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Which foods and drinks are "healthy"?Like any machine and any living creature, humans need energy in order to function. Food and drinks deliver energy to the human organism. The energy or the use of energy is measured in calories or joules (1 kilocalorie = 4.2 kilojoules). When resting, i.e. only to keep heart, breathing and metabolism going, adults need about 1400 to 1800 calories a day, 6 to 12-year-old children need about 900 to 1500 calories. When active, this amount can increase by up to 50%, which means 2000-2500 calories for children. The amount of energy the body needs also depends on other factors like age, height, sex and exertion. Therefore each individual adult or child may need a very different amount of calories per day. On average, children and teenagers use more energy than anyone else. This is partly because they need a lot of energy just to grow. If young people also move around a lot and actively take part in sports, they can even burn up to 4000 calories or more per day. Calories cannot be eaten by themselves. They are linked to other
nutrients. There are three groups of nutrients the body can use
to produce energy: carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Their energy
content varies. Carbohydrates and proteins produce about 4 calories
per gram, fats produce more than 9 calories. Moreover, the effect
calories have on the human body varies according to the source of
energy they came from. However, humans do not live on calories alone.
Apart from a certain amount of calories, they also need certain
nutrients, fatty acids and protein elements to survive. On top of
that, they need nutrients without calories like vitamins, minerals,
trace elements and fibres. Ideally, all of the above nutrients should be balanced in anyone's diet. A healthy diet therefore equals a balanced diet (see nutrients' pyramid). Composing a balanced diet sounds more complicated than it actually is. The main rule is: Children cannot store energy from nutrients for a very long time. If they are to have fresh energy all day long, they should ideally eat four or five balanced meals a day. For every group of nutrients there are many versatile products that can be mixed and prepared in lots of different and interesting ways. Every meal should include one portion (i.e. a handful) of fresh fruit or vegetables. Of course it is no problem to have the odd sweet in between as well. And if you stick to a balanced diet in general, you could also replace one meal a week by fast-food. After all, eating is supposed to be fun and should not be seen as some sort of annoying health drill. A diet is healthy as long as the organism gets all the nutrients it needs:
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