STAYING HEALTHY BY MERCY LARYEA

Having a healthy body is the desire of every human but have we ever considered the fact that the way we eat, the time we eat and the non- planning of our diet can affect the body?

The human body needs six major classes of nutrients which are carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oil, vitamins, minerals and water. These nutrients can be divided into two, macro nutrients and micro nutrients.

The macro nutrients which consist of carbohydrates, proteins, water, fats and oil are needed in large quantities by the human body whilst the micro nutrients consisting of vitamins and water are needed in smaller quantities.

The body needs a balancing of these nutrients which is termed balance diet. A balanced diet is a diet which contains all the essential food nutrients in their right proportion and quantity needed by the body to function.

In a balanced diet, carbohydrates which are mostly in starchy foods like yam, cassava and gari to mention but a few should be 55% and its function is to provide energy. Proteins found in foods like eggs, fish, meat should have 20% proportion and its function is to promote body building.

Fats and oil found in butter, chicken fat, mutton fat should have 15% proportion and its function is to provide energy to the body. The other nutrients, which are minerals, vitamins and water, should be 10% and their function is to protect the body from diseases.

Deficiency of these nutrients results in malnutrition, which refers to a condition in organisms where there is insufficient or lack of the essential food nutrients in their right proportion. The body is then exposed to chronic diseases like kwashiorkor, rickets to mention but a few.

Fruits and vegetables can be added to the balanced diet in order to enable the free flow of the bowels.

In order to stay healthy, just eat foods that contain all these nutrients and make sure the diet is balanced. Have a great time.