We explain what nutrition is, its functions and food groups. We also explain its characteristics and possible problems.
What is the Alimentation?
We understand by food act of incorporating nutrients and substances into our body from which we obtain the energy required to keep our life cycles going and the matter necessary to undertake the various processes of life: growing, maturing and reproducing.
All forms of life that we know require food, but not all do so in the same way or through the same sources. Plants, for example, can make their own food (they are autotrophs)while animals must ingest organic matter from other forms of life (we are heterotrophs).
The feeding process involves various stages and activities, in which the foods from which we obtain nutritional elements are ingested and processed. This leads to the process of excretion, in which we expel excess matter and elements that no longer serve us from the body.
Finally, The way we eat will depend on the functioning of our body. and, therefore, the living conditions we have, which is why many specialists (doctors and nutritionists) are dedicated to studying the ideal way to carry out this process.
See also: Malnutrition
Feeding characteristics:
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Voluntary and conscious
Food is a voluntary processat least in beings endowed with consciousness (we don’t know about plants).
An animal can decide whether to feed or notand can decide what things to consume and what to pass up. In this sense, the individual’s will intervenes.
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Individuality
Although all human beings must feed themselves and we require the same elemental nutrients to existThere are many ways of eating, which depend on the individual characteristics of a person or their cultural and ethnic group.
So, A person has individual tastes and preferencesbut also a type of diet determined by its social, cultural, ethnic and religious context.
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Features
The functions of nutrition are clear and essential to sustain life:
- Maintain energy levels. Provide the body with the fuel it needs to obtain the chemical energy essential for life. In our case, the glucose needed to be oxidized and generate energy (ATP).
- Maintain heat levels. The calories obtained through food maintain the body’s thermoregulation at its optimal levels, compatible with life.
- Provide organic matter. Through food, the body acquires materials and elements necessary for the repair of tissues, the manufacture of new cells and the growth of the organism.
- Provide extra energy. The surplus of energy obtained from a good diet allows us to undertake physical activities beyond the minimum support of life.
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Complete
A complete diet It is one that covers all the nutritional needs of the body —in terms of energy and nutrients— such as fatty acids and amino acids that, despite being essential, are not synthesized within the body.
It may help you: Digestive system
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Balanced
A balanced diet is one that is governed by the ideal proportions of the various food groups.
It must be complete but not abuse the presence of any, which could result in complications. In the case of humans this translates into: 55% carbohydrates, 30-20% lipids and 20-15% proteins.
To this we must add vitamins, minerals and water, also necessary for our body and obtainable through food.
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Alimentary groups
The food groups There are three: carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. All known organic life is made up of these three key types of substances.
And, as has been said, to maintain a healthy lifeour diet should provide us with sufficient amounts of each.
- Carbohydrates. Also called carbohydrates, they are more or less complex sugars that can be broken down in the body to obtain glucose and then incorporated into the blood. An excess of carbohydrates will lead to the production of fat since the excess sugar is stored for later use, but a lack of carbohydrates will leave us without immediate energy to function.
- Lipids. These are fats that perform various functions in the body: support, caloric protection and energy storage (sugars). Some lipids provide essential substances to the body and must be consumed regularly, while others provide nothing to the body and rather require effort to be processed.
- Proteins. They are the fundamental “building blocks” of the numerous compounds in the body and are used to produce tissue, enzymes, regulatory secretions and many other essential organic substances.
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Nutrition and food: differences
feeding It differs from nutrition in that the latter is an unconscious biological process.automatic, which does not depend directly on our culture since it is about the digestion and use of what we consume.
We can decide what to eat, but we cannot choose whether or not to nourish ourselves with it.
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Safety
Another fundamental characteristic of good nutrition is that it is harmless, that is, harmless: that is not contaminated by harmful microorganisms (that cause diseases) or by toxic substances that harm us when entering the body.
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Variety
An ideal diet It is based on the variety of elements consumed: none should be consumed in excess. In fact, monotonous and repetitive diets often lead to nutritional deficiencies, such as obesity, rickets or vitaminosis (excess vitamins).
It is estimated that A good diet should include products of animal origin (meats, fish, eggs, dairy products), green vegetables (vegetables, vegetables) or their derivatives, and raw or processed fruits (fruits, cereals, grains).
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Eating disorders
There are diseases and eating problems that often affect humans, some of a psychological nature and others of a biochemical nature, such as:
- Celiac disease. Genetic intolerance to gluten (a group of proteins present in wheat, oats, barley and rye) due to an autoimmune intestinal disorder.
- Anorexy. Eating disorder of a psychological nature that generates in the patient an obsessive fear of gaining weight and therefore rejection of food.
- Bulimia. Emotional eating disorder that causes the person to alternate between large binge eating and then purging (vomiting, fasting, or excessive exercise) to deal with the guilt caused by the food ingested.