Types of Food And Their Health Benefits

Food is any material consumed in order to provide nutrition to an organism. It may be a vegetable, a fruit, a grain, or a legume. The food substances can be categorized into two broad categories: vegetal food or animal food, based on whether they are consumed in their raw or processed form. Vegetable food is generally of animal origin, with the exception of some roots, tubers, nuts, mushrooms, and vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower. Animal food refers to those foods that are consumed in their edible or cooked form.

Meats provide most of the nourishment to humans and other animals, including poultry, fish, game birds, bovines, rabbits, and other small animals. Meat can be categorized into three major categories: boneless skinless meats, semi-skinless meats and beef. Animal fat is another good source of energy and good dietary fats. Meat has become almost a universal food source, used in almost any dish, from stir-frying vegetables to baking breads, from making gravy to broiling steak. Legumes, peas, nuts, seeds, beans, and lentils are other good sources of protein.

Essential fatty acids are essential to life, being particularly important for vitamin D. It is said that without fat our brains would not develop correctly. Fats also provide the body with an abundance of other essential fatty acids and minerals such as phospholipids, sterols, and essential fatty acids. Plants manufacture phytochemicals, which are considered to be nutrients within the class of phytochemicals. Phytochemicals may also act as antioxidants that neutralize the damaging effects of free radicals. Many of the antioxidants in plants are in the vitamin E group. Vitamin E has many important functions in the body and is a powerful antioxidant that acts against a number of diseases including cancer.