Chapter Notes: Food We Eat

Table of Contents
1. Why do we need Food?
2. Plant Foods
3. Food from animal
4. What is a Balanced Diet?
5. Good Eating Habits
6. Meals of the Day
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Why do we need Food?

• Food is essential for our body to maintain a healthy heart, active brain, optimally working muscles and other organs.
• Food provides us with energy and protects us against diseases.
• Food is made up of nutrients.
• These nutrients we get from a variety of food items.
• All food we eat comes either from plants or animals.

Plant Foods

1. Fruits

• Fruits and their juices are naturally sweet.
• Different types of fruits contain different nutrients, so it is important to eat a variety of fruits.
• They keep us healthy and strong.
• Fruits include cherry, watermelon, muskmelon, pomegranate, grapes, banana, mango, etc.

2. Vegetables

• Vegetables are a good source of many nutrients.
• Vegetables like broccoli, spinach, tomatoes and garlic are considered to be very nutritious.
• Other vegetables include drumsticks, potato, tomato, radish, turnip, cauliflower, capsicum, onion, spinach etc.

Seeds We Eat

1.  Cereals

• Cereals are grains used for food.
• Cereal includes wheat, oats, bajra (millets), maize, and rice etc.
• Cereals are a very important part of human diets and are rich in nutrients.
• Flour of wheat is used to prepare bread and roti.
• Flour rice is used to make idli.
• Cereal grains are energy-rich foods for humans.

2. Pulses

• Pulses are the edible seeds. 
• The main pulses include chickpeas, kidney beans, red gram, black gram (urad), red lentil, and green. 
• Pulses are used in foods such as dal, sambhar, curry etc.

3. Nuts

• Nuts are very nutritious and give a lot of energy. 
• They are considered healthy snacks. 
• Nuts include pistachios, walnuts, raisins, peanuts, almonds, cashew nuts etc.

 4. Oil seeds

• Oils play an important part in a healthy and balanced diet.
• We get oils from many seeds. 
• These include sunflower, groundnut, mustard, sesame seeds etc.

Food from animal

• Foods from animals and fish give extra energy and strengthen muscles and the immune system. 
• These foods include all forms of meat, poultry (birds), fish, eggs and dairy products such as milk, sour milk, buttermilk, yoghurt and cheese.

Healthy food

• Healthy food includes all food that provides essential nutrients to the body. 
• It keeps our body fit and healthy. 
• Healthy food is essential for the proper growth and maintenance of the body.
• Healthy foods include fruits and vegetables, milk products, fish, etc.

Junk food

• Junk food contains extra calories.
• These are unhealthy and difficult to digest.
• These foods are very tasty but contain very less nutrients.
• These include samosa, finger chips, burgers, pizza, chips, etc.

Ingredients

Ingredients are edible substances that are combined together to prepare a dish such as fruits, vegetables, spices, dairy products etc.

• Ingredients of rice - raw rice and water
• Ingredients of dal - pulses, oil, turmeric powder, salt, water, chilli
• Ingredients of idli - rice, pulses, salt, water

What is a Balanced Diet?

Balanced diet is a diet consisting of a variety of different types of food and providing adequate amounts of the nutrients necessary for good health. 

Balanced Diet

Different Types of Foods

There are three different types of food:

• Energy-giving food-sugar, nuts, rice, chapatti, bread, potatoes, and butter.
  
• Body-building food-milk, eggs, fish, pulses (dal), meat, paneer, and curd.
  
• Food that gives us resistance against illness- these are protective foods. They include fruits (pears, oranges, grapes), vegetables (spinach, carrot).
  
  Variety of Fruits
  We must eat a balanced diet. A balanced diet is a diet that contains all the essential nutrients in the right proportion of energy-giving food, body-building food, and food that protects us from illness.

Good Eating Habits 

• We should eat small portions and chew food properly.
• We should eat fresh food.
• We should not talk while eating.
• We must wash our hands before and after every meal.
• We should also drink plenty of water.
• We should always eat breakfast before going to school.
• We should wash fruits and vegetables before eating and cooking.
• We should not waste food.
  
  MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

  Try yourself: Which one of the following is correct?

  A

  We should not talk while eating.

  B

  We should not eat uncovered food.

  C

  We should wash our hands before and after eating.

  D

  All the above

  View Solution

  Correct Answer: DHide Explanation ⌃

  Good Habits we should adopt are:

  • We should not talk while eating.
  • We should wash our hands before and after eating.
  • We should not eat uncovered food.

   

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Meals of the Day

There are three main meals in a day that we must eat-breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

• We eat breakfast in the morning before leaving for work or for school. Breakfast usually includes milk, fruits, egg, bread, juice, parathas, or idlis.
• Lunch is the meal that we eat in the afternoon. It includes rice, chapattis, dal, and vegetables.
• We eat dinner at night with all our family members.