Total Health :: essays research papers fc

Nutrition is the science that deals with food and how the bole uses it. All lively thingsneed food to live. The food supplies cogency, which people need to perpetrate certainactions. Food also provides substances that the body needs to build and repair its tissuesand to regulate its variety meat and organ systems.Food provides certain chemical substances needed in order for a person to principal(prenominal)tain goodhealth. These chemical substances atomic number 18 called nutrients. Nutrients can perform threeimportant functions. They provide materials for building, repairing, or maintaining bodytissues. They help regulate body processes. They serve as fuel to provide energy. Thebody needs energy to maintain all its functions. People who do not get enough nutrientsare sometimes lazy and are unwilling to work.The foods we eat contain thousands of opposite chemicals. Our body, however, unlessneeds only a few dozen of these chemicals in order to stay healthy. These are thenutr ients that the body needs. Nutrients are divided into six main groups. They are(1)water, (2)carbohydrates, (3)fats, (4)proteins, (5)minerals, (6)vitamins. Water,carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are called macronutrients. Since macro means large, thebody needs these four nutrients in large amounts. Minerals and vitamins are calledmicronutrients (because micro means small). The body needs only small amounts ofthese nutrients.Water is the most important nutrient. Our bodies can survive without other nutrients forseveral weeks, but we can only go without water for about peerless week. Water is needed ingreat amounts because the body consists largely of water. Between 50 and 75 percent of anormal persons body weight is make up of water. The body needs water to carry out allof its life processes. Watery solutions help dissolve other nutrients and carry them to allof the tissues. The body also needs water to carry away waste products and to cool itself.Adults should drink about 2 1/2 qua rts of water every day.The carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are needed because they have nutrients whichprovide energy. Carbohydrates include all sugars and starches. They are the main source of energy forliving things. There are two types of carbohydrates, simple and complex. unprejudicedcarbohydrates include sugars and have a simple molecular structure. Complexcarbohydrates include starches and have a larger and more complicated molecularstructure. The structure consists of many a(prenominal) simple carbohydrates linked together.Fats are a highly concentrated source of energy. All fats are composed of an alcoholcalled glycerol and substances called suety acids. A fatty acid consists of a long chain ofcarbon atoms. There are three types of fatty acids.