Food Elements - Learn about the nutritional elements of food and healthy eating

Food Elements - Learn about the nutritional elements of food and healthy eating

The purpose of consuming food is to provide health and well-being, and therefore healthy eating is an essential aspect of the daily diet. Nutritional needs over the years change over time depending on the stage of life you are in. So while a child needs food to grow and develop, adults need it more to sustain the energy needed to function on a daily basis. In addition, food is also needed to repair the various parts of the body that have worn out or had to be thrown away due to wear and tear.

We tend to use different parts of our body in everything we do, be it breathing, thinking, moving, playing, or working on the computer. This means that we must be able to continually replenish our bodies with a variety of elements found in food and drink.

The different food ingredients that exist, their properties, the way they can be used and the correct way certain foods should be combined to achieve maximum benefits are listed below:

The nutritional elements

A healthy diet is only possible when you ensure that your body gets the right nutritional elements in the right amounts that it needs. Therefore, it is important to know about food nutrition to make sure you are consuming everything. Food elements you should know about include starches, sugars, proteins, fats, minerals, and indigestible ingredients.

These are often grouped together to form the basic classes, including carbonaceous, nitrogenous and inorganic substances. While all starches, fats and sugars fall into the carbon category, protein is considered nitrogen. All inorganic substances contain all the minerals that we need for the body. It should be noted that any healthy recipes or menus should ensure that all different food categories are delicately balanced in a meal.

Carbohydrate – All starches, sugars and fats fall under this category. Starch is found in grains, most vegetables and also some fruits. Sugar comes in the form of cane sugar, glucose, other fructose and lactose (a component of milk). There are also some sugars that are made in a laboratory.

Glucose, for example, is an artificial sugar that is similar to grape juice. It is made from potato or corn starch in a chemical process. However, it is not as sweet as the natural sweeteners that nature provides. Fats are also contained in vegetables and animal foods. Butter and tallow are examples of animal fat, but you can also find fat in plant sources like nuts, beans, and some fruits like olives.

While fat is often used as a free element (like in butter) and we use it in abundance in many not-so-healthy recipes, free fat is not only difficult to consume but also interferes with the digestion of other foods.

Nitrogenous – Protein in its purest form can be found in the white of an egg. All the protein in an egg is nothing but pure protein. Albumin is also found in other animal and plant foods such as oatmeal. Gluten is very similar to protein and is also a nitrogen-containing element. It is found in rye, barley and wheat. Casein also belongs to this class of nutritional elements and is found in peas and beans.

Inorganic – Almost all the foods we eat have a certain amount of inorganic and mineral substances. Grains and milk contain a large proportion of the minerals we need every day.

Indigestible Substances – These are foods that cannot be digested by the body and are therefore only intended to add bulk to the food we eat. Bran and fibrous tissue in the body are examples of indigestible foods.

Use of food elements

Most of the foods we eat are naturally high in carbon. This has been proven by studying the daily eating habits of different cultures. The carbon-containing food element allows our body to produce heat and, when combined with other food elements, allows us to use power and strength. Carbon-containing food components also help the body replace the fatty tissue used to burn fat.

Although fats produce the highest amount of heat among carbon-containing food elements, it should be remembered that they are the most difficult to digest and therefore can lead to various health problems. A healthy diet means that only the recommended proportion of fat should be included in meals every day.

The nitrogen-containing nutrients help keep the brain, nerves and muscles healthy and fit. These are the food elements that ensure you stay healthy in every way, including mental health. All healthy recipes should contain an appropriate proportion of nitrogen-containing food elements to ensure that the body receives the stimulus to change tissues at all times and so that all tissues remain fit.

The most commonly required inorganic elements are phosphates. These provide the building blocks for bones and nerves and are therefore crucial for good bone health.

Combination of food elements

“Too much of anything is bad,” goes the saying, and that also applies to food. Although all food elements are needed by the body, it is necessary that each of the food elements be consumed in a certain proportion to ensure a healthy diet and life. If you want to learn to cook healthy recipes, you need to know which food components your body needs and in what quantities.

On the one hand, the body's daily intake should ensure 6 carbon-containing food elements to 1 nitrogen-containing food element. It has also been found that up to 3 ounces of this sixth of nitrogen-containing food ingredients can be consumed in a 24-hour period.

So, if you want to ensure that you prepare healthy recipes for your family, you must use these scientific findings on nutritional elements to ensure that your family stays healthy and fit.