Food is the most important basic need of lives. We can't survive with out foods like we can't with out oxygen. Our growth movement locomotion reproduction everything depends on foods. Our organs bones muscles enzymes hormones are created from foods. Foods help us to lead a normal and healthy life.. but bad or unhealthy foods can lead to a lot of complications and health problems.. like high blood pressure, obesity, heart diseases, and many others... Can alter our hormones, hamper natural growth. Most of these bad foods are not natural and created / developed / processed by us the human beings from natural foods. The food processing industry can't be shut down.. so we should have some basic knowledge about various foods and their effects on our body or health... So that we can avoid those foods which have bad or harmful effects.. 1. CARBOHYDRATE s - healthiness or harmfulness of a carb depends on some factors of the food.. A: dietary fiber B: refining or processing C: glycemic index D: glycemic load Foods with dietary fiber(a type of carbs) are healthy.like whole grains, vegetables, fruits. Processed and refined carbs are unhealthy .. they do not contain dietary fibers. lack other nutrients and minerals. fast foods, junk foods, packaged fruit juices, refined sugar, cookies, snack foods, etc. They lead to obesity, heart diseases, diabetes and a lot of other metabolic disorders.. high GI carbs are unhealthy.they digest quickly and increase blood glucose quickly after eating. as a result in a short duration Insulin, the fat storage hormone is released in high amount..and excess glucose is stored as fats in body.. processed carbs have high GI. GL depends on the amount of carbs a food content.. high percentage of carbs in a food.. leads to high glycemic load.. high GL foods are unhealthy...like processed foods, refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white rice.. 2- Fats A: Bad fats- trans fats .They have one or more double bonds in trans geometric configuration in their carbon chains. They are byproducts of foods and vegetable oils processing... Solid or semi solid vegetable oils, vanaspati ghee or dulda, margarine, foods like chips, cookies,crackers, cakes, pastry, Pizza, fast foods, pop corn contain trans fats.. Elaidic acid is a trans fatty acid. Trans fats increase harmful LDL levels.. lead to a lot of chronical diseases like CAD, high BP, obesity, diabetes etc. Increase inflammations in body. B: In between fats Can be eaten in moderation..saturated fats.Short chain, medium chain and long chain saturated fats... Short and medium chain saturated fats are more energy efficient and are not stored in the body.Long chain fatty acids like palmitic acid , stearic acid are stored in body and are harmful in excess amount.. Red meat , chicken with skin have long chain saturated fats. They lead to obesity and heart diseases. C: Good fats MUFA & PUFA are healthy fats. They have one or more double bonds in their carbon chains in cis Geometric configuration.. MUFA- mono unsaturated fatty acid.Contains oleic acid. Also known as omega9 fatty acid.. important part of cell membrain structure.. extra virgin olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil are good source of MUFA.. PUFA- poly unsaturated fatty acid . Omega6 and omega3 fatty acids.. in omega6 there are linoleic acid, GLA, AA etc and in omega3 there are ALA, DHA and EPA fatty acids.. Linoleic acid and ALA are called essential fatty acids. PUFA decreases harmful LDL and increases good HDL levels. Minimizes the risk factors of many chronical diseases.. minimizes inflammations in body. DHA helps in brain development. Fish oil, walnuts, chia seeds, flaxseed, avocado, algae, kale, spinach are good sources of PUFA. 3- Proteins A: Bad Proteins- Processed meats. Like hot dog, sausage, chicken pattis, soup, pizza, roast, pacora, grilled chicken are bad sources of proteins.. processing is done through salting, barbequing, grilling, and smoking.These processes produce PAHs and HCA, which are harmful. more over many preservatives are used to increase the shelf life of the food.which are harmful. Meat with long chain saturated fats like Red meat and chicken with skin are also unhealthy for their bad fat content. B: Good proteins Fish, eggs, chicken breast, milk, nuts, lentils, shellfish are good sources of proteins.They contain many other healthy nutrients. Vegetables and fruits are also considered as healthy foods as they contain vitamins, minerals, antioxidants.cooking a healthy food in a unhealthy way turns it into a Bad food.. cooking in dry heat and in high temperature produces AGEs in foods , which are harmful.cooking with vegetable oils like olive oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil in high temperature produces trans fats and free radicals.. which are harmful. Information or knowledge about foods helps us to choose the right healthy foods.And to avoid the bad unhealthy one.
