BALANCED DIET

The  food that we take daily constitutes diet .It must  be balanced with work.Adiet that contains allcomponent of foods in adequate quantities is called  a blalanced diet . According to Bulletin 23 of our government ,an adult doing average work  should eat everyday  different component of food in quantiites  .                                                     The dietary requirements depend upon age ,sex and work..These  can be obtained from  cereal , pulses ,  leaf and other vegetables ,roots and tubers, milk , oil and fat and ,sugar and jaggery.The common food that we take daily have major constituents of food  in varying proportions .Inlight of these , the quantity of the common food s can be adjusted to the type of work  one does .                                                                                                                   The main aim of the balanced diet is tto provide sufficient calories [energy] for work  and materials in adequate quantities to body  for growth and repair .The energy requirements depend upon  the  amount of work done ,sex and age .An  average adult man rquires about 1800 kilo calories per day to keep him alive and an average adult woman needs 1500 kilo calories  per day  for the same purpose .At complete rest , an average adult man requires about 1600 kilo calories per  day, while an average adult woman needs 1450 kilo calories per day .A young labourer, who does lot of physical work , reqires a diet  which can provide him  with about 3600 kilo calories per day  and a young woman doing the  same ,requires  a diet which can provide  her with about  3000 kilo calories .Ayoung man and  a young woman ,who do  ordinary works for 8 hour per day ,require everyday about  3000 and 250 kilo calories  respectively .The light work everyday  demands less calories ; ayoung man needs 2500 kilo  calories and ayong woman requires about  2100 kilo calories .Growing children  need more energy with the  increasing age ;  but the energy requirement  for both sexes is almost similar upto  12 years but male need more energy than female after 12 years .                                                                                                                   If the the daiy intake of food does not provide  sufficient calories , the capacity for the work is reduced and the body  loses weight because  the reserved food areoxidised .The continous  starvation leads to rapid weight -loss.                                                                                                                                                            Malnutrition                                                                                                                                                This is condition in which aperson suffers  due to lack of  one or more components  of food.This is characterized by poor growth and weakness .                                                                                            Deficiency of proteins  ,carbohydrates  and fats  leads to protein energy mal-nutriton [pem] . It is the  most common in indian children ,specially  in the age period of 1-5 yrs and its symptom  is poor body growth and retarded mental growth .Two common forms of the above - mentioned  malnutrition are kwashiorker  and marasmus  .                                                                                                                                                            Deficiency of vitamin  in the diet im pairs  growth and body function s .Lack of vitamin A[retinol ] leads to retarded mental growth ,dryskin , night blindness  and defective  formation of teeth .Likewise,  dificiency of vitamin b1 [thiamine]  and b2 [ribo flavin] also lead to retarded growth  and adversely affect eyes ,skin tongue and other organs .Thiamine[b1] deficiency  result in a disease called  beri-beri .This is cahracterised  by water logging of tissues , much weakness ,headache ,paralysis  and even heart failure . Like the mineral deficiency dieseases, the vitamins deficiency  diseases , the vitamins  de ficiency deficiency can be cured  by recommend  dosage.