We have all heard of the phrase, “Life is food,” or at least we should know what it means. If you are eating right and getting the proper nutrition that your body needs, you have nothing to feel guilty about. Food is any material consumed with the intent to supply nutrients for organisms’ life. Food is generally of animal, plant or fungi origin, and usually contains necessary nutrients, including proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, or other minerals needed by the organism to carry out its daily function. Humans need a well-balanced diet to live healthy and to avoid health problems, so the words “food” and “diet” are often used interchangeably, but in most cases they mean slightly different things.

The best way to see food and its nutritional value is to eat it. Try steaming vegetables; use olive oil instead of vegetable oil when cooking pasta dishes; and consume foods high in vitamins A, C and E instead of fruit (vitamin fruit contains too many antioxidants to be beneficial to humans). In addition, there are some types of food that are good to eat, but which are not so good to eat as food for nutrition. Junk foods, sugary foods, salty foods, and foods that contain refined flour should not be consumed, because these types of food can be lacking in essential nutrients. Even coffee and tea should not be consumed if an individual wants to maintain proper nutrition.

One of the best ways to get plenty of vitamins and other nutrients is to eat foods such as whole grains, which are higher in vitamins, and which are easy to digest, than processed grains, which tend to be lower in nutrients. Some good food sources of vitamin A include carrots, orange juice, sweet potatoes, and various leafy green vegetables, while food sources of vitamin C are oranges, strawberries, lemons and vitamin E. A good food source of dietary fiber is whole wheat breads, oatmeal and bran cereals, while whole grain pastas are particularly rich in this mineral. Last, but not least, it is important to remember that a well balanced diet can provide all the nutrients that you need, so do not feel limited by your personal food sources.