Benefits Of Eating Varied Colored Fruits And Vegetables 1

I eat at least six servings of fruits and vegetables each morning for my breakfast. Fresh sweet potato or yams in their skin, pumpkin leaves, garlic, ginger and green cayenne pepper or green chili; red chili, peanuts and onions.

The meal is either stewed or steamed or both. And I take this with some fresh fried sardines and mullets plus a cup of green tea.

Earlier on rising, I take a cup of dilute lime or lemon juice with a cup or half of cucumber fruit.

All the above mentioned foods with the exception of fish are plant products.

They are fruits and vegetables.

Potato or yam comes in yellow or red color. You can combine red, white and yellow source half a cup each. I mean red, white and yellow potatoes can be mix to get maximum benefit.

Each food color has differing nutrients and this is a fact. By combining such, photochemical from each source will boost your health.

 Pumpkin leaves in green. Garlic and ginger is white and yellow. Red chili is red. You can substitute pumpkin leaves with basil, mint, potato leaves or cocoyam leaves (only for cocoyams and stems). These are wonderful goodies from nature.

Alternately, I will take a plate of quick oats with banana, onions, peanuts, fresh red tomatoes with an egg as my breakfast and the plate of potato vegetable chop above as a snack.

Then, at lunch or after lunch, I will go for wild blue berries, pink cherries, guava and cucumber. Fruits in their seasons and in their many varied colors are taken into account. In fact, the rainbow color reminded me of how should I and you should mix our daily intake of fruits and vegetables no matter what.

At the end of the day, I had taken up to more than 13 cups of servings or more.

Naturally, we mix the carbohydrates, fats and oils and proteins to derive maximum health benefit from eating good food.

Why should not a person mix some fruits and vegetables in its many varied colors? Some authorities have recommended daily regular eating of fresh fruits and vegetables.

This is sure to prevent 95% of all case of common sickness and ill health. It also can speed up healing of wounds and bruises, especially after surgery and ill health.

 If you cannot make half of your chop plate fruits and vegetables; or take the five servings each day or the 7-13 cups per day, daily eating at least three differing fruits and vegetables in differing colors of green, orange and red especially; green, purple and pink, or blue, white and green etc can go a long way to benefit your health and well being in a wonderful way.

Fruits and vegetables are very low in carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Hence, they are also low in calories and preventing heart related ill health.

They are high in fibers, and had no cholesterol. In this instance too, help the bowels to do their work of moving both digested and undigested food matters as unwanted items out of the body.

Chronic disease is also prevented.

Color Of The Rainbow 

The beautiful color of the rainbow depicted how many and various fruits and vegetables we should eat. It is amazing that the many different colors of fruits have differing functions to do for the human body.

The variety of colors also speaks about the many differing nutrients especially photochemical or antioxidants contained in the fruits and vegetables.

Red, orange, yellow, green and blue; indigo and violet speaks differing phytochemical, vitamins and mineral matters.
The water content of each fruits again speaks another language.

For example, water in the cucumber fruits speaks the language of our skin and no more. Photochemical in the cucumber fruit will talk about the internal muscle joints of the legs and arms. Each different fruit and its color have its own language of health and healing properties.

I and you should eat them in its many varied colors.

Let’s take a look at some of these fruits in order of colors as said above.

Red Color Fruits And Vegetables

 Fresh ripe tomatoes, sweet red potatoes, red chili, red onions and water melons; red apples, kidney beans, guava, straw berries and beets, will help your body fight diseases and promoted good health.
Anthocyanins are very powerful photochemical found in red fruits and vegetables.

These antioxidants are agents in the control of high blood pressure and circulatory related diseases of diabetes mellitus.

In fact, the fruits and vegetables list above when eat alone has no food value. They should be combined with two or more other fruits from another color background to be meaningful. I will attempt this again later. An example is already given above.

Hit! Very brightly colored fruits and vegetables no matter how beneficial have one or two hidden language which very few of us have realized so far.

Apart from their much health giving mineral salt, vitamins and fibers which we are all getting familiar with, some brightly colored fruits and vegetables (FAV) have high sugar or glucose content. For example, banana, carrot and sweet potato are very high in sugar.

Hence, the Glycemic Index (GI) of these food items is also high.

The GI is the rate in which sugar is absorb in the blood stream. If the GI of FAV is high, sugar is absorbed faster. If GI is low, sugar is absorbed slowly. So, FAV that are high in GI should be used sparsely on a daily basis alongside with any other FAV.

 Potatoes and potato chips, beets, carrots, parsnips and Swedes and water melon scores high GI.
Eat or use them sparsely.

A 1 cup or 1g servings of such FAV daily is not harmful. In a GI table, -50 is low. +50 is medium. + 55 is high.

All legumes have low GI.

All green leafy vegetables have low GI.

Fruits that appear green in color or are in a semi ripe state have low GI. For example, okra, green tomato, green chili, green pepper and green mangoes.

Go here for more information by copying and paste this link into your internet browser: www.glycemicgourmet.com/glycemic-index-table.html

Fruits and vegetables that constantly raise your blood pressure will make you a diabetes patient period.

Orange color Fruits And Vegetable

Oranges are commonly eaten by every person. Along with other citrus fruits, like lime and lemon, and tangerines and grape fruits, these fruits are  cold resisting resisting fruits.

Due to its vitamin C content, these are again anti scurvy. Less of this trend is seen since majority of us easily get a cold issue very easily. It is because these are eaten alone. Even when five of the citrus fruits end in a pack of juice, three-third of us easily gets a cold.

Why? Additive sugars and sweeter from chemicals in juicy that we constantly preferred.

But combine any of the citrus fruits with two or more other colored fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, banana, onions and will not let this happen; and your body will ward of a virus or cold. 100% fruit juice will deliver quality nutrient to your chop if you can get it in most beverage stores nearest to you.

Alternately, you should make your own fruit juicy at home.

With a good blender, three different fruit and a little water, you cut the items into the blender and turn on the AC.

In just a few minute, your juicy is ready to drink. This is how easy it is.
Beta carotene is another phytochemical or antioxidant found in carrot, red palm kernels or palm oil, yellow fruits and vegetables.
Beta carotene fights cancer and heart diseases in every person. It is a nutrient for good eye sight. Another vital nutrient in yellow fruits and vegetables is bioflavonoids. Nearly all fruits and vegetables have some bioflavonoids.

But the best source in plants is green tea. That is the reason I recommend a plate of fruits and vegetables to go with a cup or two of green tea.

You get beta carotene in ripe mangoes, carrots and sweet potatoes.

 Other sources are peaches, pumpkin leaves and cantaloupe.

Bioflavonoids can be gotten in papaya, pears, yellow peppers, pineapples and nectarines.

Now make a breakfast or snack with the following ingredients: cucumbers, broccoli,

pumpkin, papaya, peanuts and onions, garlic, ginger, green and red chili, guava and fresh ripe tomatoes.

Hit! Wash, cut and slice half cup each of cucumber, papaya, guava, fresh ripe tomatoes and pineapples into a chop fruit plate. Spread fresh lime juice on the papaya only. Chop the onions, garlic, ginger, green and red chili and put this in a frying pan with the peanuts. Add two tablespoonful of peanut or olive oil and put on low heat. Cook for only three minutes and add a pinch of salt stirring thoroughly all the time.

Take this along with the plate of fruits.
http://greens4food.blogspot.com
 To your good health!

Miebakagh57 (Miebakagh Fiberesima) Copyright 2014-2015.

Fruits And Vegetables

I hold that fruits and vegetables (FAV) are man’s first food.

Now a day too, there is certain persons that has made fruits and veggies their sustainable living or meal. They do not add any bird, meat or fish. They selected their FAV wisely.

The various combinations of the items give all the carbohydrates, fats and oils and proteins their need.
Remember nuts and seeds are also fruits.

Combining peanuts, green bean or soya bean with lentils or corn will give you as much protein as an egg or a complete protein of first class status. What is more, the carbs, fats and proteins combination are good source of energy.

But our fear is that if we do not take a piece of flesh, we get sick or hungrier.

Okay have some sardine or mullet which is safer with essential omega-3 and -6 fatty acids.

I recall while growing up and experimenting with these various FAV foods. I also regret to say that the energy release from combinations such as above sent me to a doctor because the temperature of my body surge higher.

I do not know then that 2/3 of a meal should contain only FAV as you should have. I was just a boy of 24 years back then. Now I know better.

 Our western diets depends more on how high a food is processed. We believe the more processed a food is, the more it is healthy and much safer.

Unknown to us, as we have realized later to our regret, we end up sick.

Now, scientists especially nutritionist, dietician and medical personnel are telling us we need to increase our eating of fresh fruits and vegetables, from the relatively five servings a day to the recent thirteen servings a day and much more.

This was not based on a theory but on closer observation of common rural dwelling people eating nature’s products and staying free of diseases. They saw individuals like you and me who take more and more of these natures goodness are relatively free of the common ill health associated with advanced years like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and stroke, certain prostate cancer risks in men and especially breast and cervical cancer in women.

These studies where undertaken over a period of fourteen years.

Take a look at the animals. They depend much on natural vegetation. I have not seen a domestic pet owner cook a meal for his hen or goat or sheep.

Fodders and grains or concentrates is what was provide to these beings. We should eat more and more fruits and vegetables always.

The reason being:

1. Fruits and vegetables are full of natural goodness. They contain water in its purest form. Take a cucumber fruit or water melon for example. 95-96 % of the fruit is water. Cucumbers and melons are the only fruits that have more water than any other fruits. Are you tasty for a cool drink of water? Instead chew a cup of cucumber fruit.

2. Mineral matters and vitamins. Fruit contains much vitamins and mineral salts. It is reasoned that you take your supplements of vitamins and minerals from fruits and veggies and not from over the counter drugs (OTC). I am inclined to opine so because why are doctors encouraging us to eat more and more fruits and veggies? They have realized that despite the fine medication given to patients on certain vitamin deficiency diseases, eating much of the natural diets does better than medication. An exception can be made here.
Pregnant mothers need supplements of folates in capsule or tablet form.

3. Fruit and veggies more natters is one of the natural ways to stay in optimum health. Your ingestion of these goodies wards of diseases and helps retard old age.

4. Fruits and veggies (FAV) more matter are free of animal fats and oils and so prevent the formation of cholesterols in the blood.

Animal fat and oils are essential parts of our digestive process. They contain saturate fats. These fats insulate our vital internal organs. Too much is bad and excess had to find out an outlet in building cholesterol. These saturated and poly-saturated fats need the essential fatty acids in FAV to prevent bad cholesterol building up in the blood stream.

Formation of bad cholesterol in the blood is one of the major causes of heart disease and stroke.
This is what puzzled doctors for a long time. They though the availability of drugs will solve problems.

 5. FAV more matters is more satisfying. By combing various assort types of fruits in salad form as per the 13 cup serving, will produce the energy you need even for some extra activities.

Remember to add some nuts to your salads and not only greens. Peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts and cashew nuts are fruits and can count up to the 13 cup serving. This is because of their fiber content. Certain fibers are not digestible. They just stay sleeping in the stomach and at times delay the digestion of other food items in the stomach.

This ensures you do not get hungry soon. After the carbs, fats and oils and proteins are properly digested, provide the bulk movement that is very important to keep our bowels clean.

6. Most importantly, FAV will help you prevent cold symptoms and issues when eaten regularly. Not only this, it helps wounds to heal fast and strengthen the blood capillaries and veins and other tissues in the body. In this case, it is much better to include citrus and alkaline fruits in the diet always.

These keep the blood stream in an alkaline medium which is the base of our blood. Any acidic state in the blood is a signal for disease to show up.

But eating FAV regularly will prevent this from happening. I wrote a hub on “how to prevent a cold all season.”

The subject matter was on eating fruits instead of resorting to drugs because of their long time side effect.

 A fruit juice is not a substitute for fruits. But if you want a juice, blend an orange with a lime and lemon or tangerine.

Do not discard the seeds, though it may give the juice a slightly bitter taste or flavor. You get all the vitamin C your body need. You should also add a cup of tomatoes and pineapple to the blend to thicken it.

Most commercial fruit juice sold under the brand names of super fruits are either chemically laden with additives. But ensure you get 100% juice if if you want the commercial type.

To your good health!

Miebakagh57 (Miebakagh Fiberesima) Copyright 2014-2015.
http://greens4food.blogspot.com

Fruits Are Man's First Food

Fruits are man's first food.


A fruit is any product of plants that contain a seed or nut but is edible and succulent.


This means it can be eaten raw,  ripe or semi-ripe.


Fruits come from different types of plants. Some authorities consider nuts and seeds like beans and peanuts as fruits.


Fruits being man’s first food before the addition of birds, fish and meat has vital protective role to play in the defense of the body against ill health. They can be eaten as breakfast, lunch and super too. Fruits and vegetables are also made a good snacks.


Next time you are hungry after a breakfast or lunch, have some mix fruits and vegetables as a snack. A good mix can be made from papaya, guava, cucumber and pineapple.


I do not mean you should subscribe to becoming a fruitarian or a vegetarian. But the minus side of becoming such out weights the plus side.


A fruitarian or vegetarian subsists only on fruits and nuts. They is nothing wrong in this provide various fruits and high quality legumes, nuts and seeds forms a major combination in the diet.


Some authority have suggested that fruitarians and vegetarians should regularly add a glass of milk to their diet since their do not eat flesh meat of any kind. This has its merit too.


 The Parts Play By Fruit And Vegetable In Our body: Fruits play a very vital role in our bodies especially in the digestion of carbohydrates, fats and oils, and proteins.


They also have the function of protection and preventing disease in our body.


They have the vitamins and mineral matters to help in releasing energies in the foods we eat. I do not mean carbs, fats and oils, and proteins do not contain these essential nutrients. They do.


They help in bowel movement and much more.


 These carbs, fats and oils and proteins leave to themselves in the stomach are at times useless. They could not help themselves in the digestive processes. Their need the help of fruits and vegetables to released their energies into our body.


They movement in the bowel by peristalsis actions becomes possible because of the presence of fruits and veggies. Otherwise, the result will be constipation.


 Here some will suggested you should take a purgative to evacuate the waste matters in the bowels. That sounds good, and can result in side effects in some cases.


But a plate of fresh vegetables with fruits will work much better.


 Again, fruits and vegetables also contain phytochemicals, which serves to promote the health of the body.


The five servings of a fruit
 
 The rule of the thumb that you take five servings of a fruit each day is getting outdated.


Nevertheless, it is still important.


The rule that you make half of your chop plate fruits and vegetables is out dated by the 7-13 cups or more servings each day.


Moreover, it has a vital role to play in diet and nutrition. The 7-13 cups is now the norm.


You should eat as much fruits and vegetables as much as you can each day. This will give your body an extra edge over colds issues, cancer risks, heart related diseases, type2 diabetes and fortify your body against certain ill health.


One serving of a fruit is 15 g. Therefore for 15 servings maximum 15x15x3.6 calories=810 calories. This is a plus to the carbohydrates, fats and protein content that goes with the plate of chop.


Normally, a plate of a meal should contain 284g of carbohydrate (two differing sources say brown rice and bread fruit 85g), 57g fats and oils, 227g of protein; the remainder being green leafy vegetables 113g and non-leafy vegetables for example sweet potatoes 170g and fruits 57g. The computed calorific value from all this is 2600 calories for a person weighting 60kg.


I am not a fruitarian or a vegetarian. I do at times take differing mixed fruits and veggies including nuts and green bean plus some fried sardines and mullets for my breakfast or lunch. The presence of sardines and mullets ensures I have the essential omega fatty acids -3 and -6 in my diet period.
On a certain day which I call My Fruit Friday, I eat only fruit and veggies nothing more. Not even nuts are include.This serves to cleanse and rejuvenate not only my digestive system, but my entire body as a whole.


Now, how do you see to it that you get 13 cups of a fruit serving each day? Fruits are very plentiful during the harvesting periods. This is the best time to get them cheap.


You can buy up to 15 different fruits or more each week in their semi ripe state. A semi-ripe fruit has much nutritional content and value than a fully ripe fruit. That is why an unripe mango can prevent diabetes mellitus, but a ripe mango will cause your blood sugar to rise including your blood pressure to rise to some extends.


 You should take as much fruits and vegetables as you can include some fishes and nuts for breakfast, lunch or supper. After every meal, a handful of nuts should me munch. Your normal meal should contain 2/3 of its contents as fruits and veggies alone.


But get beyond the 7-13 cups level or servings each day.


All said, whether you take the traditional five servings or the present 13 servings a day, put much weight on greener fruits and vegetables.


They are very low in starch and have no sugar. Cucumbers, water melon, brussel sprout, all fruits that has a green coloring are low in carbs.


As in a traffic signal, red is a stop. You stop for a moment and then go. All fruits in red colors should be eaten occasionally. This is because they are very high in sugar. These will raise your blood pressure high above normal at certain times.


Nevertheless, mixed your greens with a tomato (tomatoes are fruits too) and any of your major greens is harmless. You can eat red fruits and vegetables daily with caution. This means you should take a piece of say red tomatoes or beets with other greens.


Amber or purple colored fruits like egg plant and pears as well as yellow colored ones like banana and apples should be taken with caution and a few at a time. Some bananas and apples are red skin and much thicker.


Fruits and vegetables should be washed clean before preparing for eating.


They can be contaminated with diseases right from the farmland or from the market. A fruit buyer or seller with a cold flu can transmit the cold virus to the skin of the fruit or vegetable with just a touch. So wash all fruits and vegetables well. For example, a banana should be wash first in clean fresh water. Than immersed in a saline solution for just a minute or two before eating.


You should not soak it for over ten minutes, since the skin of a banana is not wax like a cucumber fruit.


It is only fruits that are wax that should be soaked for ten to fifteen minutes in saline water or solution before eating.


Vegetables should be wash well but do not soak them. Doing so will leach out their vitamin and mineral salt. Even their trace elements and phytochemicals are endangered in soaking them

overtime in water.


Chew your food properly before swallowing. This will prevent indigestion.


To your good health!


Miebakagh57 (Miebakagh Fiberesima) Copy right 2014-2015http://greens4food,blogspot.com

Eating Good Foods To Live Healthy

I eat to live. I eat good foods to live.


I have never seen a healthy person eat bad food. Exception is those mental ill persons who pick throw aways in waste bins.


Foods are precious items that we take every care to secure them. What I and you eat is what we take into our body, and is what we become. This is a fact. The more we eat, the more we increase in size and weight; and the more we either get older or younger.


I do not mean we are getting old as an old age person. It can imply so.


 Either we get older or stay younger than our looks. This is what I infer. But we become use to inactive like not able to take a short walk.


We cannot stretch ourselves out. We looked tired and older than our age, and consider about dietary supplements in the form of capsules to bail us out. Those dietary supplements in the form of vitamin A, B-Complex, BI, B2, B6, B12 and folates are not much beneficial than those natural occurring vitamin in fruits and vegetables, and in fats and proteins in most food items like eggs, fish, meat and milk.


That will make the issue more deep for a doctor or health professional to handle.
I have see a person aged by eating more food than is good for him/her in the first place. This over-eating cause diseases.


It cause your body temperature to rise. Your feel feverish thinking you have a fever, when in the first place, you purposefully over eat.


Walking becomes like pursuing the heart. So, it is good that you eat enough for your enjoyment.


Food Security And Feeding The Future


Many thousand years ago, history record that in ancient civilizations of Ancient Egypt and China, there were instances of government storing up foods for the unforeseen future. This is an evidence of food security on a national or local level. In times of adverse conditions, the stored foods in the granaries were later released for the citizens on some small sum of money as seen in Egypt.


The Bible records this in the book of Genesis chapter 41 :35-36.


Notwithstanding this, in favorable conditions of plenty, some house hold and persons has not adequate “access to the physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life” according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.


In the plenty condition, sufficient food is available, but very few it seems have access to it due to low income for instance; or not enough was harvest for distribution.


Those who have access to the foods are not utilizing it to fulfill their dietary needs like the bare minimum of making half of the chop plate fruits and vegetables or the five servings of fruits and vegetables a day along with the normal meal.


Now, they is this newly formulate policy of taking 7-13 cups of fruits and vegetables each day besides ones diet. All these are serious issues to face in food and nutrition of each individual as it affect the health of a person. And in spite of the plenty harvest of sufficient foods, 842 persons were reported to suffer from chronic hunger in the years 2011-2013 alone.


Yes, every person has the right to a good food. This is not something reserved for a very few in a million. How can this be over come? How will every person sees to the fact that in the present state of plenty being available, safe and nutritional foods is assured?


 Much depends on the individual preference for preparing a rich nutritious diet at home. If the preference is always for convenience foods or take-away, they is no doubt the health of such a person is compromise to diseases.


There are some food outlets where one can get a well nutritious prepared meal as in a home. Thus, the quality and quantity of such a meal can receive the pass mark. Increased investment in the agriculture industry is likely to feed the future if all things are equal. But why invested more in agriculture in the midst of the plenty were all are not getting enough?


The picture is that the raw food produced is not going to the various house-holds in the first place. They were directed to food processing industries. Here the raw foods turn into conveniences canned breakfast, lunch or supper. During the preparation process, lost of natural nutrients were replaced by chemical additives and preservatives. One can hardly blame those industries which were primary supported even by government agencies.


Convenient foods are not bad in themselves. I do at times hurray up to work with a buttered white bread, when I do not have the time to bake a brown bread. But I supplement this with enough nuts, fruit, vegetables because the white is low in nutrition.


Servings of foodstuff


There is no agreed standard of serving foods like fruits. But we can learn a lesson or two from the rule of the thumb as for how fruits are to be served. Five servings of a fruit per day is a rule of authority. We can use this rule to make five servings of vegetables, nuts and carbohydrates.


 Mixed foods


when foods of each class is mixed from more than one source, the health derived is much beneficial than when a single item of the food is eaten alone. For example, much can be gained from eating peanuts, bean and lentils and sweet corn. Each of the food has a carb, fats, protein and mineral salts and vitamins that supplement one another. Add protein and servings of fruits to this and you have a good and well balance meal.


From this, we get maximum health benefits from eating a very good diet.


Having a good food like this is not even enough. Foods should be chew thoroughly before being swallowed.


This action made the food to undergo a much easier breakdown for the stomach to churn the masticated foods in the belly. This process will make it much easier for glucose to be released from carbohydrates and complex sugars for example.


Actions such as this also break down fats, oils and proteins into smaller units, including dietary fibers. Mineral matters and vitamins are readily absorbed in the intestine. All these by products are assimilated by cells in our body.


 Eating habit


eating three times a day plus two snakes is good eating habit. Provide five small chops were all that is eaten in the day.


Three big meals morning, noon or afternoon and evening is bad.


Take your meal in small proportion. This is a health guide.


 In the morning, breakfast should not be skipped. When I was in college, one of my teachers said to me and my mates on authority that a cup of warm tea, two slice of buttered bread, an egg, an orange or banana is much better than to start the day on an empty stomach, except one is fasting for a purpose.


A good breakfast is a good thing to start the day off on a bright note. A snack of fruit should follow before lunch when you are spent. In other words, energy that you use up is to be replaced. This ensures that our body and health is at an optimum level.


Water should form part of a good meal. Water is need to dissolve the food and to absorb the nutrients like minerals and vitamins.


The human body consisted of 60% water. We need to sip some water during eating and not much. An alternate to this is to drink teas or juicy at meal time. Drinking of much water at meal time is to be discouraged in most cases except one is trying to lose weigh.


This means the more water you drink during meal time, the less food you will eat. This also means, you should began to loss weight. They is no need to drink a glass or two of water during mean as said.
A sip here and there will really help matters. It ensures the churned food is not over diluted and that no improper absorption takes place.


Another minus sign in drinking too much water is to call the kidney into an over working condition. The kidneys control and help remove excess water in the body. By drinking too much water, it means that the working capacity of the kidney is being strained.


 To your good health!


 Miebakagh57 (Miebakagh Fiberesima) Copyright 2014-2015.http://greens4food.blogspot.com

Good Food For The Body

Introduction : There is nothing much better than a person to eat some good food.
When I say good food, I mean natural food items in their natural form and unprocessed state. Convenience foods packed in readily forms like spaghetti and oats thought

good, need to be supplement with adequate natural ingredients to compensate for the loss of vitamins, minerals and fibers during the milling processing. Processed foods has much of their vitamin A, B-Complex, B1, B2, B6, B12 and folate removed. Vitamin C, D, K and E are also removed and chemical forms of the same vitamin added.


Good eating is fueling the body with good natural and wholesome foods; and with all these vitamins including plant photochemical as we can note later.


The body use fuel or energy from the foods we eat to carry out some of its internal activities, as well as physical actions like walking, breathing and sleeping.


An activity like talking, singing, running and swimming required some energy.


To drive a car for over five kilo meters, you need to expend some energy too. A noted African scientist has said “good food is the greatest single factor in securing good health.”


I subscribe to this opinion. Refine foods need to be supplement with plenty of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables has many and varied vitamin, minerals and fibers that help to release the energy in processed refined foods. For example, an oat meal should go with at least seven assort fruits including a vegetable green such as pea. The many foods we eat come from various food groups.


These were scientifically classified.


Food Groups


A closer observation shows different animals, birds, insects, reptile feeds on different foods. You cannot find an animal or a bird feed on one specific food or a grain. The food items they eat varied significantly. Even as human beings, we eat assort types of foods. In this regard, our scientists classified foods into two main groups.


 1. According to chemical composition; and, 2. According to special functions in the internal metabolism.


Chemical classification of foods: Scientists divide the foodstuffs we eat into six groups. Carbohydrates or carbs for short. These are starch and sugar products. They are usually formed by green plants.


 Examples are: Brown rice, whole wheat flour, potatoes with their skins and similar root vegetables like yams and cocoyams. Stems like sugar cane and beet root.


Carbs are again sub-group into starches, sugars and celluloses.


The carbs are further divide into simple and complex starches, sugars and celluloses.


Carbohydrates, specifically glucose or simple sugars when eaten will release the energy in the foodstuff quickly into the body cells. The body needs glucose or sugar. It is one of the simple sugars that we use every day. All internal cells, systems, and organs in the body need sugar to do their work well. Your brain needs sugar. Your muscles need sugar as primary fuel before anything else. Sugar is readily oxidized to release the much need energy.


Starch has to be break down into simple sugar like glucose. Excess is stored as glycogen, in the muscles and tissues. This is where I and you gain extra weight quickly.


 Here we need to be cautious that eating much sugar has its down side. It can cause teeth decay. Ordinary household sugars (white sugar) you put in your tea or custard has no food value. It is just a sweeter. Use it sparsely. Or substitute it brown sugar which has much nutritional ingredient like vitamins and mineral salts. All the vitamin A, B, C, and mineral matter in the sugar cane has been removed during the milling and refine process.


Carbs are very important foods for our body. Some are good and some bad. I have mentioned at least six foods that are good carbohydrates above. Any carb that is unprocessed like brown flour for making brown bread is a good carbohydrate.


The bad ones are in the form of convenience food products like white sugar, white rice, white breads and biscuits made with white flours. It is these white products that has its much health beneficial matters removed.


View and download a large listings of many carbohydrate foods here with this link http://iuhealth.org/images/ril-doc/carbohydrate Counting Food LIST.pdf.
Copy and paste the link into your internet browser.


Other sources of carbs are:


Fruits: apples, mangoes, pineapples, tomatoes and peach. Boys berry, raspberry, oranges, limes and lemons.


With the exception of limes and lemons,these are sources of complex sugars. After being properly digested, they changed to simple sugars.


Nuts: almonds, walnuts, tiger and grass nuts, and peanuts are complex carbohydrates.


Legumes: all types of beans especially green bean and soya bean. These are another source of complex carbohydrate.


Spices: especially green pepper, red pepper, garlic, ginger and onions. Sage and celery.


All these are natural sources of starch and sugars.


When eaten in their natural states, they seem to be filling; and at the same time make us not to over eat. This is because of their fiber content.


A 1g of carb. will provide you with 3.6 calories. As fruits now are being measured in cups rather than grams, one cup of a fruit is the same as the size of one big banana fruit. Hence, one cup of any fruit is equal to one gram.


Fats and oils: Fats and oils have a special role to play in good eating. These are like the grease a machine used for lubricating parts of the component. But they provide more energy than carbs. A 1g fat will give out twice the energy value of a 1g of a carb diet. In other words, you get at most 7.2 calories from a gram of fat.


Fats come from meat, beef, egg yolk, all nuts, butter and margarine.
Palm oil and peanut oils are fats but are liquids at room temperature and pressure; whereas, egg yolk and margarine are solids at the same temperature and pressure.


Specifically, fats and oils are derived from two sources:
1. Animal fats: pork meat, beef, red meat and turkey. Cod liver oil and shark liver oil are good fish oils. Mullets, sandiness and salmon fish oils contain essential omega fatty acids -3 and -6 that sustain the health of the heart.
2. Plant source or vegetable fats: all nuts for example, walnuts and peanuts. Palm oil, pears and beans. Others are olive oil and coconut oil.
In colder regions, oils can be solids. Fats and oils are reserve foods stored in the body that are readily available when the body needs extra energy.
Eating fats and oils is very important for good health, fueling the body for heat, work and protecting the internal organs of the body.


Again, we need extra fats when the weather is very cold to maintain our body temperature at the optimum level.


Protein: A protein will give the same energy output as in a gram of a carb. Proteins build the body. Our body is at least 16% protein. Like fats, they come from both animal and plant source.
1. Animal protein: fish and poultry. Egg white, milk, chicken and turkey.
A protein like an egg is very much useful in a meal. So is a fish. These are builds the body. They provide all the nutrients the body need to grow, develop and replaced dead cells.
2. Vegetable protein: from seeds, nuts, roots, stem and leaves of plants.


Seeds: sun flower, black berry, tomatoes, guavas and cucumbers.


Nuts:  Peanuts, walnuts and cashews. Tiger nuts and grass nuts. Pine nut is a good nut.


Legume: green beans, soya bean, black eye bean, lima bean and all beans. Green pea is a delight.


Root crops or tubers: fresh potatoes, cocoyams and yams in their skins. Green vegetable yam that grows on flowering stalk is another.


 Leaves (foliage): all green leafy vegetables or greens: pumpkin leaves, sage, brussel sprout, broccoli and basil or scented leaves.
http://greens4food.blogspot.com


Water is another but vital source of food. It is need for dissolving food that is properly chewed for absorption into the body cells. Water is to be sip sparely during meal time. Food should be eaten regularly and at regular times.


Do not skip your breakfast except that you are fasting.


Always start the day with a good breakfast of fresh leafy greens, vegetables, fruits and nuts including fats and proteins.


To your good health!


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