Health and Healthy Eating

Each year a human being eats above 1 tonne (1000 kg) of food and drinks about 500 litres of liquid! Not all of this will be good for keeping a normal, healthy body. It is important to eat a wide-ranging diet _ one which provides the right balance between:

• Foods that provide energy
• Foods that provide building materials
• Foods that control chemical reactions
• Foods that contain dietary fibre.

Getting the right balance is not always easy. Many people just leave it to chance and eat what they like. However, it is clear that in some countries, people eat extreme excessively fat, sugar and salt. Also, they do not eat sufficient fibre.

Energy Foods                                                 

Fats and sugars are energy foods. Energy is measured in kilojoules. The more kilojoules a food has, the more energy it will provide. If this energy is not consumed, the body store additional energy as fat and the person becomes overweight.

Fibre

Fibre is made up of plant cells which pass through the digestive system without being digested or absorbed. It gives the muscles in the walls of the digestive system something to push on. Food containing a lot of fibre helps avoid constipation and other disorders of digestive system such as haemorrhoids (piles).

Building Material Foods

Most people get enough proteins, vitamins and minerals in their normal diet. Unfortunately, people do eat far too much common salt (sodium chloride), on average about 12 gram per day _ more than twice what they need. Too much salt causes health problems such as high blood pressure, so it is important to reduce the amount used in cooking and at the table salt.

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