Overeating and Food

Food is meant to generate energy in the body so as to enable each and every body organ to discharge its individual functions. About eating we must not overlook or ignore undernoted points

(i) Eat only when one is real hungry.

(ii) Eat daily at a fix time.

(iii) Diet should include cereals, pulses, seasonal green and leafy vegetables, fruits, fats (in moderate quantity), milk and milk products etc. In a way daily diet should be a balanced and
nutritious diet, consisting of above mentioned food items
which should also be rich in minerals and vitamins.

(iv) Avoid foods that cause constipation, loose motions, acidity,
flatulence, abdominal colic, sour and acidic eructations,
belching etc.

(v) Avoid foods which are fried and rich in condiments,

(vi) Use only unsaturated vegetable oils like, soyabean,
sunflower, palm, cotton seed oil etc. which reduce
cholesterol level,

(vii) Avoid using clarified butter, oil, coconut oil, lard, olive oils
and butter which raise cholesterol level, thus causing high
blood pressure, cardiac disorders, obesity, joint pains and
immobility.

(viii) Dietary fibre, obtained from whole grains, vegetables, and
fruits should be used in sufficient quantity. Diet, rich in
fibre content, is capable of reducing food intake, as it imparts
a sense of satiation to the body.

Gluttons must resist the temptation of eating every time. It disturbs the digestive systems and denies rest to digestive organs and other body organs. Labourers, masons, carpenters, persons employed in construction work, mechanics who have to manually operate heavy machinery and equipment, farmers, children in growth-stage, pregnant ladies, lactating mother. Ladies approaching menopause have to ingest more food than those persons who have to work in an office, shopkeepers, shop employees. If food is not taken in proportion to the expended energy, such a category of persons are liable to get weak but, if persons doing light work also eat heavily, they will be generating more energy which is actually not required.

Operating is also the result of those who sit idle as they have no other activity to perform. Such persons revel in excessive eating as if overeating is the be-all and end-all of their life. When energy is generated through overeating, but no activity is performed to expend the generated energy, it will simply in overweight.

For the obese persons overeating is a luxury and a pastime, but for the more hard working persons, sufficient food, to compensate for the energy loss suffered, is a prime necessity.

Calorie Factor

The energy that we derive from diet / food is measured as 'Calorie' which, in fact, is an energy measuring unit and the calories burnt (during the course of physical exercise and exertion). Number of calories burnt / expended, amount of labour put in to a discharge one's work in relation to age, sex, climate. A child, during the growth stage and also during playing games, an old person leading a sedentary life style, a person working in an office, a manual labourer, a stone-cutter, tree-feller, a pregnant woman, during and after pregnancy, a hospitalised patient will require different percentage of calories. Simple rule is: the more energy one spends, the higher calories he would require. When we talk of calorie, total calories required by a person during duration of 24 hours will be reckoned by total calories, obtained from various sources of nutrition. Two persons of the same height, age and workload, would require, different amount of calories because metabolism of each person differs. Every one is a law unto himself, when above criteria are taken into consideration. Two main groups, viz. vegetarians and non- vegetarians, have to work out food items which, when combined, give total calories required by a person.


There is another class which adheres to both the said types of food categories.
As already indicated, a balanced diet must be a unified entity, consisting of cereals, green vegetables, fibre, fruits, milk and its various products, meats etc. so that the dietary intake presents a homogenous combination of essential carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins etc. It is a myth that costly foods give better nutritious values than the cheaper ones but, luckily, the facts is the other way round. So, when working out on your food and diet, you should be more conscious of the nutritional factor than the cost factor. Main purpose is and should be to meet calorie requirement of the body than the money spent therefore