Healthy Diet | නිවැරදි ආහාරයකට මඟ

What are the food groups?

Source: www.livestrong.com

There are six food groups. They provide energy and nutrients for you to be healthy.

As different groups give you different nutrients, you need food from each group.

The food groups are:

·      Cereals and yams,

·      Fruits,

·      Vegetables,

·      Milk or milk products,

·      Fish, pulses, meat and eggs,

·      Nuts and oil seeds.

In order to obtain a healthy diet, eat at least from these 6 food groups. That is exactly our customary habit. The diet of many of us lacks variety or adequate amounts of indispensable nutrients. A "Healthy" diet not only supplies all the nutrients but also supplies them in amounts adequate for the individual's daily needs. 

How do you select a healthy diet?

Select the diet on the nutrient content and the quantity of each nutrient in a particular food. The following table shows the 3 main types of food, classified according to their function that will covers the nutrient requirements taken into account in the above six groups of foods.

Function of foods	Major nutrients	Food sources	Other nutrients
Energy giving	Carbohydrate and fats	Cereals - Rice, wheat, bread, kurakkan, meneri, maize, sorghum. Yams - manioc, sweet potato, potato, innala, kiriala, king yam.  Starchy fruits - Jak, bread fruit,	Protein, calcium, iron, B-complex vitamins.
		Fats – coconut, palm oil, gingili oil, soya, olive oil, sunflower oil etc., butter, margarine, ghee. Nuts and oil seeds - coconut, ground nuts, gingili, cashew nuts, kottang Sugars – white and brown sugar, jaggery, treacle, honey.	Fat-soluble vitamins, essential fatty acids. Proteins, vitamins, minerals
Body building	Proteins	Meat – chicken, beef, pork, liver. Fish – sea, fresh water and dried fish  Pulses - green gram, soya bean, cowpea, ulundu, kadala, lentil.	B-complex vitamins, iron, calcium, iodine, fat. B-complex vitamins, fat.
		Milk or milk products – milk, cheese, fermented milk, yoghurt.	Calcium, vitamin A, riboflavin, vitaminB12
Body protective	Vitamins and minerals	Leafy vegetables–kankun, spinach, gotukola, mukunuwenna, sarana katurumurunga (Agathi). Fruit and root vegetables–gourds, brinjals, ash plantains, okra, tomato, innala. Fruits - plantain, mango, papaw, pineapple, oranges, guava, avocado	Carbohydrates, Protein

Please refer to our next article for recommendations