Macro and micronutrients

Balanced Diet

The food we eat contains different nutrients in different proportion, and different types of food contain different amount of nutrients. Mixing different food sources can maximise the contents of different nutrients. Therefore; by eating foods of variety source we can get the required amount of nutrients that our body needs. Choosing a variety of foods and drinks from all the food groups is termed as Balanced diet.

The best way to help individuals in your community to prepare a balanced diet is to learn which food people use, the amount of different foods available and how they prepare their meals.

Food Sources of Nutrients

Food group	Examples of foods	Nutrient
Carbohydrates		Sugar Starch Fiber
Fats		Fatty acid and glycerol /Fats and oil/
Proteins		Amino acid / Proteins
Micronutrients		Vitamins and Minerals
Water		Water

The requirements of different foods are represented using a triangular diagram called Food Pyramid.

A food guide pyramid is a pyramid-shaped guide of healthy foods divided into sections to show the recommended intake for each food group. Currently, some countries use "My Plate" instead of the Food Pyramid. My Plate model recommends making half our plate fruits and vegetables and making at least half our grains whole grains and switching to fat-free or low-fat (1%) diet.

The food pyramid helps us to identify the food groups people have to combine to make diets balanced. The food groups at the top of the pyramid indicate the food to be eaten in moderation or small amount, and food groups at the bottom of the pyramid refer to food groups to eat in larger amounts.

The staple food is the common type of food that is consumed by the community. It should be part of a balanced diet because it's the main part of most meals. The staple diet may vary from region to region. For example, "injera" is the staple diet in many parts of Ethiopia, maize in other areas, and "kocho" in the southern part of the country. These foods are usually cheap, and provide most of the energy, protein and fibre in a meal, as well as vitamins.

Cultural and Religious Taboos of Food

There are very important cultural and religious values regarding nutrition. For instance, the practice of proper feeding to mothers during the postnatal period or first 45 days of postpartum is a very valuable culture. Even though there are such important cultural food customs, there are some cultural and religious food taboos which critically discriminates children, girls and women in our feeding practice.

Food taboo is a condition that restricts or forbids some foods based on age and sex category as culturally or religiously determined in society. Sometimes, however, these cultural features become the cause of nutritional and health problems. Bad food practices in Ethiopia are the following:

• Pregnancy: women do not receive enough care; the work burden of the mothers will not be reduced.
• Breastfeeding: colostrums (the first milk produced by the mother after delivery) will be discarded.
• The newborn is forced to swallow butter.
• Infancy and childhood: children eat the last ones; the quality of their food is poor.
• Women: gender bias; women eat last and only have the leftovers.

What do you understand from the above section? Discuss it with your friend and tell to your instructor.

As a health extension worker, you are expected to educate the community any bad cultural practices those should be avoided and attain a positive health behaviour.