Nutrition

Food nutrients are substances in what we eat that our body needs to grow, work properly, and stay healthy. There are six main classes: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water.

Carbohydrates give us energy for daily activities. You get them from foods like rice, yam, bread, and cassava—staples in Nigerian homes. Proteins build and repair body tissues; sources include beans, eggs, fish, and meat. Fats store energy and protect organs, found in oils, nuts, and avocado. Vitamins and minerals keep us healthy and strong, coming from vegetables and fruits. Water helps digestion and cools the body.

Each nutrient has a specific job. Without variety, your body cannot function well. A balanced diet containing all classes ensures proper growth and prevents diseases.

The calorific value of food is the amount of energy that food provides to your body when you eat and digest it. Different nutrients give different amounts of energy. Carbohydrates and proteins each provide 4 calories per gram, while fats provide 9 calories per gram. This is why fatty foods make you feel fuller longer—they pack more energy into smaller amounts.

Think about a plate of jollof rice and chicken. The rice gives you carbohydrate calories for quick energy, while the chicken provides protein calories for building muscles. If you added oil or butter to cook these foods, you'd add fat calories, which is why fried food has higher total calories than boiled food.

Understanding these values helps you know which foods give you the most energy and how much you need daily. Your body needs about 2000-2500 calories each day depending on your age and activity level.

A balanced diet means eating different types of food in the right amounts so your body gets everything it needs to stay healthy and strong. Your body requires carbohydrates for energy, proteins to build muscles and repair tissues, fats for warmth and protection, vitamins and minerals for fighting diseases, and water for all body functions.

Think of a typical Nigerian meal: a plate of jollof rice with chicken and vegetables represents a balanced diet. The rice provides carbohydrates, the chicken gives protein, the tomatoes and peppers offer vitamins and minerals, while the oil contains healthy fats. When you eat this way regularly, your body functions properly, you concentrate better in class, and you stay away from diseases.

Eating only one type of food or skipping meals breaks this balance and makes you weak. The key is eating variety daily and in proper portions.

Water is simply the liquid your body needs to survive and function properly every single day. Think of it as the transport system in your body that carries nutrients to cells, removes waste products, and helps regulate your body temperature through sweating. Your body is about 60-70% water, which shows how important it is.

In Nigeria, you see this clearly during the dry harmattan season when people drink more water to stay hydrated, or when someone falls ill and loses fluids through diarrhea—doctors immediately recommend drinking more water to prevent dehydration. Water also helps your joints move smoothly, keeps your skin healthy, and supports digestion of the food you eat.

Adults need about 6-8 glasses of water daily, though this increases with exercise or hot weather. You can also get water from fruits like watermelon and oranges, not just from drinking plain water.

The digestive system is like a food factory in your body. When you eat jollof rice, your teeth start breaking it down in the mouth, then saliva helps soften it. The food slides down your esophagus into your stomach, where acids and churning action continue breaking it into smaller pieces. Your small intestine is where the real magic happens—nutrients from your food get absorbed into your bloodstream here. The large intestine absorbs water and turns waste into stool. Your liver makes bile to help digest fats, while your pancreas releases enzymes that break down proteins and carbohydrates. Without these organs working together smoothly, your body cannot get the energy and nutrients it needs to function properly.

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Your teeth are specialized structures in your mouth designed to break down food, making digestion easier. There are four main types. Incisors are your front teeth used for cutting and biting food like when you bite into an apple or cassava. Canines are the pointed teeth beside incisors, useful for tearing meat. Premolars and molars are your grinding teeth at the back, crushing food into smaller pieces.

Each tooth has three main parts: the crown (visible white part above the gum), the root (below the gum holding it in place), and the pulp chamber (containing nerves and blood vessels inside). When you chew garri or rice, your molars do the heavy grinding work while your incisors handle initial biting. Understanding this structure helps you appreciate why brushing all surfaces is important.

Digestion is the breakdown of food into smaller, useful substances your body can absorb and use for energy and growth. When you eat jollof rice, your digestive system immediately starts working. In your mouth, saliva begins breaking down the food as you chew. Then the food travels down your oesophagus to your stomach, where strong acids and muscles continue breaking it down into a paste-like substance called chyme. Finally, this mixture moves to the small intestine where most nutrient absorption happens through the intestinal walls into your bloodstream. The remaining waste continues to the large intestine and is eventually eliminated as faeces.

Understanding this journey helps you appreciate why chewing food properly matters for better digestion and nutrient uptake.

After you eat food like jollof rice and chicken, your body must process it in three important stages. Absorption happens in your small intestine where digested nutrients pass through the intestinal wall into your bloodstream. Think of it like water soaking into soil. Assimilation is when your cells take these nutrients from your blood and use them to build body tissues and replace worn-out cells. Your muscles, bones, and skin all grow through assimilation. Metabolism is the total of all chemical reactions happening in your body to release energy and maintain life. When you eat that jollof rice, carbohydrates are absorbed, assimilated into cells, then metabolized to give you energy to play football or study. These three processes happen continuously, keeping you alive and healthy.

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