Food and Food Acceptance

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 upon age, sex, activity, climate, etc. What we eat is governed by our socio-cultural environment, educational level and economic conditions. All foods are not acceptable to everyone. There are individual variations in acceptance or refusal of food. The basic factors determining the acceptance of food are physiological ones which include hunger and sensations produced by food; and social and psychological factors which include role of culture, social values, religious and moral values, age and sex and also the emotional outlet or security provided by food.

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