General Science chapter 03||Balanced Diet||carbohydrate ,protein fat & oils, Vitamins and water

For a healthy body, it is necessary to have food containing all the essential nutrients e.g. carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, dietary fibres and water in right quantity. Such food is called balanced diet.
Basically a single food item is not sufficient to provide all the nutrients. In order to have all the nutrients we have to take mixture of food items, each of which is rich in and sufficient for, a particular nutrient.
Nutritional need is different for each person, therefore balanced diet is also different for different person.
For getting a balanced diet it is not necessary to have expensive food materials. In fact simple meal can also serve the purpose. E.g. Mixture of cereals, mixture of rice with bajra, jowar and ragi; Instead of raw seeds use of sprouted seeds; similarly use of fruits like banana, guava, apple etc, plenty of green vegetables, fermented food such as idli are all cost effective and good for health.
We should also make sure that the food is cooked correctly.
Junk food often contain large amount of fats but no or very little amount of other nutrients. In unhygienic conditions it may also contain disease causing agents. Both undernutrition and overnutrition are malnutrition. It causes abnormal development of body parts, stunted growth and similar problems. So, having a balanced diet is not only important but also essential for everyone’s body.