Sunday 3 January 2010

Learning About Health Food

It is a fact that to feel well you must eat well, by following a balanced diet. This will reduce your health problems and aid recovery when illnesses occur. A balanced diet will ensure you take in basic nutrients which the body requires. This will include vitamins, the right kind of fats, minerals, and carbohydrates which we are given to understand that the body requires on a regular basis. This may include some organic foods, but there are divided opinions at the present time and the jury is still-out so to speak. We can ,however, take the term "Health Food" to mean food with the right nutriments required for our wellness.

Organic Foods

There is a lot of talk and publicity in recent times about organic food. Organic food is grown without using pesticides or chemical based fertilizers. Unlike non organic food, organic food does not receive artificial processsing additives. Due to the system employed by the the large Super Markets for the distribution of food to their outlets, the food processing outlets need to use some chemical based addatives to the products to prolong the products life during the distribution and selling process. This does not happen with organic food. Also there are many markets which sell organic food direct from growers to cusomers. The consumption of organic food appears to be on the increase.

Functional Food

Many people are now familiar with the concept of organic food, more so than functional food which still requires even more publicity and understanding than received so far. Functional food can be described as food that could lead to better health and reduce the number of illnesses from the present levels. There has been the coming together of nutrition and pharmaceuticals where the producers of functional foods often use the nutritional value to boost the marketing process.

Nutritional Uses of Food

This category within the food market refers to foods to which various nutrients are added. This necessitates a change in labelling requirements.. This is because these foods are available for people who have metabolic problems or other people who have physiological conditions. It also includes children and infants who fall into this category. It is of course always wise to seek professional advice on these matters, but it helps before you do that to at least be aware of basic information to point you in the right direction,such as given in this article.

by Harry Raymond Cowperthwaite

_________________________________________