Food and Nutrition ESSAYS

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. ...

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 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 ...

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...