ESSAY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD DIET - HEALTH TO ALL

In addition to regular exercise, a healthy well balanced diet is essential for good health. Life or rather the quality of life you have is dependent on having good health. A well balanced diet would contain the three main groups of food as well as important vitamins and minerals. The first group of carbohydrates are found in foods such as bread, potatoes and rice. They are essentially energy giving foods, which gives power to the muscles and other tissues in our body. The next class of food is the proteins, which form the solid part in all living cells. They are commonly found in milk, met and fish; and are necessary for the body to build new cells and repair old damaged ones. For this very reason growing children require a greater intake of the different kinds of proteins as compared to adults. Lastly, we have fats which are also energy living foods, but do not give it up as quickly as carbohydrates because their molecular structure is designed to render them ideal as storage foods.

 

As children are much more active than adults they use up more energy for their size and therefore require more energy giving foods such as carbohydrates. To this end fats are unsuitable. Moreover too much of a fatty food intake at an early age may lead to a problem with obesity in later life. In adults, fatty deposits on the walls of the blood vessels in the form of cholesterol may lead to all kinds of heart ailments.

In addition to the foods above the body also needs small quantities of protective substances called vitamins and minerals. They are normally present in a sensible diet. For example, vitamins A and D are found in some fatty foods. Vitamin D is important along with the mineral calcium, found in milk, for the formation of bones. Vitamin B is found in the husks of wheat or rice ad vitamin C in fresh fruits such as oranges and lemons. Important minerals such as potassium, zinc and iron are present in the vegetables. Therefore, it is obvious that a well balanced diet would include all the necessary ingredients necessary for growth and good health.