our diet). The micronutrients present in foods are vitamins and minerals. The vitamins are classified into fat-soluble and water-soluble. The fat-soluble vitamins are vitamins A,D,E and K, while the water soluble ones are vitamins of the B-complex group and vitamin C. They are important in our body for regulating various body processes and they help in normal growth and development. Amongst the minerals, calcium, iron and iodine are important for various functions...

We know that carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and water are the nutrients present in the food. But these nutrients are not present in the same amount in various foods. Some of these are present in larger amounts and others in smaller amounts. All these nutrients are important as they have varied functions in the body. Here we are discussing about definitions of macronutrient  and micronutrient, and the functions and sources of Macronutrients. We know that food contains various nutrients which have very specific functions to perform. Macronutrients are present in larger amounts in food while micronutrients are present in smaller amounts. Carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water are macronutrients. Carbohydrates mainly provide energy and form the bulk of the diet. They are found in cereals, roots and tubers, sugar, jaggery, fruits, etc. Fats are concentrated sources of energy and are present in our diet in the form of ghee, vanaspati and oils, nuts and oilseeds, milk ...

We know the definitions of food, nutrient and nutrition. We would have realised that one of the important functions of food is to provide various nutrients for meeting the physiological requirement of body. However, food is much more than just a carrier of nutrients. It has several functions.  Food is very important for us. It not only satisfies our apparent need of hunger but also provides us all the nutrients to maintain our life and help in the growth of our body. It also gives us protection against different diseases and infections and gives us psychological satisfaction. Besides, food helps us in making our social contacts and strengthening relationships. We can thus say that food is of utmost importance for all of us.

Food in an integral part of our lives. We cannot live without food for more than a few days. Our body needs certain substances called nutrients, which are essential for its proper functioning and for maintaining a healthy nutritional status. The only source of obtaining these nutrients is food which we eat. Food comprises a variety of edible substances but we have to make a wise selection to get proper nourishment for our body. We have seen that food plays a very important part in our life. Various foods that we eat are utilised by our body through a number of processes like ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport and metabolism. A combination of all these processes by which the ingested food is utilised by our body is called nutrition and the state of nutrition of our body is called nutritional status. Food that we eat is made up of nutrients which include water, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins and they are required by the body in specific amounts depending up...