Chapter 3 — Mindful Eating: A Path to a Healthy Body

Chapter 3 'Mindful Eating: A Path to a Healthy Body' covers food components (carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, roughage, water), deficiency diseases, how to test nutrients in food, balanced diet, millets, and food miles.

The five major nutrients are carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. In addition, food also contains dietary fibres (roughage) and water. Carbohydrates and fats provide energy; proteins support growth and repair; vitamins and minerals protect the body from diseases.

The chapter covers: Scurvy (Vitamin C deficiency — bleeding gums), Rickets (Vitamin D deficiency — soft/bent bones), Beriberi (Vitamin B1 deficiency — tingling in hands/feet), Goitre (iodine deficiency — neck swelling), Anaemia (iron deficiency — weakness), and vision loss/night blindness (Vitamin A deficiency).

Apply 2–3 drops of diluted iodine solution to the food item. If the food turns blue-black, starch is present. If there is no colour change, starch is absent.

Press the food item on a piece of paper and wrap it. Allow to dry if the food has water. If an oily patch appears on the paper and light shines faintly through it, the food item contains fat.

A balanced diet has all essential nutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals), roughage, and water in the right amounts for proper growth and development of the body.

Millets (jowar, bajra, ragi, sanwa) are small-sized native grains of India. They are called nutri-cereals because they are good sources of vitamins, minerals like iron and calcium, and dietary fibres. They can be cultivated in different climatic conditions and contribute to a balanced diet.

Food miles is the total distance a food item travels from the producer to the consumer. Reducing food miles helps cut down transport cost and pollution, supports local farmers, and keeps food fresh and healthy.

Junk foods (like potato wafers, candy bars, carbonated drinks) have high calories due to high sugar and fat content but very low protein, minerals, vitamins, and dietary fibres. Consuming them frequently is unhealthy and can lead to obesity and related health problems.

In the 1960s, scientists found that people in the Himalayan region had neck swelling (goitre) due to iodine deficiency in the soil, which led to low iodine in local food and water. The government supplemented common salt with iodine (salts of iodine) to address this deficiency, and consumption of iodised salt reduced goitre symptoms.

Carbohydrates provide instant energy — glucose (a carbohydrate) is used immediately by the body. Fats are a source of stored energy, used as reserves. Both are called energy-giving foods.

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