Fruits and vegetables in the diet

 Fruits and vegetables in the diet

The food we consume is divided roughly between energy foods and protective foods. Our meals are largely composed of energy foods provided by main food crops: cereals, tubers such as cassava and malanga, plantains. These main crops are rich in carbohydrates (nutrients found in starch and sugars), which are burned (with inhaled oxygen when breathing) to provide energy.

This energy allows us to perform our daily activities and it plays a role in the vital processes of our cells. Excess carbohydrates are converted to fat and stored in the body to provide a source of energy in the periods of scarcity. The use of fat or oil in meal preparation reduces the need for carbohydrates. Protective foods are needed, in smaller amounts, for the maintenance of living cells and the growth of new cells. Meat, fish, dairy products, and eggs contain most of the elements we need and in particular the following protective nutrients: proteins, vitamins, and minerals. But animal products are expensive (and vegetarians refuse to eat them or at least big party). Hence the importance of fruits and vegetables. 

The big one variety of fruits and especially vegetables available (including dried vegetables) provides all protective complement the energy elements we consume. They also make meals more varied and tasty and are rich in fiber, which facilitates digestion.
Only a tiny amount of vitamins and minerals is needed to our body. On the other hand, its needs for proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are very important. Virtually all activities of living cells use proteins (and our brain contains about 20% of all body proteins)! Because of their rapid growth, children have protein needs almost as important as adults and they often suffer from a deficiency (Kwashiorkor). This deficiency also weakens resistance against other diseases.

Among the energy foods, cereals represent a fairly good source of protein, but the tubers contain relatively little. Pulses have a high protein content and their contribution is at least as interesting as that of the products of animal origin. But proteins cannot play their role protective if the body has a lack of energy. So, eggs consumed by an undernourished person will be burned for providing energy, but will not be used for growth! Other said so that the protective foods can play properly their role, it is necessary first that the problems of hunger have been solved. Unfortunately, the consumption of protective foods is much too low in most tropical countries.

In Many African countries, the average contribution is more than half less than the minimum quantities recommended by Nutritionists: 150 g of vegetables and 50 g of fruit a day. And even most people who can afford to buy fruits and vegetables are far from eating enough. This is the reason why diseases caused by the foods eaten (or rather, those who are not), are endemic even when There is no more famine. It is the children who suffer the most from these deficiencies and they have consequences for the rest of their lives. Vitamin deficiencies (A and C in particular) and minerals (especially iron) are common and debilitating.

Vitamin A protects the skin and the wall inside the nose, mouth and eyes; the blindness of a child is caused mostly by a lack of vitamin A. Vitamin C plays a multiple role. The body storing only one small amount, regular intake fresh fruits and vegetables preferably, is indispensable. The deficiency bleeds gums and ruins the skin; it makes the irritable children. Vitamin C improves the assimilation of iron which is indispensable to the health of the blood; iron deficiency leads to extreme fatigue and low resistance to infections.

Milk and eggs are good sources of vitamin A, but in the presence of fat, the body is able to make vitamin A from carotene. Leafy vegetables (especially those with dark green leaves), as well as fruits and vegetables oranges or yellows (papayas, oranges, pumpkins, red peppers, carrots), are rich in carotene. These same fruits and vegetables are a source of vitamin C, especially when eaten fresh (prolonged cooking destroys vitamin C) The leaves of dark green vegetables contain a lot of iron, as do the dried vegetables, cereals, meat, and eggs.

There are many varieties of vegetables, especially vegetables. We can consume the young shoots of many trees and shrubs. In addition, green shoots are commonly some field crops (cowpeas, beans, cassava, potatoes sweet and pumpkin) and weeds growing between the plants (for example, purslane, amaranth, black nightshade). But these harvests are only possible during the growing season of the plants. The vegetable garden makes it possible to produce vegetables (as well as fruits, herbs, etc.) throughout the year.