Eating a Variety

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HealthWiki > New Where There Is No Doctor > Good Food Makes Good Health > Eating a Variety

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In this chapter:

 

In this chapter:

In much of the world, most people eat one main low-cost food with almost every meal. This main food provides energy to get through the day. But the main food alone is not enough to keep a person healthy. To grow, have strength and energy, and fight infection we must also eat other foods.

Plain porridge is not enough.	Add beans, meat, dairy, eggs, vegetables, or fruit.

For health, we need:

plenty of grains or
starchy vegetables or
fruits for energy

strength-giving protein foods,
such as beans, eggs, fish or meat

protective, vitamin-rich vegetables and fruits

By eating a range of different healthy foods each day, we can prevent many serious health problems.

Starchy foods give us energy

Our main filling, starchy food gives our bodies most of the energy needed to work, and to care for ourselves and our families. Depending on where you live, the main food may be:

rice maize wheat cassava

breadfruit plantain potato yam

millet or some other grain, root vegetable, or starchy fruit

These starchy foods are cooked into porridges, baked into tortillas and breads, pounded or ground into pastes, or cooked whole.

Choose local grains

If you have a choice of which starch to eat, local grains grow more easily, without the need for expensive chemical fertilizer, and are also the most nutritious choice. Corn, wheat, and rice are fine. But local grains like millet, buckwheat, and sorghum are even better because they have more protein, vitamins, and minerals.

Rice and wheat

If you eat mostly wheat or rice, preparing it with the germ and bran layers still attached is healthiest. Whole wheat and brown rice are rich in nutrients but heavily milled white flour and white rice provide only energy.

Cassava (manioc, yucca)

Cassava root is a common main food that has plenty of energy, but few other nutrients. If you eat mainly cassava, it is especially important to add other foods like dried fish, vegetables, or beans. The leaves of the cassava plant are rich in vitamins and minerals and good to eat if cooked. Some types of cassava are bitter because they have a high level of cyanide (a poison). People make bitter cassava safe to eat by a process of pounding, grating, soaking, or fermenting that "cleans out" the poison.

Maize

If maize is your main starchy food, process it first with lime “cal,” to bring out its vitamins.

Factory breads and noodles are not as good

Packaged white breads, biscuits, and noodles lack the nutrition found in home-cooked main foods (like porridges and grains). And they often have too much fat, salt, and sugar.

Protein foods make us strong

Everyone needs protein foods for strength, to grow, and to recover from illness and injury. Protein foods include:

• lentils, peas, beans, or other pulses.
• ground nuts, tree nuts, and seeds.
• eggs.
• any kind of meat that is available where you live: large or small animals, birds, fish, shellfish, or insects.
• milk, cheese, and yogurt.

Whole grains without the bran or germ removed, such as brown rice and whole wheat, also contain some protein. So do many edible mushrooms.

You can be just as healthy eating beans, nuts, and other protein foods from plants as you can by eating meat. And plant proteins often cost less than meat to grow or buy.

We need to eat protein regularly. Pregnant women, children, old people, and those recovering from injury or illness need protein foods every day. Be sure to give some of these strength-giving foods to the
people who need them most.

Vegetables and fruit protect our bodies

Try to eat fruits and vegetables every day. They contain different vitamins and minerals that:

• protect the organs inside our bodies.
• keep our eyes, skin, teeth, and hair healthy.
• keep our digestion working well and help us to have normal stool.
• protect us from infection and disease.

The fruits and vegetables that grow where you live are as healthy as imported ones. And they usually cost less or are free.

Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Any vegetable or fruit is healthy, including:

• squash.
• melon.
• peppers and chilies.
• fresh peas and beans.
• berries, including edible wild berries.
• mango, papaya, guava, oranges, and other tree fruits.
• leafy greens — cultivated or edible wild greens are both good and so are the leaves of many root vegetables, including sweet potato, turnip, and taro.

A mix of different colored vegetables and fruits gives a better variety of vitamins and minerals.

Problems from lack of variety of food

When we do not eat a variety of different kinds of food, then we do not get enough of the vitamins and minerals we need. This can lead to sickness.

Anemia and iron

Tiredness, weakness, and shortness of breath are commonly caused by anemia — a lack of iron in the blood.

Anemia is especially common in women, who lose iron from menstrual bleeding. Anemia can cause babies to be born small and can make bleeding during birth more dangerous.

A blood test for hemoglobin checks the amount of iron in the blood.

Signs of anemia

• pale gums and inner eyelids
• weakness
• tiredness
• dizziness
• trouble catching the breath

Treatment and prevention

Eat iron-rich foods:

• beans, peas, and lentils
• greens and seaweed
• dried fruits
• seeds and nuts
• any kind of meat, including poultry, fish, shellfish, or small animals

Cooking in iron pots adds iron to food.

Organ meats like liver and heart, and foods made with blood are inexpensive and especially rich in iron.

Someone who is very pale, tired, or weak, or who has bled a lot may have severe anemia and needs to take iron pills.

Foods rich in vitamin C allow our bodies to get much more iron from the foods we eat. So eat vitamin C rich foods in the same meals as iron-rich foods.

Vitamin C is found in green vegetables and most fruits, including tomatoes, oranges, papaya, mango, melons, and berries.

Night blindness and vitamin A

Lack of vitamin A leads to not being able to see well in poor light (night blindness) and eventually complete blindness. Vitamin A is also needed for healthy skin and bones and for fighting infection. Children and women in particular often lack enough vitamin A.

When you do not eat enough foods with vitamin A:

	First, there is more difficulty seeing in dim light.
	Later, the eyes become dry. The white of the eyes loses its shine and begins to wrinkle. Patches of little gray bubbles (Bitot’s spots) may form. As the disease worsens, the cornea may become dull and pitted.
	Then the cornea may quickly grow soft, bulge, or even burst. Usually there is not pain, but blindness can result.

Protect the eyes by eating any of these vitamin A rich foods that are available in your area:

• most orange fruits and vegetables — such as pumpkin, carrots, peppers, orange melons, papaya, mango, or orange sweet potato
• most green vegetables — such as leafy greens, green peas, and wild edible leaves
• liver
• eggs

If there are any signs of eye damage from lack of this vitamin, supplements of vitamin A (usually drops) should be given. Supplements can also be given out to children during vaccination campaigns or to prevent blindness during a measles outbreak.

Goiter and iodine

A goiter is a swelling on the throat caused by a lack of iodine in the diet. A lack of iodine in the diet of a pregnant woman can cause deafness and other physical and mental disabilities in the baby. This can happen to the baby even if the mother does not have goiter.

The easiest way to prevent goiter and iodine deficiency is to use iodized salt (salt with iodine added when it is processed). This prevents most goiter and can make goiter go away. (An old, hard goiter can be removed only by surgery, but this is not usually necessary.) You can also eat foods that have iodine in them such as fish, shellfish, seaweeds, and other foods from the ocean. But in some mountainous areas, it is not possible to get enough iodine from food.

Iodized salt costs only a little more than other salt and is much better for your health.

If you cannot get iodized salt, you may need an iodine supplement.

Other vitamins and minerals

We also need other vitamins and minerals, all of which we can usually get by eating a variety of foods. Getting vitamins regularly from food (not from tablets or tonics) is the best way for our bodies to use them. Some of the most important vitamins and minerals are listed in the chart below.

Name of vitamin or mineral	What foods contain this nutrient	What it does for our bodies	Problems from not getting enough
ZINC	Meat, shellfish, beans, milk products, whole grains (like millet, brown rice, or whole wheat).	Needed for growth, energy, fighting infection, and many other body functions.	Infections are more common. Children get more diarrhea, and take longer to recover from diarrhea.
B VITAMINS	Meat, fish, liver, eggs, whole grains, vegetables, and fermented and yeasted foods (such as bread).	Helps our cells, nerves, muscles, and immune systems work.	When people have only one food to eat during times of severe hunger, this can lead to a severe B vitamin deficiency called pellagra — a disease of peeling skin, diarrhea, and mental confusion.
FOLIC ACID	Leafy greens, beans, peas, fruit, avocado, mushroom, liver.	Needed especially by women before and during pregnancy for normal growth of a baby in the womb.	Babies born to mothers who do not get enough folic acid are more often born small or with birth defects.
CALCIUM	Milk products, seaweed, dark green vegetables, nuts and seeds. Small fish with edible bones are a good source because bones are almost pure calcium. Finely ground eggshells are another source.	Keeps bones and teeth strong. Helps muscles and nerves. Weak bones that break easily.
FIBER	Beans, whole grains, vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds.	This is not a vitamin or mineral, but fiber helps keep digestion and bowel movements normal.	Constipation and stomach aches. Over many years, lack of fiber makes cancers and diseases of the intestine more common.

What about vitamin tablets and injections?

NO!

Some people think vitamin tablets, syrups, or injections will cure everything from tiredness to problems with sex. When both licensed doctors and so-called "injection doctors" promote vitamins as a cure-all this only worsens the problem – and empties your pockets!

Anyone who eats a good variety of foods, including vegetables and fruits, gets all the vitamins he needs. Save your money for fresh food – not expensive vitamin supplements.

Vitamin supplements are a kind of medicine. Like medicines, they should be used only when they are really needed. Vitamins are needed in cases of severe malnutrition, or during pregnancy when the demands on a woman’s body increase. Otherwise they are not needed and will not improve health or make children grow.

Avoid vitamin injections. They are needed only in the rarest cases of severe deficiency. And avoid re-used needles which spread germs that can lead to abscesses, hepatitis, and HIV.

This page was updated:12 Jun 2019