Mindful Eating: A Path to a Healthy Body

Why This Matters

Have you ever skipped a meal? You feel tired. You feel weak. You cannot run or play well. Your tummy makes noise.

That feeling is your body asking for food.

We eat food every day. But have you ever stopped to ask why? Why do we need food at all? And why do elders say “eat your dal”, “drink your milk”, “eat fruits and vegetables”?

There is an old saying in Sanskrit: annena jaatani jeevanti. It means “food gives life to living beings.” Food is not just for taste. Food keeps us alive. It gives us energy. It helps us grow. It keeps us healthy.

In this chapter, you will learn what is really inside your food. You will learn what each part does for your body. And you will learn how to eat in a smart, healthy way. This is called mindful eating — eating with care and good sense.

The Big Idea

Food is made of different parts called components. Each part has its own job. Some parts give us energy to run and play. Some parts help our body grow and repair itself. Some parts protect us from falling sick. To stay healthy, we need a little of every part — not too much of one thing and too little of another. That smart mix is called a balanced diet.

Let’s Break It Down

Where our food comes from

Look at your plate at dinner. Rice, dal, roti, vegetables, maybe an egg or some milk.

Where did all this come from?

Every food comes from one of two places:

• Plants — like wheat (for roti), rice, dal, fruits and vegetables.
• Animals — like milk, curd, egg, fish and meat.

That is all. Every single thing you eat starts as a plant or comes from an animal.

Let us see this clearly. Figure 3.1 below splits common foods into these two groups.

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Did you notice something? Even a simple meal mixes both. The roti is from a plant (wheat). The glass of milk is from an animal (a cow or buffalo). India is a big country, so the foods change from place to place — idli and dosa in the south, makki di roti in Punjab — but every one of them still comes from plants or animals.

Components of food

Here is the big secret of this chapter. Your food is not made of only one thing. It is a mix of several different parts. Each part is called a component.

Think of it like a cricket team. Different players do different jobs — some bat, some bowl, some keep wicket. Food works the same way. Different components do different jobs in your body.

There are these main components:

• Carbohydrates
• Fats
• Proteins
• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Dietary fibre (roughage)
• Water

The first five — carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals — are called nutrients. A nutrient is a part of food that the body uses to get energy, to grow, to repair itself, or to stay healthy. Fibre and water are also very important, even though they are not nutrients.

Let us meet each one and learn its job.

Figure 3.2 below is a quick map of all the components. Keep coming back to it as you read.

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Carbohydrates and fats — the energy givers

When you run, jump, study, or even just breathe, you use energy. Energy is the power your body needs to do work. Where does this energy come from? From food.

Two components are the main energy givers: carbohydrates and fats.

Carbohydrates are found in rice, roti, potato, sweet potato, and fruits like banana. Sugar is a carbohydrate too. This is why a tired marathon runner is given glucose water — glucose is a simple carbohydrate that gives quick energy. Carbohydrates are the body’s first and main source of energy.

Fats are found in ghee, oil, butter, and nuts like groundnut, walnut and almond. Fats also give energy — but in a special way. They are like a stored or saved-up energy. Your body keeps fat and uses it slowly, later, when it needs extra energy.

Here is a “nothing is a given” question. Why do we eat ghee-rich laddoos and more oily food in winter? Because fats give a lot of energy, and that energy helps keep the body warm in the cold. Even a polar bear stores a thick layer of fat under its skin. It works as both a warm blanket and a store of energy for the long stretches when food is hard to find. The fat is its saved-up energy.

So remember this simple line: carbohydrates and fats are the energy-giving foods.

Proteins — the body builders

Your body is always doing repair work. Cuts heal. You grow taller. Worn-out parts inside you are rebuilt. For all this building and repairing, the body needs proteins.

Proteins are found in dal, beans, peas and nuts (from plants), and in milk, paneer, egg, fish and meat (from animals).

This is why a growing child like you needs plenty of protein — you are still growing taller and stronger. It is also why sportspersons eat a lot of protein — to build strong muscles.

So proteins are the body-building foods. They help us grow and repair.

Now, would a curious student just accept that “proteins build the body”? Let us check the idea.

Vitamins and minerals — the protectors

Some components are needed only in tiny amounts. But without them, you fall sick. These are vitamins and minerals.

Vitamins are named with letters: vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin D, and more. Minerals include calcium, iron and iodine.

What do they do? They protect your body. They keep your eyes, bones, teeth, gums and blood healthy. They help your body fight diseases. So they are called the protective foods.

Here are some real examples that show why they matter:

• Long ago, sailors on long sea trips got bleeding, swollen gums. This is a disease called scurvy. A doctor, James Lind, saw that sailors who ate lemons and oranges got better. Why? Lemons and oranges are full of vitamin C, and the missing vitamin C was the cause.
• In some hilly parts of India, people had a swelling at the front of the neck. This is a disease called goitre. It happened because the soil there had very little iodine, so the food and water had little iodine too. Adding iodine to common salt (iodised salt) fixed it.

You get vitamins and minerals from fruits, vegetables, milk and whole grains. Vitamin D and the mineral calcium keep your bones strong. Without them for a long time, bones grow weak and bent. This bone problem is called rickets. There is one bonus: your own body can make vitamin D when sunlight falls on your skin. That is why a little morning sun is good for you.

A small but important point about cooking. Some vitamins, like vitamin C, are lost when food is cooked in high heat or washed too much after cutting. That is why eating some fresh fruits and uncooked, well-washed vegetables is a smart idea.

Fibre and water — the helpers

Two more parts of food do not give nutrients, but you cannot do without them.

Dietary fibre, also called roughage, comes from plant foods — whole grains, fruits, vegetables, pulses and nuts. Roughage does not feed the body. So why eat it? Because it helps push out the waste left after digestion. It keeps your tummy clean and your toilet trips smooth. Without enough roughage, the waste gets stuck and you feel uncomfortable.

Water is the last helper, and a huge one. Water helps your body soak up the nutrients from food. It carries waste out of the body through sweat and urine (pee). You should drink plenty of water every day. You also get some water from fruits, vegetables and milk.

Let us put the three groups side by side, so the difference is crystal clear.

This next table groups foods by the job they do for the body.

Simple food tests

How do we know a food has starch, or fat, or protein? We cannot see them with our eyes. But we can do simple tests. A test gives a special colour or sign when a nutrient is there.

There are three easy tests:

1. Starch test — add a few drops of brown iodine solution. If the food turns blue-black, it has starch. (Starch is a type of carbohydrate.)
2. Fat test — rub the food on a piece of paper. If it leaves an oily patch that lets light shine through, the food has fat.
3. Protein test — done with the teacher, using two special liquids (copper sulfate and caustic soda). If the food turns violet, it has protein.

Figure 3.3 below shows the starch test. Watch the colour change.

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Let us walk through doing the starch test as a worked example.

One nice surprise: a single food can have more than one nutrient. For example, peanuts (groundnuts) pass both the fat test and the protein test. So peanuts have fats and proteins. Most foods are a mix.

A balanced diet

Now you know the components and their jobs. Here is the big question: should we eat a lot of just one component?

No. Eating only rice (carbohydrates) will give energy but will not build your body or protect you. Eating only one thing is not healthy.

The smart way is to eat a little of every component every day. A diet that has all the components — carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, fibre and water — in the right amount is called a balanced diet.

“Balanced” means well-mixed and just right. Not too much, not too little.

Figure 3.4 below shows a balanced plate. Notice how the plate is shared between the groups.

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One more thing: not everyone needs the same amounts. A growing child, a grandparent, a farmer doing hard work, and a person resting all need different amounts. The right diet depends on your age, how active you are, and your health.

Be careful of junk food — foods like wafers, candy and fizzy cold drinks. They have a lot of sugar and fat (so a lot of energy) but very little protein, vitamins, minerals or fibre. Eating them often is not healthy and can make a person unwell over time. Compare a packet of potato wafers with roasted chana (gram): the chana has far more protein and fibre, so it is the healthier choice.

Deficiency diseases

What happens if a nutrient is missing from your food for a long time? Your body suffers. The illness that comes from a missing nutrient is called a deficiency disease. (“Deficiency” just means a shortage — not enough of something.)

Each missing nutrient causes its own problem. Figure 3.5 below lists the main ones, and the food that fixes each.

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The good news is simple: these diseases can be prevented. Just eat a balanced diet with the right foods, and your body gets every nutrient it needs.

Mindful eating habits

“Mindful” means doing something with full care and thought. Mindful eating means eating with care — for your body, and for the world.

Here are good habits:

• Eat a balanced diet — a little of every component.
• Include fruits and fresh vegetables every day for vitamins, minerals and fibre.
• Drink enough water.
• Avoid too much junk food.
• Eat local food that is grown near you. It is fresh, and it travels a shorter distance.
• Take only as much food as you can eat. Do not waste food.

Why care about food waste? Think about the long journey of food. The distance food travels from the farm to your plate is called its food miles. A grain of wheat is grown by a farmer, harvested, stored, ground into flour, packed, and carried by truck to a shop near you — and only then it becomes your roti. So much hard work and effort goes into your meal. Wasting it wastes all of that. Eating local food cuts down food miles, which saves money, reduces pollution from transport, and keeps food fresh.

Remember the wise line: “Health is the ultimate wealth.” Good food today means a healthy, happy life ahead.

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Summary

• All food comes from two sources: plants (rice, dal, fruit) and animals (milk, egg, fish).
• Food is made of components: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, fibre (roughage) and water.
• Carbohydrates and fats give energy. Proteins build and repair the body. Vitamins and minerals protect us from disease.
• Fibre helps push out waste, and water helps the body use food and remove waste.
• Simple tests: iodine turns starch blue-black; fat leaves an oily patch on paper; protein turns violet.
• A balanced diet has all components in the right amount, plus fibre and water.
• A long shortage of a nutrient causes a deficiency disease — like scurvy (no vitamin C), goitre (no iodine), anaemia (no iron) and night blindness (no vitamin A).
• Mindful eating means eating a balanced diet, choosing local food, and not wasting food.

What’s Next

You now know what keeps your body running well. Next, we leave the kitchen and explore a hidden force you can feel but cannot see — the pull and push of magnets. In Chapter 4 — Exploring Magnets, you will find out why a magnet sticks to some things and not others, why it always points north, and how this simple object guides ships and phones even today.