HEALTHY FOOD

 

HEALTHY FOOD

     

 

   Different species of animals have different feeding behaviours that satisfy the needs of their metabolisms and have evolved to fill a specific ecological niche within specific geographical contexts. Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells to provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth.

     The majority of the food energy required is supplied by the industrial food industry, which produces food through intensive agriculture and distributes it through complex food processing and food distribution systems. Omnivorous humans are highly adaptable and have adapted to obtain food in many different ecosystems. This system of conventional agriculture relies heavily on fossil fuels, which means that the food and agricultural systems are one of the major contributors to climate change, accounting for as much as 37% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

       Food safety and security are monitored by international agencies like the International Association for Food Protection, the World Resources Institute, the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the International Food Information Council. The food system has significant impacts on a wide range of other social and political issues, including sustainability, biological diversity, economics, population growth, water supply, and food security.

FOOD SOURCES

    Some organisms, including most mammals and birds, diet consists of both animals and plants, and they are considered omnivores. The chain ends with the apex predators, the animals that have no known predators in its ecosystem. Humans are considered apex predators. In a given ecosystem, food forms a web of interlocking chains with primary producers at the bottom and apex predators at the top. Other aspects of the web include detrovores (that eat detritis) and decomposers (that break down dead organisms). Primary producers include algae, plants, bacteria and protists that acquire their energy from sunlight. Primary consumers are the herbivores that consume the plants, and secondary consumers are the carnivores that consume those herbivores.

SOIL AND SUNLIGHT

  

           The oxygen is then released, and the glucose stored as an energy reserve.

      Plants also absorb important nutrients and minerals from the air, water and soil. Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen are absorbed from the air or water and are the basic nutrients needed for plant survival. The three main nutrients absorbed from the soil for plant growth are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, with other important nutrients including calcium, sulfur, magnesium, iron boron, chlorine, manganese, zinc, copper molybdenum and nickel. Photosynthesis is the ultimate source of energy and food for nearly all life on earth. It is the main food source for plants, algae and certain bacteria. Without this, all organisms which depend on these organisms further up the food chain would be unable to exist, from coral to lions. Energy from the sun is absorbed and used to transform water and carbon dioxide in the air or soil into oxygen and glucose.

ANIMALS

     

  They are an important source of protein and are considered complete proteins for human consumption as they contain all the essential amino acids that the human body needs. One 4-ounce (110 g) steak, chicken breast or pork chop contains about 30 grams of protein. Animals are used as food either directly or indirectly. One large egg has 7 grams of protein. Other nutrients found in animal products include calories, fat, essential vitamins (including B12) and minerals (including zinc, iron, calcium, magnesium). And 1 cup of milk has about 8 grams of protein. A 4-ounce (110 g) serving of cheese has about 15 grams of protein. This includes meat, eggs, shellfish and dairy products like milk and cheese.

 

PLANTS

         

    

Food is a fruit if the part eaten is derived from the reproductive tissue, so seeds, nuts and grains are technically fruit. Nuts are dry fruits, distinguishable by their woody shell. Plants as a food source are divided into seeds, fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains and nuts. Whole grains are foods that contain all the elements of the original seed (bran, germ, and endosperm). Grains can be defined as seeds that humans eat or harvest, with cereal grains (oats, wheat, rice, corn, barley, rye, sorghum and millet) belonging to the Poaceae (grass) family and pulses coming from the Fabaceae (legume) family. Where plants fall within these categories can vary, with botanically described fruits such as the tomato, squash, pepper and eggplant or seeds like peas commonly considered vegetables. From a culinary perspective, fruits are generally considered the remains of botanically described fruits after grains, nuts, seeds and fruits used as vegetables are removed.

      These include root vegetables (potatoes and carrots), bulbs (onion family), flowers (cauliflower and broccoli), leaf vegetables (spinach and lettuce) and stem vegetables (celery and asparagus). Vegetables refer to any other part of the plant that can be eaten, including roots, stems, leaves, flowers, bark or the entire plant itself. Fleshy fruits (distinguishable from dry fruits like grain, seeds and nuts) can be further classified as stone fruits (cherries and peaches), pome fruits (apples, pears), berries (blackberry, strawberry), citrus (oranges, lemon), melons (watermelon, cantaloupe), Mediterranean fruits (grapes, fig), tropical fruits (banana, pineapple).