A Healthy Diet is Based on Healthy Food

Food is any substance ingested to provide nutrition to an organism for a short or long period of time. The body needs all the vitamins and nutrients that food can provide, so it stores them in various tissues. Usually food is of animal, plant or fungi origin, and generally has some essential nutrients, including proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, or other minerals. Most food is classified into three groups, which are dietary food, nutritional food, and non-dietary food.

Dietary food is divided into five categories, depending on the amount of nutrients they contain, i.e. proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fiber. Foods with more nutrients are usually recommended by health experts as healthy diet, since they can supply the body with all the substances it needs. Foods are categorized as healthy if they contain all the nutrients required by the body in moderate quantities, in proportions determined by the body type. Foods are classified as unhealthy if they contain too much or the wrong proportion of essential nutrients.

Diets that consist mainly of complex carbohydrates are rich in fiber and glucose, while sugary foods are rich in fat and sugar and contain no nutrient. It is therefore advisable to eat a balanced diet composed of vegetables, cereals, legumes, whole grain breads and pastas and dairy products, with the main source of protein being meat. Vegetarians can consume eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt, honey, seeds, nuts, vegetables and fruits. A diet rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, thiamin, folate, riboflavin, potassium, sodium, phosphorus and selenium is also highly recommended for maintaining good health.