The true science of eating should be thoroughly understood by all - what elements the system requires in order to build and repair, how best to supply them, and how to prepare them in the appetizing manner without destroying their life-giving properties.
The human body is finely constructed machine and transforms
the food supplied to it into energy. As the auto-mobile burns gasoline, the
human body burns food. All the parts on every machine are constantly wearing and
require renewal; just so, the body must have proper food to build new tissues
and to repair worn-out ones.
The best way to obtain the nutrients that are needed by your
body is from natural foods the way nature prepared them, and not from pills.
Nearly 40 percent of people over the age of 16 regularly take some form of
dietary supplement.
God in his infinite wisdom neglected nothing, and if we
would eat our food without trying to improve, change, or refine it, thereby
destroying its life-giving properties, it would meet all the requirement of the
body.
Several recent surveys that included thousands of families
revealed several potential or real areas of nutritional deficiency. The
vitamins that tended to be low were vitamin A, B6 (pyridoxine), and
C. The minerals that were often deficient were iron, calcium, and magnesium.
In order to insure the proper function of the nearly
limitless and complicated reactions that are necessary for our body’s optimum
health, good nutrition is absolutely essential. This means not only supplying
the body with a sufficient amount of food, but just as important is eating the
right kinds of food and eating them in the proper proportions. Strangely
enough, many overweight persons, although they look well fed, are not getting
the proper kind of nourishment.
In all the food we eat, whether it comes from plants or
secondhand from animals, there are roughly 50 different nutrients - substances
necessary for life and growth. These nutrients can be conveniently arranged
into six basic groups, as follows:
Basic Nutrients
Carbohydrates: Foods rich in carbohydrates
These foods also furnish energy and fuel. Malt sugar, malt, honey, ripe fruit, starchy
vegetables (such as potatoes), cereals, refined white sugar (Sugar removes
minerals salts as well as vitamin B from the body and should not be eaten.)
Fats: Foods rich in fat
These foods are used mainly for furnishing fuel and energy.
Butter, cream, egg, yolk, milk, cheese, cereal, ripe olives, olive oil,
vegetable oils, all nuts, and avocados. Choose a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat.See Cholesterol: fundamental for life. How to eat diet low in saturated fat.
Proteins: Foods rich in protein
These foods repair and build tissue. Peas, beans, nuts,
lentils, milk, eggs, cereals, cow peas (black-eyed peas), soybeans, peanuts,
and nut preparations.
Minerals
Vitamins
Water
Although protein is one of the three energy producers, the
body is best suited to obtain its energy supply from carbohydrates, with fat as
its second choice. Protein is used by the body as a source of energy only when
there is more of it present than is necessary for normal growth and the repair
of tissues, or when there is not enough carbohydrate and fat to meet the body’s
energy demand. Protein foods are the most costly way to obtain energy, while
carbohydrates are the least expensive.
These three energy-producing constituents of food, plus
water, are needed by our bodies in large amounts, and all are present in
various amounts in nearly all the food we eat. Vitamins and minerals, on the
other hand, though also essential for the maintenance of food health, are
needed only in comparatively very small amounts.
Various Food Nutrients and Their Use in the Body
Prenatal Nutrition
