Food For Health And Fitness

Health is not mere absence of disease or infirmity but a state of complete physical, mental and social well being. An optimal amount of balanced diet is essential for individuals of all age groups. Environmental factors do influence our dietary requirements. Food is essential to build up the body to make it fit for wear and tear and cope with environmental conditions and infectious agents. Food acts as fuel for the production of heat and energy in our body. Our nutritional requirements include adequate proportions of protein, carbohydrates, fat, water, minerals and vitamins.

Daily requirement of an adult is in the range of 60 to 80 grams of protein, 300 to 400 grams of carbohydrates (starches and sugars), 70 to 100 grams of fat, 3-5 grams of salt and minerals and some milligrams/units of vitamins. Vitamins are an integral part of some food stuffs. Proteins are of two types. Animal proteins are rich in essential amino-acids, but plant proteins lack certain essential amino-acids. There are 8 essential amino-acids and a complete protein food should contain at least 5 of them. We require a mixed diet that is a diet consisting of foodstuffs derived from animals and plants as no single article of food contains all the essential proportions of diet materials cited above. Milk and cheese are rich source of casein, a protein. Eggs and meat are rich source of essential amino-acids containing proteins. Other sources of proteins are Soya beans, pulses and agar-agar. Water constitutes 80 to 85 per cent of our daily diet intake. Fruits and vegetables are rich source of carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. Vegetable oils are source of fat with unsaturated fatty acids. Different foodstuffs have different heat generating value that is Caloric value. One gram of protein has a heat value of 4 Calories, 1 gram of carbohydrate also has 4 Calories and 1 gram of fat has a heat value of 9 Calories. The Caloric value of a balanced diet for an adult male per day should be 2500 to 3000 Calories. A woman needs about 2200 Calories daily for good health and fitness.