Tastymony THE FOOD INSPECTOR’S
Illustrations by Adrianus Febryan
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All humans like to eat. There are so many delicious foods we can eat in this world. Food is one of the most important thing in our life. But not many know exactly about the food that they eat. Food is more than something that we need whenever we are hungry. Food is the source of nutrients that are needed by our body for us to live. There are many kinds of nutrients in food. All of them are good, but will bring bad effects if we don’t watch over it. What are they? And what bad effects that can be caused by them? Let’s find more about it.
3 Carbohydrates Carbohydrates are energy-providing nutrients. They are easily digested and broken down into glucose, which the body uses to perform its numerous functions. Most food items contain carbohydrates. Pasta, bread, rice, milk, potatoes, baked goods, fruits, vegetables, cereals, and popcorn are all high in carbohydrates. We need about 45% - 65% of the calories in our diet, which is roughly 225 g - 325 g of carbohydrates for someone on a 2000-calories diet per day. A diet too high in carbohydrates can upset the delicate balance of your body’s blood sugar level, resulting in fluctuations in energy and mood which leave you feeling irritated and tired. The carbs in some foods ,that contain a lot of simple sugars, cause the blood sugar level to rise more quickly than others. Eating foods that cause big jumps in blood sugar may cause certain health problems like diabetes and heart disease. It is better to balance your intake of carbohydrates with protein, a little fat and fibre.
4 Proteins Protein is the building block of all life and is essential for the growth of cells and tissue repair. Your muscles, your organs, and your immune system are made up mostly of protein. Your body uses the protein you eat to make lots of specialized protein molecules that have specific jobs. For instance, your body uses protein to make hemoglobin, the part of red blood cells that carries oxygen to every part of your body. Other proteins are used to build cardiac muscle. What’s that? Your heart! In fact, whether you’re running or just hanging out, protein is doing important work like moving your legs, moving your lungs, and protecting you from disease. Fish, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products, beans, nuts, cereals and soya products contain lots of protein. The amount of protein we need is different according to our weigh. Usually the adults need about 60 grams of protein per day.
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Vitamins & Minerals Vitamins and minerals make people’s bodies work properly. You get vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat every day, but some foods have more vitamins and minerals than others. Vitamins fall into two categories: fat soluble and water soluble. The fat-soluble vitamins — A, D, E, and K — dissolve in fat and can be stored in your body. The water-soluble vitamins — C and the B-complex vitamins (such as vitamins B6, B12, niacin, riboflavin, and folate) — need to dissolve in water before your body can absorb them. Because of this, your body can’t store these vitamins. Any vitamin C or B that your body doesn’t use as it passes through your system is lost (mostly when you pee). So you need a fresh supply of these vitamins every day. Whereas vitamins are organic substances, minerals are inorganic elements that come from the soil and water and are absorbed by plants or eaten by animals. Your body needs larger amounts of some minerals, such as calcium, to grow and stay healthy. Other minerals like chromium, copper, iodine, iron, selenium, and zinc are called trace minerals because you only need very small amounts of them each day.
8 Fats Some fat is essential in everyone’s diet. Fats provide a source of concentrated energy as well as the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Fat transports these vital nutrients around the body. We also need fat for hormone metabolism, healthy skin and hair, tissue repair, protecting the internal organs and to prevent excessive loss of body heat. Fats fuel the body and help absorb some vitamins. They also are the building blocks of hormones and they insulate nervous system tissue in the body. There are two main types of fat: saturated and unsaturated. Excessive amounts of fat are found in saturated animal fats and trans-fatty acids. These types of fat raise cholesterol levels and increase your risk of many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke and certain cancers. Unsaturated fats are generally liquid at room temperature. They come from vegetable sources and are also found in oily fish and in soft margarines labelled ‘high in polyunsaturates’. Unsaturated fats contain essential fatty acids that cannot be manufactured by the body. This means you need to get them from food.
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11 More is not always better People know that food provides us with various of nutrients that are good for our body. But not many apply it on their daily life. Our culture determines our eating habits. We, Asian people, have most of our meals with rice. We have our rice meal 2 - 3 times a day. We know that rice contains carbohydrates, but we never questioned ourselves why we have to consume so much carbohydrates although we are not always using so much energy in our daily life. The latest National Health Survey shows the obesity rate has increased from 6.9 per cent in 2004 to 10.8 per cent in the year of 2010. Obesity is caused by combination of excessive food energy intake and a lack of physical activity. Many people don’t realize that they’re consuming to much calories they get from the food. There are so many food that contains too much calories. Many foods are processed without health consideration. People don’t care if the food is good for their body, they just want to know if the food is delicious. Obesity is associated with many health risk such as heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. For these reasons, actions to prevent obesity should begin early in life. The easiest way to prevent obesity is through healthy lifestyle.
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Eat healthy & stay active Eating a healthy diet is another part of the healthy lifestyle. Not only can a clean diet help with weight management, it can also improve your health and quality of life as you get older. Eating a variety of foods is the best way to get all the vitamins and minerals you need each day, as well as the right balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and calories. Whole or unprocessed foods — like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, lean meats, fish, and poultry — are the best choices for providing the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy and grow properly. One of the biggest problems in world today is lack of activity. We know it’s good for us but avoid it like the plague either because we’re used to being sedentary or afraid that exercise has to be vigorous to be worth our time. The truth is, movement is movement and the more you do, the healthier you’ll be. Even moderate activities like chores, gardening and walking can make a difference.
15 Avoid junks Foods are good, but some of them are bad. Some foods are cooked in unhealthy ways. So they don’t provide any nutrients that our body need, such as the junk foods. The meals that we get from junk food restaurants are mostly high in fats, salt ,and sugar. Consuming too much fats, salt, and sugar can cause bad effects to our body. That’s why we should try to avoid these kinds of food. People today have been trying to produce more food in many ways, which is most of them are bad. They use dangerous various kind of chemicals to produce foods. We can find it in most packed foods that is sold in the stores. People like them, but the fact is none of them brings health to our body. We know that it’s a bit hard to avoid consuming these junks because there are too many junks that is being sold in the store. The best way to prevent our body to be contaminated by the bad effects of the junk foods is to eat more fresh foods. We need to gain more nutrients so we can build better imunity to the bad effects from the junk foods.
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Don't dig your grave with your knife and fork.
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Creating a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to mean drastic changes. In fact, drastic changes almost always lead to failure. Making small changes in how you live each day can lead to big rewards, so figure out what you can to be healthy today. Changes will look like a heavy burden to us at the beginning. But if we can manage ourselves to keep commited to have small changes, we will be one with it. And we will live without being able to be seperated from the good changes, which is the healthy lifestyle. And there will be a happier life waiting for us afterwards.
HEALTH PROMOTION BOARD 3 Second Hospital Avenue, Singapore 168937 (65) 6435 3500 www.hpb.gov.sg