Healthy Body? Watch Your Diet

One of the basic necessities of man is food. We all need food because it provides us with the energy our body needs to carry on the processes of living-such as breathing, circulation of the blood, and the maintenance of body temperature- and to perform any muscular activity like sitting, working and carrying loads.

The amount needed by an individual depends on a number of factors. One of this is body size, in generals a man’s body, is larger than a woman’s body. Consequently, a man needs a greater supply of energy than a woman does. Another factor that affects energy needs is a person’s activities. A child, for example, may be smaller than adult. A child, however, is more active, so he or she really needs more energy to carry out his or her many activities. Finally, age also determines energy needs. As one grows older, his or her energy requirements decrease. Thus, the energy requirements of a young man of moderate activity in a temperature country are about 3,200 calories daily. A woman, also fairly active, needs about 2,300. A growing child’s daily requirement is 2,100. An old man, on the other hand, would require from 2,000-2,500 calories. Laborers doing heavy manual work may need 4,000 to 5,000 calories daily whereas bed-ridden patient on a light diet is given only 2,000 calories on the average.

It is important that we know our daily energy requirements because if the foo we take provides us with more calories than our body uses up, then what is left is converted to fat. In fact, a common cause of obesity according to DOH as one grows older is the failure of an individual to adjust the amount of food he eats in proportion to his decreased activities. 

But for me, being calories conscious is not enough the right number of calories in a diet does not mean that diet is perfect. Energy intake is only one measure of a good diet. The food must also contain the right amount of the different kinds of nutrients, especially the protective nutrients that keeps the disease away. If the calories intake is correct but the protective nutrients is missing it’s useless and we call those ’empty calories’. The diet is bad and the result is malnutrition. 

-Mary Joy Labarda