Basic tips on Nutrition....

What Fuel Does Your Body Need?

Protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, minerals and water – your body needs all of these, but what are they?

➡️Protein

There are 20 chemicals called amino acids, which join together in different ways to make thousands of different proteins.

➡️Where do they come from?

11 of them are made by your body and are called ‘non essential’ amino acids. The other 9 ‘essential’ amino acids you have to get by eating the right foods.

What does protein do?

It is a very important nutrient because it builds up your muscles, organs and glands. It helps repair and replace them too, so that your body can keep on working. Some of the things protein makes include: • Haemoglobin – this carries oxygen around the body in your blood. • Antibodies –these fight diseases, helping to heal cuts and grazes.

• If you eat meat, chicken, fish, eggs, nuts, dairy products and legumes, then you’ve got it! • Protein from animal foods has all the essential amino acids that you need. Plant foods have each got some of them.

If you are a vegetarian [don’t eat animal foods] then you have to make sure that you still get the right amount of amino acids.

➡️How?

You need to eat a wide variety of plant foods. You could mix cereal with milk, nuts and fruit or have a peanut butter sandwich and a piece of fruit.

Carbohydrates There are two types of carbohydrates:

Sugars – these are simple carbohydrates (because your body digests them quickly and easily),

Starches – called complex carbohydrates (because it takes your body longer to digest them).

➡️What do carbohydrates do? They give energy to all the cells in your body by producing glucose. This gives you quick energy, but your body cells can’t use heaps of it all at once, so it saves some in your liver and muscles as glycogen. It’s a bit like having two tanks of petrol, the one your car is using and a reserve tank in case you run out of fuel.

So, if your body runs out of glucose it switches to the reserve tank, glycogen. Once there is enough glycogen stored in your liver and muscles, the rest turns to fat. Some simple carbohydrates come from ‘sometimes’ foods like fizzy drinks and lollies, which have lots of sugar but not the important vitamins your body needs. Many come from foods, such as apples, bananas, grapes, raisins, as well as low-fat ice cream and yummy frozen yoghurt. These give you extras, such as vitamins and minerals. Complex carbohydrates come from food like bread, cereals, pasta and veggies like corn, potatoes and carrots. They give you energy more slowly, so it lasts longer, and they contain heaps of vitamins and minerals, which your body needs.

➡️Fat This is in your body. It is the way you store energy for later.

There are three types of fat that we eat:

• Saturated fatty acids, from animal foods, dairy foods and some oils that come from plants.

• Unsaturated fatty acids, from plants, fish and most plant oils.

• Monounsaturated fatty acids, from some plant products, such as olive oil and canola oil.

What does fat do?

Some good things about fat. • It acts as the body’s reserve tank of energy • Protects our organs, like a cushion • Helps our bodies to stay warm in cold weather • Helps hormones to keep blood pressure steady • Helps to keep skin and hair healthy • Gives some vitamins a place to stay and helps them get around the bloodstream to where the body wants them.

➡️How do you get it?

There is fat in lots of good foods, such as meat, eggs, cheese, but sometimes there is too much in fast foods, like chips, biscuits and many of the ‘sometimes’ foods.

Remember, you only need to eat a little of these to get all the good things from fat. If you eat too much, you will find out the bad things that can happen as a result of too much fat.

➡️Fat can:

• Lead to obesity (when a person weighs too much for their height and body type). • Leads to illnesses when you’re older (including heart disease). • Makes you feel bad because you’re not getting enough of the good foods to keep you healthy. • Makes you feel bad about the way you look.

How to avoid too much fat:

• Choose low-fat milk, yoghurt, cheese etc. • Cut fat off meat before cooking or eating it. • Avoid fried food and pastries (make them ‘sometimes’ foods). • Avoid chicken skin. • When you use fat (margarine or cooking oil, for example), choose unsaturated fat products because they are healthier for your body.

➡️Water Your body needs water to work well, as the water in the blood carries food to all parts of your body. Aim for balance in your food. Keep your body in the mood. Lots of water and exercise will keep the sparkle in your eyes.