Vitamins. Healthy food

A, C, E, D, B, K

No, this isn’t out of order alphabet. These are vitamins.

And just like letters build words, they are the building blocks of our body.

Vitamins are small organic compounds we need to eat in small amounts to stay healthy.

They are the body’s builders, defenders and maintenance workers helping it to build muscle and bones, capture and use energy and heal wounds.

While bacteria, fungi and plants produce their own vitamins, our bodies can’t, so we have to get them from other sources.

So how does the body get vitamins from out there into here?

That’s depending on the form these compounds take.

Vitamins come in two types: lipid-soluble and water-soluble, and the difference between them determines how the body transports and stores vitamins.

The water-solubles are vitamin C and B Complex vitamins that are made up of eight different types that each do something unique.

You can find them in the watery parts of fruits, vegetables and grains.

Once they get inside your body, these foods are digested and the vitamins within them are taken up directly by bloodstream.

Because blood plasma is water-based, water-soluble vitamins C and B have their transport and can move around your body.

For lipid-soluble vitamins, dissolved in fat and found in foods like diary, butter and oils, this trip into the blood is a little more adventurous.

These vitamins travel through the stomach and the intestine, where the bile flows, breaking up the fat and preparing it for absorption through the intestinal wall.

Fat-soluble vitamins need something else to move them around, and that comes from proteins that attach to the vitamins and act like couriers, transporting fat-solubles into the blood and around the body.

Most water-soluble vitamins need to be eaten every day.

But fat-soluble vitamins have staying power because they can be packed into the liver and in fat cells.

Once you know how the vitamins are transported and stored in our body, it’s time to learn about the work they came here to do.

Some, like many of the B Complex vitamins, make up coenzymes, whose job is to help enzymes release the energy from food.

Other B vitamins then help the body to use that energy.

From vitamin C, you get the ability to fight infection and make collagen, a kind of tissue that forms bones and teeth and heals wounds.

Vitamin A helps make white blood cells, key in the body’s defense, helps shape bones. It's great for night vision. Vitamin A helps you see in color, too, from the brightest yellow to the darkest purple.

Vitamin D gathers calcium and phosphorus so we can make bones and teeth.

Vitamin E works as an antioxidant. This hard-working vitamin protects your cells and tissues from damage.

Finally, vitamin K helps to clot blood. This is when certain cells in your blood act like glue and stick together at the surface of the cut to help stop the bleeding.

Without this vitamin variety, humans face deficiencies that cause a range of problems, like fatigue, nerve damage, heart disorders, or diseases like rickets and scurvy.

On the other hand, too much of any vitamin can cause toxicity in the body.

In reality, it’s all about getting the balance right.

People get vitamins from the food they eat.

But you can hardly find any useful vitamins in Coke, crisps and other fast food.

The food you need to eat every day can be organized into a pyramid.

The first food group is the Grain group. Grains come from wheat, corn and oats, barley and rice. They are used to make food like bread, cereal, noodles, or popcorn.

The most important groups are fruit and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables can be fresh, frozen, canned or in the juice. There are lots of fruit to choose from, e.g.: oranges, bananas, apples, strawberries and pineapples. Vegetables are carrots, beet, broccoli, potato and tomato.

Fruits and vegetables with brighter and darker colours have more vitamins.

Protein group includes meat and fish. But there are other foods too, like beans, eggs and nuts that are full of protein that gives us energy to work and play.

And the last group is Milk group. Milk products like milk, cheese and yoghurt are great because they contain calcium and keep our teeth and bones healthy.

You can still enjoy your favourite sweet and salty foods, but too much sugar and salt is bad for your body.

It’s important to eat food from every food group every day.

The food pyramid helps you choose food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A bowl of cereal with fruit and a glass of milk is a healthy breakfast. It includes food from grain, fruit and milk groups of the pyramid.

A healthy lunch of a turkey sandwich and a fruit salad include food from the grain, fruit and a protein groups.

Nuts, yoghurt and carrots are good choices for snack from vegetables, protein and milk food groups.

This meal of chicken, broccoli, baked potato with pudding and apple juice has food from vegetable, fruit, milk and protein groups of the pyramid.

Now it’s time to practice with Martin.

Choose three healthy foods and drinks for breakfast: Coke, milk, bananas, chocolate, cereals, doughnut.

Milk, bananas and cereals is a good choice for breakfast.

Choose three healthy foods and drinks for lunch: sandwich, French fries, hotdog, carrots, ice-cream, juice.

Sandwich, carrots, and juice are good for healthy lunch.

Choose three healthy foods for snack: chips, nuts, cookies, grapes, Coke.

Nuts and grapes are perfect for a snack.

Choose healthy foods and drinks for dinner: fish, Coke, ice-cream, pudding, rice, apple juice, fruit salad, hot dog.

Fish and rice, apple juice, fruit salad and pudding is a good choice for dinner.

Choose healthy food.

Always remember that we eat to live, but we don’t live to eat.