Linet Wambui

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Whenever you visit the doctor one of the questions asked will be about eating a balanced diet. We don’t pay much attention to all the advice the doctor gives about our health associated to the food we eat. Today I’ll talk about benefits of having a balanced diet.
There are seven main classes of nutrients that the body needs. These are carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, fibre and water. It is important that everyone consumes these seven nutrients on a daily basis to help them build their bodies and maintain their health. Deficiencies, excesses and imbalances in diet can produce negative impacts on health, which may lead to diseases.

The nutrients are divided into two categories the macronutrients and micronutrients. The macro require to be taken in fairly large proportions and they include the carbohydrates, proteins, fibre water and fats while the micro need not to. They include vitamins and minerals. We’ll talk about the macro nutrients in a person’s body.

Carbohydrates are essential as they are energy giving foods thus providing the body enough energy for it’s normal metabolism to take effect. Sources of carbs include wheat, potatoes of all kinds, maize, rice, cassava and bananas.

Proteins are needed in our diets for growth and to improve immune functions as they help in building of enzymes that are in the body. The main sources of proteins are meats, chicken, eggs, breastmilk, beans, ground nuts, lentils, fish, cheese and milk.

The saying goes that water is life and this is no less true as people can live without solid food for a few weeks, but we cannot live without water for more than a few days. An adult needs about 2–3 litres of water. Benefits of water include enabling the body make cells and fluids such as tears, digestive juices, urine and breastmilk and sweat, above all most body processes take place in water.

Fibres are foods that are not digested when ingested in a person’s body. Fibre helps in the digestion process and more so in the egestion(removal of toxic wastes from the body like faeces) thus preventing constipation. Examples of fibre include whole grain cereals.

From the above, we find that it is very essential that a person takes a balanced diet in each meal in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.