The food which we normally eat in a day is called our diet. A diet which can provide materials for all the metabolic requirements of the body is called a balanced diet. It must include energy food, building food, minerals, green and yellow vegetables and sufficient amount of water according to our body needs.
A balanced diet depends on the amount of physical work which we do. A hard worker (who consume a lot of energy in physical work) need carbohydrate and fat in their diet more than others.
Our diet should include; cereal, pulses, groundnut, soyabean, sprouted seeds, fermented foods, banana, spinach, jaggery, available vegetables.
Balanced Diet: –
This is the table showing balanced diet for moderately active adult Indian.
| Name of Food | Recommended Amounts (gms. per day) | |
| Adult Man | Adult Woman | |
| Cereals (Wheat/Rice) | 520 | 440 |
| Pulses | 50 | 45 |
| Milk | 200 | 150 |
| Meat/Fish or
Egg |
30
1 |
30
1 |
| Fats (oil, Butter, Ghee) | 45 | 25 |
| Sugar | 35 | 20 |
| Root and Tubers (Radish, Potato) | 60 | 50 |
| Green Leafy Vegetables | 40 | 100 |
| Other Vegetables | 70 | 40 |
Deficiency Diseases: –
Diseases caused by deficiency of one or more nutrients over a long period in our food are called deficiency diseases. All deficiency diseases can be prevented by taking a balanced diet.
| Nutrient | Deficiency disease/Disorder | Symptoms |
| Protein | Kwashiorkor and Marasmus | · Change in skin and hair colour, failure to grow or gain weight.
· Stunted growth, loss of body tissue, dry skin. |
| Vitamin A | Loss of vision | Poor vision, loss of vision in darkness, sometimes complete loss of vision. |
| Vitamin B1 | Beriberi | Weak muscles and very little energy to work. |
| Vitamin C | Scurvy | Bleeding gums, wounds take longer time to heal. |
| Vitamin D | Rickets | Bones become soft and bent. |
| Vitamin E | Haemolytic anaemia | Destruction of RBCs. |
| Calcium | Bone and tooth decay | Weak bones, tooth decay. |
| Iodine | Goitre | Glands in the neck appear swollen, mental disability in children. |