Medical Keywords - Everything you need to know about health.

How Much Do You Know About Healthy Eating?

Nutrition is something many individuals study in school and college. Some individuals make a career out of knowing about nutrition and how to show others better ways to eat.

Nutrition and healthy eating is not all that difficult to understand. There are a few basics that you need to know about nutrition in order to figure out how to eat healthy.

Did you know that carbohydrates, fat, protein and fiber are called macronutrients?

Did you know that there are 14 vitamins and 15 minerals?

The vitamin team is made up of vitamins A, C, D, E, K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, biotin, Choline, and folate.

The mineral team is made up of calcium, chromium, copper, fluoride, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorus, selenium, zinc, potassium, sodium, and chloride.

Micronutrients are those substances that our bodies need in minuscule amounts. Even though our bodies only need a very small amount of them to be healthy, if these micronutrients are missing from our diet it can mean disaster for our health. Micronutrients include iodine, vitamin A and iron. When you are missing these substances you can have iodine deficiency disorders, vitamin A deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia. Other microminerals or trace elements are cobalt, copper, manganese, and selenium.

Macronutrients provide calories or energy that the body needs for growth, metabolism, and for other bodily functions. Macronutrients are needed in large amounts. Carbohydrates are needed for our survival because they are the body's main source of fuel and are used for energy to fuel the needs of the body. The central nervous system needs carbohydrates. Muscles store carbohydrates for energy to be used later when needed for an activity and carbohydrates are also used in intestinal health and in removing wastes from the body.

We eat carbohydrates when we eat starchy foods such as grains and potatoes, fruits, milk, and yogurt, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and cottage cheese.

Protein is also essential for our survival because it is important for growth in children, teens and pregnant women, for tissue repair, immune function, and for making essential hormones and enzymes. It is also energy when carbohydrates are not available. Proteins are also used to preserve lean muscle mass. We consume protein when we eat meats, poultry, fish, meat substitutes, cheese, milk and milk products, nuts, legumes, and some starchy foods and vegetables.

We need fat to survive because fat is needed for normal growth and development, for energy, and to absorb certain vitamins, provide cushioning for organs, to maintain cell membranes, and to provide taste, consistency, and stability to certain foods. We consume fat when we eat meats, poultry, nuts, milk products, butters and margarines, oils, lard, fish, grain and also salad dressings.

Besides macronutrients and micronutrients our bodies also need water to survive.