1. The Quest For A Healthy Life
NUTRITION
The Quest
For A
Healthy Life

2. NUTRITION QUEST Why do we need food?
To fulfill physical & mental needs.
Food provides us with energy, helps us grow & keeps us healthy.
How many meals are recommended a day?
Three – breakfast, lunch, & dinner.
What is the most important meal of the day?
Breakfast
Why?
Break – Fast
When you eat breakfast you are breaking from your fast!
Breakfast also provides you with energy to start off your day!
What helps us determine the kind of food we need to eat on a daily basis?
The Food Guide pyramid.

3. YOUR HEALTH & WELLNESS Health –
A combination of physical, mental/emotional, and social health
Physical Health-
Involves taking care of your body.
How?
Eat a well-balanced diet.
Exercise
Sleep at least 8 hours each night
Avoid tobacco, alcohol & drugs.
Mental/emotional health –
Involves taking care of your mind.
Express feelings clearly & calmly.
Accept responsibilities for your actions.
Learn from your mistakes.

4. HEALTH & WELLNESS Social Health –
Involves taking care of the ways in which you get along with other people.
How?
Communicate effectively.
Respect other people’s feelings
Resolve conflicts effectively
Wellness –
An overall state of well-being involving regular behaviors that have a positive result over time.
Heredity –
The passing on of traits from biological parents to children.
Examples:
skin, eye, & hair color
Body build
Growth patterns
Tendency to get certain diseases.

5. THE FOOD GUIDE PYRAMID Nutrition:
The process of taking in food & using it for growth & good health.
The choices you make about food impact every area of your life.
Diet:
All the things you regularly eat & drink.
Four factors influencing your diet:
1. Sensory Appeal – the way food looks, tastes, smells and feels.
2. Geography – land, climate, & agricultural products of your region.
3. Your Cultural & Family Background – your family’s cultural or ethnic background.
4. Advertising – designed to influence you to choose one food over another.
Food provides your body with fuel it needs to grow and function.
Your body breaks down the food and uses it for energy and to build and repair body cells.

6. FOOD GUIDE PYRAMID Food Guide Pyramid: Nutrients: Calories:
A guide for making healthful daily food choices.
Shows a suggested range of servings.
The energy you need depends on age, gender and activity level.
Nutrients:
The substances in foods that your body needs to grow, have energy & stay healthy. (There are 6 major)
Calories:
Units of heat that measure the energy available in foods,
How many calories do most year-olds need per day?
(2,200 to 2,500)

7. THE SIX MAJOR NUTRIENTS
Carbohydrates:
Starches & sugars that provide the body with most of its energy.
2 types: Simple carbs – sugars found in fruits, milk & honey.
Complex carbs – starches found in breads, rice, pasta and potatoes. Your body breaks down starch a and converts it to sugar.
2. Proteins:
Essential nutrients used to repair body cells & tissues.
Made up of a group of 22 chemicals called amino acids.
Our body can make amino acids on our own but essential amino acids come from specific foods.
Complete Proteins – foods that come from animals (milk, eggs, and fish)
Incomplete Proteins - foods that come from plants (dry beans and grains).
3. Vitamins:
Substances that help regulate the body’s function. Help body to use nutrients & help to fight infection Ex. Fruit, vegetables & whole grain breads
Water-soluble vitamins – Vitamin C & many B vitamins.
They dissolve in water so they must be replaced each day.
Fat-soluble vitamins – Vitamins A,D,E & K
Dissolve in fat so body can store them until needed.
Sources: fruits, vegetables, & fortified milk.

8. SIX MAJOR NUTRIENTS CONT.
4. Minerals:
Substances that strengthen the muscles, bones, & teeth. Enrich the blood & keep heart & other organs working properly.
Examples – Calcium & fluoride for strong bones & teeth.
Iron for building & strengthening red blood cells.
Potassium, sodium & chloride help regulate water balance in body.
Sources - Milk, meat, fish, spinach, fruits & dry beans
5. Fats:
Sources of energy that perform other functions, such as vitamin storage & body insulation.
Fats also keep the skin healthy. Energy not used by the body is stored as fat.
Examples - meat, butter, margarine, cooking oil, whole milk, egg yolks & cheese.
6. Water:
Essential to survival. Helps to break down food, carries nutrients throughout body, removes wastes & keeps body at a comfortable temp. You should drink 6 to 8 glasses a day.
Examples - many foods, fruits, juices, celery, milk & cabbage.

9. GUIDELINES FOR HEALTHFUL CHOICES
VARY YOUR DIET.
MANAGE YOUR WEIGHT THROUGH EXERCISE.
EAT PLENTY OF GRAINS, VEGETABLES & FRUITS.
Good source of fiber - the part of grains, fruits & vegetables that the body cannot break down.
Body does not use fiber for energy but helps to move food & waste .
Protects against some diseases such as cancer.
CUT DOWN ON FATS:
Saturated fats - fats found mostly in meats & dairy products.
linked to cholesterol.
Cholesterol - waxy substance produced by & used by the body to build cells
to much saturated fats increases cholesterol level which can lead to heart disease.
Unsaturated fats - liquid fats that mainly come from plants.
AVOID TOO MUCH ADDED SUGAR
WATCH SODIUM (mineral that helps regulate fluids) & SALT
RDA for fiber – 20 grams per day to keep digestive system healthy.

11. HEALTHFUL MEAL PLANNING
The Importance of breakfast:
Breakfast supplies the body with nutrients to build & repair cells.
More importantly, your body needs energy (think break-fast).
Best source of energy comes from carbohydrates.
What happens to carbohydrates when you eat them?
Your body breaks down the carbohydrates & converts it to a sugar called glucose.
Glucose is the body’s main source of energy!!
Because your body cannot store extra glucose, you need to resupply it in the morning.
Between Meals:
A healthful diet should include snacks with a high nutrient density.
Nutrient Density is the amount of nutrients in a food relative to the number of calories.

12. SNACKS & NUTRIENT DENSITY
Snacks with Low Nutrient Density (high in calories, low in nutrients)
Potato Chips
Candy Bars
Soft Drinks
Ice Cream
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Dips made with Sour Cream
Snacks with High Nutrient Density (low in calories, high in nutrients)
Pretzels
Raisins
Mixed Vegetable Juice
Low-Fat Frozen Yogurt
Graham Crackers
Dips made with Salsa

13. THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM Digestion:
The process by which the body breaks food down.
Food is the absorbed into the bloodstream & sent to each cell in your body.
Digestive System:
A series of organs that work together to break down foods into substances that your cells can use.

14. HOW DIGESTION WORKS The process begins in the mouth:
Teeth tear & grind the food into small shreds or chunks.
Saliva glands produce saliva that breakdown the carbohydrates & turn it into glucose.
Saliva also softens & moistens food for its transport through esophagus.
Food is swallowed & enters the esophagus, a long muscular tube that connects the mouth to the stomach.
When you swallow, flaps of skin close airway so you don’t choke.
Uvula closes airway to nose and epiglottis closes airway to lungs.
The stomach is a muscular organ in which some digestion occurs.
Food moves into the small intestines, a coiled tube where most of the digestive process takes place. Three organs help in this process:
Liver – produces bile that helps digest fats
Gallbladder – stores the bile until it is needed
Pancreas – Produces a fluid that breaks down proteins, carbohydrates & fats.
Once the food is broken down, nutrients are absorbed through the walls of the small intestine & into bloodstream & carried to body cells.

15. EXCRETORY SYSTEM Excretory System :
The system that removes wastes from your body & controls water balance
The Process of Excretion (how the body gets rid of liquid waste material).
Kidneys: pair of organs that filter water & waste material from blood. Also help to regulate water & salt in the body.
Ureters: two tubes where kidneys send urine through to bladders.
Bladder: a pouch in which urine is stored.
Urethra: a tube that allows the body to rid itself of urine.
Colon: also called large intestine, a storage tube for solid waste.

16. CARING FOR YOUR DIGESTIVE & EXCRETORY SYSTEMS
Eat a balanced diet based on food pyramid.
Choose foods that are low in fat & high in fiber.
Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water each day.
Eat at regular times each day.
Chew food slowly & carefully.
Brush & floss teeth. Your teeth are important to the digestive process.
Be active!!!!