Gracefoods, Home of Caribbean Cuisine

Nutrition is a science that examines the relationship between diet and health. Any deficiencies, imbalances or excesses can have negative impacts on our health, and can result in cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, and can even lead to emotional and psychological problems.

Good health nutrition is simply about eating properly – including all the food groups in each meal daily, as well as getting regular exercise. Making sure we get the proper nutrition allows our bodies to perform better, accomplish more, feel better and be more likely to avoid certain illnesses.

We should seek variety in combining foods from each food group. Eating foods of varied colours and textures presents a wider range of nutrients for our bodies. The food groups fall generally into Starches, Fruits & Vegetables, Legumes, Dairy products, Meats, and Oils and Sweets.

Modern food processing technologies cause increases in certain food components while reducing other vital elements. Technologies such as pasteurization, drying, heating and salting allow foods to last longer without spoiling. But they reduce food nutrients such as certain vitamins and phytochemicals. As a result, processed foods have less nutritional value than fresh, whole foods, and in fact, many contain potentially harmful substances like trans fatty acids.

Click image for larger view. Source : http://medem.com

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