Food, nutrition and nutritional values
This condensed food/nutrition guide lists the materials we need for fuel to provide the energy for all our activities, from blinking an eyelid to lifting a suitcase or reading a book.
The higher your energy level, the more
efficient your body. The more efficient your
body, the better you feel and the more you will
use your talent to produce outstanding results.
(Anthony Robbins)
Nutrients in foods:
- Carbohydrates: Rapidly available fuel (immediate in the case of glucose). Cheap and easily digested. Small spare supply stored in the liver as glycogen, other surplus stored as body fat.
Sources: sugar, flour and cereal products, root vegetables, bananas.
- Proteins: Slowly available fuel, also building and repair material. Proteins stimulate the bodily processes and increase the rate of chemical combustion of the foods, making us feel warmer.
Sources: First class (complete) proteins, containing all materials needed for tissue repair: milk, meat, eggs, poultry, fish, cheese.
Second class (incomplete) proteins: vegetables, cereals, nuts, gelatin.
- Fats: Provide energy and they are a very concentrated form of nourishment with more than twice the fuel value of carbohydrates or proteins. Since fat is digested slowly, a fatty meal is more sustaining and satisfying than a protein and carbohydrate one. Also important are the bearers of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Surplus fat is stored as fat. Fat is available from the following sources:
| Animal |
Vegetable |
| Cream |
Margarine
| | Butter |
Vegetable oils |
| Lard |
(corn, cotton-seed, |
| Meat and ham fat |
olive, etc.) |
| Egg yolk |
Nuts |
| Milk |
Avocado |
- Minerals: The only three we need consider are:
Iron: the lack of it causes anaemia. Sources: sardines, chocolate, egg yolk, liver, bread, green vegetables, porridge, prunes.
Calcium: needed for bones, teeth, and breast feeding.. Sources: Milk, cheese, green vegetables, fish, nuts, figs.
Iodine: needed for the thyroid gland. Iodized salt is required in some districts where there is a lack in the drinking water. Fish is a natural source.
- Water: Comprises around two thirds of the body weight, mostly from food and beverages. Extra needed in fever, breast feeding, constipation, hot weather, and urinary infections
- Fibre: Passes through as unchanged but is necessary for normal stimulation of the gut. Sources: cellulose of fruits and vegetables, bran of cereals.
- Vitamins: The word means "life-giving" and these substances, normally eaten in very small quantities, are essential for the regulation of the body processes.
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