Why food matters

Food matters because it fuels our bodies. It is a necessary substance that allows humans and all living things to survive. Although food in general is very crucial, healthy food is even more so and has even a greater importance for the human body. If the human body is not given a healthy diet, it is unbalanced. If the human body is unbalanced it can’t function as well as it supposed to. What is a healthy diet, one may ask? Well a balanced diet consists of lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy and protein. However there are two key words in this description: fresh and whole. Often times, people believe they are eating healthy and eating their daily serving of grains and greens when they eat canned fruits and vegetables and white pasta and bread. However, that is not the case. Canned vegetables often contain salt and give the body excess and unnecessary sodium which can be unhealthy if the body is not using it in exercise. Canned fruit often contains added sugar, which turns into carbohydrates if not used for energy in exercise. But it is not to say that canned vegetables and fruit are totally unhealthy, it is just that fresh vegetables and fruit give the body less unnecessary ingredients and more vitamins and nutrients. The body gets the maximum vital vitamins and nutrients if fresh fruits and vegetables are consumed. White pasta and bread also doesn’t contain whole grain and the vitamins and nutrients that whole grains pastas and bread contain. Not only do humans need a healthy diet, but animals need a healthy diet. Like in the documentary we watched in class, cows that are slaughtered for beef are fed only corn in the feed houses. Cows are supposed to eat grass but corn makes the cows fat faster. Additionally, cow stomachs can’t properly digest corn because corn is acid resistant and E. coli develops, which makes the beef from that cow contaminated. Therefore, healthy diets in both humans and animals are important.