MEANING OF FEEDING HABITS
Feeding or eating habits are your everyday patterns of eating. It involves the tendency to reach out for foods whenever you are hungry. These habits vary from one person to another and from one locality to another. But it is good to maintain healthy feeding habit by choosing foods which are nourishing and properly prepared.
Healthy feeding habit results from choosing nutritious food in a conscious way.
HEALTHY FEEDING PRACTICES
- Eat a variety of foods. Eat food from all the food groups
- Balance the food you eat with physical activity
- Always eat three balanced meals every day
- Eat regularly and do not skip meals
- Choose nutritious foods in a conscious way
- Choose diet with plenty of grain products, vegetables and fruits
- Choose a diet that is moderate in sugar
- Make use of food in season
- Choose diet that is moderate in salt and sodium
- Choose diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
HEALTHY EATING PRACTICES
- Sit upright at the dining table but do not allow your body to touch the table
- Always wash your hands before and after meals
- Do not hurry over meal or eat too quickly.
- When eating take just enough food that can easily go into your mouth
- Chew your food properly
- Do not talk with food in your mouth
- Close your mouth when chewing food
- Never use knife to put food into your mouth
- Use cutlery properly
- Do not put too much food into the mouth at a time
- Do not stretch your hand over someone’s food in order to reach for salt or water
- Do not take food directly from the serving dish into your mouth except with traditional service
- Do not be greedy. Consider others when helping yourself with food
- Always be polite when eating or serving others.
EFFECTS OF HEALTHY FEEDING AND EATING PRACTICES
- It promotes good health
- It makes one look and feel better
- It makes one good and energetic
- It prevent one from getting some diseases later in life e.g. diabetes, obesity, heart diseases
- It makes the body better equipped to heal fast and properly, than a poorly nourished one.
- It makes the person is physically alert and mentally active.
EFFECTS OF UNHEALTHY FEEDING AND EATING PRACTICES
- Kwashiorkor
- Marasmus
- Anaemia
- Beriberi
- Pellagra
- Scurvy
- Rickets
- Night blindness
- Goitre
- Oedema
- Obesity
- Under weight
- Over weight
- Stomach upset
- Indigestion
FOOD ADDITIVES
Food additives are substances deliberately added to food to improve the appearance, colour, texture, flavour, nutritive value, aroma and taste and also to preserve the food. Examples African lemon grass, Curry, Bitter leaf (ewuro, shawaka onugbu), Thyme, Mustard, Tea bush (efirin, nchanwa, infang, amana), Sesame, African nutmeg, Cinnamom, Ginger, garlic, onion e.t.c.
USES OF FOOD ADDITIVES
- To improve the flavour of the food
- To improve the appearance and colour of the food
- To improve the taste of the food
- To excite appetite
- For garnishing and preservatives
See also
THE TEETH