WHY PEOPLE DONT EAT BALANCED DIET

A diet that contains all the different classes of food (Carbohydrates, Protein, Fats and Oil, Mineral Salts, Vitamins, Roughages and Water) in the right proportion is described as 'balanced diet' and when not in the right proportion, it becomes 'unbalanced'. Carbohydrates are noted for supplying energy for the body and also keeping the body warm thus maintaining body temperature. Sources include rice, yam, potato and others. Proteins are needed for building and replacing damaged and worn-out tissues as well as healing wounds. Sources include Beans, Mellon, Coconut and others.

Fats and Oil provides energy for man and other animals and also keeps the body warm. Sources include Groundnut, Mellon oil, Butter, Fish or Cod oil, Meat and Soya bean and others. Vitamins are organic food substances, which are needed in small quantity for normal and healthy growth. They can be categorized into A, B, C, D and E. Food sources include green vegetables, milk, liver oil, and fruits like Mango, Orange, Pineapple, Seeds and others.

Mineral salts are required in small quantity for vital body processes while Water is needed as a solvent for soluble food substances in digestion, medium of transporting nutrients, excretion of water from the body cells, regulation of body temperature and maintenance of osmotic content of body tissues. Roughages consist of plant fibers, which can be obtained from fruits and vegetables. They make intestinal walls to work normally.

People don't eat balanced diet due to ignorance of the importance of each food item to the body. Poverty is another factor. There is no doubt that many foods that are rich in Carbohydrates, Fats and Oil and Proteins are very expensive in the market and thus cannot be afforded by the less privileged in the society. Today, many people feed on what they could see even though would have preferred to feed on balanced diet.

Scarcity of certain food items in the market in some countries makes people to feed on those available thus breaking the formula. Inability to feed on balanced diet often results to deficiency diseases, which include kwashiorkor, rickets, scurvy, anemia, night blindness, pellagra. Beriberi and others.