Bodybuilding Nutrition – What is Food?

What is food? According the Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary, the following definition is “The eating of food, especially to provide nutrition”. In other words food is anything consumed to give nutrition to an organisms. The eating of food is normally of animal, plant or fungal source, and usually contains necessary nutrients, including vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins, and minerals. Plants can be eaten for their nutritious carbohydrates and proteins, whereas animals can be eaten for their meat and fat.

There are many different types of food, and they include rice, pulses, grains, vegetables, fruits used locally and others on the food pyramid. Rice is cooked or raw in various ways, and is a great addition to a healthy diet. Pulses, which include beans, lentils, peas, nuts and seeds, provide good nutrition and have the added benefit of being good for you. Vegetables, which can be cooked, steamed, broiled, baked, fried, stewed, and broiled, are a good source of carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Fruits and vegetables, along with whole grain foods such as bread, cereals, pasta, muffins and other products with flour, are rich in dietary fibre. Dietary fibre helps to keep your intestines and digestive tract clean, thereby maintaining a healthy digestive system. This is because when there is a build up of waste material in the colon, the intestines become irritated and this causes them to produce more mucus, which further blocks the passage of food through the intestines. This makes the food stay longer in the stomach, rather than passing quickly through as intended, causing more calories to be stored in the body as fat. If the body does not have the proper amount of dietary fibre, it cannot absorb the nutrients from the food, and therefore becomes malnourished.