Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Saturday, July 6th, 2024

A Balanced Diet

In our country Afghanistan there are thousands of people who either suffers from overweight or weakness in both conditions we need to solve the problem and be fully fit ad fine. For that purpose we need to maintain a balanced diet. 

A balanced diet is one that provides an adequate intake of energy and nutrients for maintenance of the body and therefore good health. A diet can easily be adequate for normal bodily functioning, yet may not be a balanced diet. An ideal human diet contains fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, water and iron all in correct proportions.

These proportions vary for each individual because everyone has different metabolic rates and levels of activity. Malnutrition results from an unbalanced diet, this can be due to an excess of some dietary components and lack of other components, not just a complete lack of food. Too much of one component can be as much harm to the body as too little. Deficiency diseases occur when there is a lack of a specific nutrient, although some diet related disorders are a result of eating an excess. Energy is provided by carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

 Proteins are a provider of energy in an emergency, but are primarily used as building blocks for growth and repair of many body tissues. This energy providing compounds are needed in large quantities in our diet so is described as macronutrients.

We also need much smaller amounts of other nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. Because much smaller quantities are needed for a balanced diet these are known as micronutrients. Despite the small quantities needed these are essential to provide a healthy diet as they have specific roles in metabolic reactions and as structural components.

Within the cells of our body, the nutrients ingested are converted to other compounds which are then used for metabolism and other cellular reactions. Starch, a major carbohydrate is converted to glucose which can be then synthesized into fat for storage, proteins are synthesized from amino acids, and phospholipids are made from glycerol and fatty acids.

However there are some organic compounds which despite being essential for a healthy diet cannot be made by cells so must be provided by diet. These are essential amino acids, essential fatty acids and vitamins.

Except the mentioned items which are essential for a normal body and skeletons there are some other keys point as well which as to be sustained if you want to be healthy and fully fit.